Oy.
“We have to take the Georgia-Florida game and turn it into something that resembles a National Championship game,” Gator Bowl Sports President and CEO Rick Catlett told 1010XL Jax Sports Radio. “The events that go on around Georgia-Florida need to significantly be enhanced. It’s a nice tailgate party in the pavilion area, but it needs to be all down the river.”
“We have to…”. “The events… need to…”.
Such urgency. And for what? The only thing my cynical heart can suggest is for separating more of the contents of our wallets and purses from us.
You’ve got a great, great game, one of a dwindling number of such with a special tradition. And you think the Cocktail Party needs to have the amps turned up to eleven. Of course, there’s only one go-to source out there for making things extra special.
“You’ve got to create a three or four day festival around it. Friday all day you’re going to have to have special events going on. When you go to the NFL Experience (at the Super Bowl) it’s not just a tailgate party. It gives people an opportunity to go to the facility, touch the game, touch the sport, but it also gives all the people coming in from out of town major entertainment, parties, events,” he said. [Emphasis added.]
Be still, my heart.
This is part of what’s killing college football for me. There seems to be a concerted effort to shed what makes the sport special to its fans and wrap the pro experience around it. Rick, if I wanted an NFL Experience, I’d go buy Falcons’ season tickets, dude.
By the way, Chadd Scott’s P.S. is totally delusional. I don’t care how magical an experience Catlett’s “festival” turns out to be, the minute the schools make more playing the game on a home-and-home basis, they’ll be out of Jacksonville like a shot.