City to pay Suns to move Aug. 8 game

Game at same time as Jaguars preseason game would create parking hassle

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Parking during Jaguars games can always be a problem, but how about parking during football and baseball games at the same time?

That is what is scheduled next week at the sports complex. The Jaguars and Suns are set to play the night of Aug. 8.

So a change has been made and the Suns will move their game up a day at the cost of Duval County taxpayers. The city will pay them to move their game.

"Because he generates more revenue on a Friday, that is really not fair. So we wanted to find a way to make that right for him," Mayor's Office spokeswoman Karen Bowling said. "So what we decided to do is give him one month rent forgiveness."

That's $15,000 in rent forgiveness for August for the Suns. It may sound like a lot of cash, but the Suns make about $40,000 in ticket and concession sales on a Friday game.

"Usually anybody that has been here on a Friday night knows we get pretty good crowds," Suns General Manager Chris Peters said. "Friday is our best night. Thursday, Friday, Saturday are our best nights, and we hate losing one of those."

The Suns also have a scheduling conflict on Aug. 28 with the other Jaguars preseason home game. The Suns and the city are still trying to figure out what will happen then.

"We want to be supportive of the city and work with the city any way we can," Peters said. "It's great that the city is getting so many events and so many people are coming downtown."

The city believes this is a good problem to have and maybe it can solve it ahead of time by scheduling events at different times or shuttling people in to some of the events.


About the Author:

Jim Piggott is the reporter to count on when it comes to city government and how it will affect the community.