{"id":151474,"date":"2025-08-16T21:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T21:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/151474\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T21:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T21:29:10","slug":"the-pivotal-moment-that-set-jacksonville-on-a-path-to-nfl-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/151474\/","title":{"rendered":"The pivotal moment that set Jacksonville on a path to NFL success"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s been 46 years since Colts Fever came to Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Decades before the city pulled off a monumental upset when it was awarded the 30th franchise in the NFL<\/a>, 50,000 football-starved fans were buzzing about the possibility of the then-Baltimore Colts moving to town.<\/p>\n

In 1979, volatile Baltimore Colts owner Robert Irsay, irked by growing issues about a new stadium, had begun flirting with cities about moving the Colts.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville was one of them.<\/p>\n

UNCUT: Tom Wills’ full interview with Mayor Jake Godbold<\/p>\n

Mayor Jake Godbold<\/a> was just seven months into his first term and felt the football fever itch. It was Godbold\u2019s zest to bring an NFL team to Jacksonville that jumpstarted the process.<\/p>\n

RELATED | <\/b>Remembering Jake: Godbold lit fire that led NFL, Jaguars to Jacksonville<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

He invited Irsay to the Gator Bowl to see just how badly the city wanted a team.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 15, 1979, Irsay landed on a 50-yard line painted with \u201cJacksonville Colts\u201d — in Channel 4\u2019s Sky 4 helicopter — and was greeted by a packed stadium.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Video from the News4JAX archives of Irsay\u2019s visit:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor got somebody to donate free soft drinks and hot dogs for whomever showed up; 50,000 people came to the Gator Bowl to see Robert Irsay \u2014 dressed head to toe in a white suit \u2014 step out of the Channel 4 helicopter onto the 50-yard line,\u201d longtime News4JAX anchor Tom Wills recalled.<\/p>\n

RELATED | <\/b>\u2018An unforgettable saga\u2019: Tom Wills covered Jacksonville\u2019s quest for football relevance from start to finish<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Irsay\u2019s arrival gave the city faint \u2014 and false \u2014 hope that it could pull off the impossible and land an NFL team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd chanted, \u2018We want the Colts,\u2019\u201d Wills said. \u201cIrsay told Godbold privately the Gator Bowl was a dump and would have to be completely rebuilt to accommodate any NFL team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Irsay took the Colts to Indianapolis and Jacksonville was left feeling like it had been kicked in the stomach. But despite the disappointment, Colts Fever had done something in the River City. The football fuse had been lit.<\/p>\n

November 30, 1993. That was when the NFL awarded Jacksonville, Florida the expansion franchise that became the Jacksonville Jaguars. NFL commissioner at the time Paul Tagliabue and brand new owner Wayne Weaver hold up the Jaguars first jersey.<\/p>\n

The city did have the USFL\u2019s Bulls for a few years before that league folded, but it wasn\u2019t until the creation of the Touchdown Jacksonville group in 1989 that the city got serious about drawing an NFL team to town.<\/p>\n

While Godbold started the effort to bring a team to Jacksonville, former Mayor Tommy Hazouri kept the flame ignited, helping lay the groundwork for the city to make a successful bid.<\/p>\n

Late in the afternoon on Nov. 30, 1993, the news became official<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Majority owner Wayne Weaver and the ownership group had successfully waited out a botched process and bid of the ownership group in St. Louis to join Carolina as the newest teams in the league<\/a>. <\/p>\n

New Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, right, stands by as team founder Wayne Weaver speaks about owning the team during a news conference at the NFL owners meeting in Irving, Texas, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. The sale from franchise founder Wayne Weaver to the Pakistani-born Khan was unanimously approved Wednesday. The deal reportedly is for $760 million. (AP Photo\/LM Otero) (Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Weaver stayed with the team for 18 years before selling the franchise to Shad Khan for $770 million. <\/p>\n

Jacksonville winning a franchise remains one of the longest of long shots in NFL history. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 It\u2019s been 46 years since Colts Fever came to Jacksonville. Decades before the city pulled…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":151475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,88863,88864,3188,723,7310,8013,88862,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-151474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bob-irsay","10":"tag-colts-fever","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-jaguars","15":"tag-robert-irsay","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115040574796559599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}