JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Like the other teams in the NFL, the Jaguars knew that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to impact fans, even before the scheduled start of the season. What they didn’t know until recently was that, for the first time since the team began playing games in London, Jaguars fans would see all eight regular-season home games played in Jacksonville.
The team’s ticketing department had been gathering input form season ticket holders and had put the final touches on a plan to give fans as much flexibility with so many of them concerned about the uncertainty caused by the global pandemic.
“We wanted the fans to have all the information to make their decision and then be as flexible as we can for them,” said Jaguars’ senior vice president of sales and service Chad Johnson. “We can't forecast if the situation changes, we can't forecast if there's new information, we can't forecast how they're feeling 60 days from now. So we wanted to make sure they had the full flexibility to make that decision.”
When the league announced Monday that all international games would be rescheduled to be played domestically, that included two Jaguars home games that were to be played at London’s Wembley Stadium.
“The news on the London games coming back is very new information to us, “Johnson said “So we had to be very nimble. And once we learned that information just a short time ago, we felt it was appropriate to launch this back to football flex plan at the same time, because fans had questions automatically. What does this mean? How do I pick up those games? What are my options, so it was important here for us.”
The new features outlined in the “Back to Football Flex Plan” reflect options available to both new and renewing season ticket members:
- The deadline for existing season ticket members to renew their seats has been extended to June 5, 2020.
- No new payments for season tickets will be required until June 20, 2020.
- The Jaguars’ traditional seven-month extended payment plan remains available for 2020 season ticket purchases.
- For greater flexibility, season ticket members may take advantage of a two-year season ticket package that allows for a significant deferral of your first-year payment.
- Given the evolving nature of COVID-19, full refunds on 2020 season ticket memberships will be available to all season ticket members at any time prior to the start of the NFL season.
- Existing season ticket members facing a COVID-19 medical hardship are eligible to take a year off with no effect on their membership status or loss of their seats.
Tickets to the returning games will be available as follows for season ticket members:
- Current season ticket members, both renewed and non-renewed, will have the option to include both games in their membership.
- New season ticket memberships will now include all 10 home games (eight regular season and two preseason games).
Monday morning, the Miami Dolphins discussed their plans to deal with potential restrictions in response to the coronavirus, with the potential existing for a limited number of fans to be allowed into games. The Dolphins said that they might only be able to allow 15,000 fans into the 65,000 seat Hard Rock Stadium to ensure social distancing.
It’s a reality the Jaguars have considered as a possible factor when the games begin in August.
“I think everyone in the sports industry everybody in the live entertainment industry, music included is going through those different scenarios and coming up with the what-if scenarios and how to handle it. We are no different,” Johnson said. “We’re working hard to be prepared for those different scenarios as well. But as of right now, we’re moving forward with being prepared for 10 home games in a full stadium until we have more information, and then we will work through those plans and come up with what’s next.”
Johnson, who also oversees ticket sales for Daily’s Place, says the release of the NFL schedule later this week will help the process of setting dates for concerts, many of which were canceled by the pandemic.
“A lot of my time has been spent working on the reschedule of some of the concerts that were already supposed to happen, or would be happening in the near future,” Johnson said. “And looking at all of those dates right now. So I can tell you that there’s a lot of time and coordination. Our hope is that the 35 to 40 shows we host at Daily’s Place each year continues. We’re excited to hopefully welcome the same number of shows at Daily’s Place we have the last three years.”