Vic sounds depressed

Seriously. The Jags are in trouble

Justin from Jacksonville

Will Sunday’s game be blacked out?

Vic: Yes, it will be blacked out. I wish I could tell you there’s a chance enough tickets could be sold for the blackout to be lifted, but there’s no chance of that happening. My concern now is for what will happen when the blackout becomes official this afternoon. Will there be a spike in ticket sales, as is usually the case, or will sales remain flat? The league will watch that very closely. Do the people in this town understand how critical this situation is to the town’s future? That’s the burning question. When I came here in 1995, Jacksonville was regarded as one of the hot spots in the country. It was a community of intense growth and the Jaguars were the centerpiece and symbol of that growth. That perception, however, has changed. The following appeared in the “Baltimore Sun” recently: “I think generally the NFL made a mistake during expansion,” said John Moag, former head of the Maryland Stadium Authority, who negotiated the Ravens move from Cleveland after Baltimore was denied a team during the expansion process. “I think they misread growth potential of the Jacksonville market.” As you can see, the perception of Jacksonville now is that the growth has stopped and that perception will have a devastating effect on the town’s commerce. It’s a perception that could impact Jacksonville negatively for several generations, and it would’ve never surfaced had these blackouts not occurred. The empty seats in the stadium on Sunday are a big deal.