Fans of TaxSlayer teams bring city financial boost, officials say

Kentucky, Georgia Tech fans set to descend on Jacksonville for bowl game

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – TaxSlayer Bowl organizers are expecting a big economic boost for Jacksonville as Georgia Tech and Kentucky fans descend on the city for the annual college football game.

The headquarters for the TaxSlayer Bowl at the base of EverBank Field is filled with boxes of merchandise that arrived this week ahead of Saturday's game. There are also a couple of shiny helmets representing this year's teams.

"We have a very busy schedule with both teams," TaxSlayer Bowl Executive Director Alan Verlander said. "We’re doing welcome dinners for them. Of course, they’ll get some time on the beach, which they both like, and then we will take each one of them to Mayport to see a lot of the (Navy) vessels there and then take them to Topgolf."

Kentucky's players and staff arrived Sunday night, and Georgia Tech will arrive Tuesday night. 

Verlander said Georgia Tech's proximity in Atlanta could help boost fan attendance for the bowl game, and Kentucky supporters have extra incentive to make the trip.

"Kentucky is very excited," Verlander said. "I was up there a few weeks ago visiting with their fans, and they’re extremely excited to get to Florida. They haven’t been to a bowl game in quite a while, but they haven’t been to a Florida bowl game in even longer."

Verlander said hotel capacity is a good indicator of how the game will do, and so far, the signs are positive.

"The whole reason the bowl was started was for economic impact, so we’ve greatly seen that with University of Kentucky fans filling out a lot of hotels," Verlander said. "They’re coming down for the entire week. Georgia Tech’s done a great job of selling tickets, too, so when you talk to the downtown hotels and the periphery hotels, everyone’s doing well, which is particularly a good sign."

Verlander said bowl officials expect around 50,000 or a little more to attend the game. He said that’s pretty strong compared to other bowl games. He said many bowl games used to attract 60,000 to 70,000 fans, but now only the college football playoff games draw that many.


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Scott is a multi-Emmy Award Winning Anchor and Reporter, who also hosts the “Going Ringside With The Local Station” Podcast. Scott has been a journalist for 25 years, covering stories including six presidential elections, multiple space shuttle launches and dozens of high-profile murder trials.