"How did Jacksonville get the Super Bowl?"

Greetings, I read the posts on Jacksonville with some interest, as I headed the competing effort to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland. When Jacksonville was awarded the game in November 2000, I was informed that they had over 17,000 hotel rooms under the NFL contract, which binds Jacksonville area hotels to set rates and room blocks, all under NFL control. Well, I recently was informed by the NFL that of the 17,000 rooms Jacksonville promised the league, they only had contracts for the 3,500 on the cruise ships -- that's it. I also learned that Jacksonville never had NFL contracts for 17,000 rooms - just letters of support. Oakland's bid had almost 8,000 rooms under contract and a letter from the San Mateo County CVB pledging 12,500 rooms, plus agreements to provide over 1,000 buses, limos, and taxis. So, contrary to popular belief, Oakland's bid was much better. The Super Bowl should be in Oakland. Thanks, Zennie Zennie Abraham Chairman and CEO Sports Business Simulations "Learn To Run" 510-444-4037 (0) 510-387-9809 (c) 510-291-3131 (fax) http://www.sbs-world.com http://www.sbstickets.com

posted by zennie at 12:39 AM on January 31, 2005