Sneak peek into how Jacksonville became an NFL city

Channel 4's special documentary airs tonight at 8 p.m.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you lived in Jacksonville in 1993, chances are you remember hearing the announcement: "Membership has selected Jacksonville as the next NFL club." In 1993, Jacksonville was awarded an NFL expansion team, and it was a defining moment in the history of this city. But getting to that point took a lot of time, energy, and it often was a bruising battle.

Channel 4 spent the better part of a year researching it and interviewing those who were on the front lines. And tonight, you will want to watch our special called "Destiny: An Insider's Story of How Jacksonville Won the Jaguars."

It was a big victory when Jacksonville became an NFL city.

"I just want to say Commissioner, the decision that was made here today is certainly going to make you proud," said original Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver.

But the victory wasn't just for football fans who had fallen in love with Florida-Georgia match-ups and flirted with the United States Football League. It was also a moral victory for Jacksonville, giving a city that had long struggled with its identity a boost in confidence.

"We weren't sure where we were going and what we were going to do. The beach was great. Fishing, great. But we had always been a place where they put the paper mill and they put the chemical plant," explained News4Jax Sports Director Sam Kouvaris.

That fight to get professional football to the shores of the St. Johns River proved difficult at times -- and down-right nasty at others.

"You want to tell Wayne Weaver, 'We don't like you!' Keep talking about taxpayers. You mean to tell me taxpayers won't benefit from an NFL team? Get real!" said Councilwoman Denise Lee in 1993.

"It was a very unpleasant process," said UNF President John Delaney, who was Jacksonville's mayor from 1995 to 2003. "I've been negotiating my entire life as a prosecutor and you're dealing with criminal defense lawyers who are dealing with people's lives, and I've never had anything like this."

Disagreements between the city and Touchdown Jacksonville, the group that represented Wayne Weaver and his partners, would at one point cause Wayne Weaver to pull the plug on the whole venture.

"I don't know if I was mad. I was disappointed," said Wayne Weaver.

"He was mad," added Wayne's wife and philanthropist, Delores Barr Weaver.

"I had a tear or two, because we had all gotten so close and worked so hard on this," Wayne Weaver added. "We had a great partnership group, people that loved and believed in Jacksonville. So it was a disappointing decision they made."

Tonight at 8 p.m., how they got the deal back on track and how a hurricane barreling toward Jacksonville almost thwarted the NFL dream. You'll also hear more from Kouvaris, who was in the room in Chicago when the Weavers and their partners started to believe they were going to get an NFL franchise.

"All of a sudden, Ron Weaver, Wayne's brother, kind of bursts through the front door," said Kouvaris. "He's red-faced, and he looks at his brother, and I was standing there with David Seldin, Ron Weaver and Delores and me, and he looks at Wayne and says, 'You're going to get a team.'"

In Channel 4's hour-long special tonight, the Weavers also reveal one heart-stopping moment in Chicago, when they thought they might not get a team after all. You'll also hear from three-time Super Bowl winning coach, Tom Coughlin -- who was the Jaguars' first head coach. He explains why he was worried about the decision he made the first time he came to Jacksonville -- after accepting the job.

"Destiny: An Insider's Story of How Jacksonville Won the Jaguars" airs tonight on Channel 4 at 8 p.m.