JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Jacksonville Jaguars are closing their much-ballyhooed pools for one game this season.
The Jaguars will shut down both pools in the north end zone and the eight surrounding cabanas for their Oct. 26 game against the Miami Dolphins.
The Jaguars made the decision to facilitate the annual Florida-Georgia game, which will be played Nov. 1 at EverBank Field. The six-day turnaround between games would have been too close to guarantee installation of 7,000 temporary seats in the north end zone.
Neither school wanted to use the pools because it would mean lowering stadium capacity.
Jaguars President Mark Lamping said impacting the Florida-Georgia game in any way “is not in our best interest.”
“We think it’s a bigger-picture item,” Lamping told The Associated Press on Friday. “The Jaguars made the concession that we felt was the right decision in the interest of the bigger picture. We want Florida-Georgia to always be played here at Jacksonville.”
The pools and cabanas are part of a $63 million stadium renovation that was completed this week. The upgrades also include the world’s largest scoreboards.
There are several other new amenities, too. But the scoreboards, pools and cabanas have received the most attention. The Jaguars are selling 12 upstairs cabanas for $3,000 a game, with a maximum of 20 people in each suite. The price includes all-you-can-eat food and all-you-can-drink beer, wine and soda.
The downstairs cabanas — the only tickets that include access to the 3 ½-foot deep pools — are going for $12,500 a game, with a maximum of 50 people in each suite. Those also are all-inclusive.
The Jaguars are eating the lost revenue from not making those available for the Dolphins game.
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