Sports in Jacksonville

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Jacksonville is home to a number of professional sports teams, and the city has a long history of athletics. The Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) compete at the major league level. Additionally, the PGA Tour is headquartered in the suburb of Ponte Vedra Beach, where it hosts The Players Championship every year.

In addition, Jacksonville has a number of

indoor football team, the Jacksonville Axemen rugby league team, and the Jacksonville Giants basketball
team.

Jacksonville is also home to two universities, Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida, which compete in NCAA Division I. Several college sporting events are also held in Jacksonville annually.

Professional sports

Jacksonville is home to one major league professional team — the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League — and several minor league teams.

Club Sport League Venue
Jacksonville Jaguars Football National Football League EverBank Stadium (67,246)
Sporting Club Jacksonville Soccer USL Championship TBD
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp Baseball International League 121 Financial Ballpark (11,000)
Jacksonville Icemen Ice hockey ECHL VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena (13,141)
Jacksonville Sharks
Indoor football
 National Arena League VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena (13,011)

American football

Football is by far the most popular sport in the Jacksonville area.[1] The city is home to the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). The only major league-level sports team to play in Jacksonville, the Jaguars currently play in South Division of the NFL's American Football Conference (AFC).

The Jaguars joined the NFL as an

TIAA Bank Field in downtown Jacksonville. The Jaguars have won four division championships, in 1998, 1999, 2017, and 2022
, and they have made eight playoff appearances.

Jacksonville hosted

cruise ships
as hotels.

Jacksonville also has a number of amateur football teams, including the

women's football team in the Women's Football Alliance, and the Jacksonville Knights of the Florida Football Alliance.[2]

Expansion efforts: 1960s–1980s

The success of college football led to interest in bringing professional football to Jacksonville, which began in earnest in the 1960s. In 1966, the

Boston Patriots facing the Miami Dolphins in 1968 and the Denver Broncos in 1969. In 1967 and 1968, the city hosted the American Football League All Star Game at the Gator Bowl. Jacksonville was the only non-AFL city to host the game. It was presumed at the time that this was a prelude to Jacksonville getting an AFL expansion team, but when the AFL merged with the rival NFL
in 1970 expansion plans were scrapped. The city also hosted a number of NFL preseason games throughout the 70s and 80s.

Jacksonville's first attempt at professional football came in 1926, when former

American Football Association, a spring minor league, for three seasons, 1979–1981.[2] In 1984 professional football returned with the Jacksonville Bulls of the United States Football League (USFL). The Bulls set many USFL attendance records, including the only two sell-out games; however the league ceased operations after the 1985 season.[1]

The success of these earlier attempts generated interest in bringing the NFL to Jacksonville. Several NFL teams discussed moving to the city over the years, with the

Baltimore Colts and the Houston Oilers making the most serious offers.[1]

Baseball

Triple-A East since 2021. Two teams named the Suns have played in Jacksonville since 1962: A class Triple-A International League team from 1962–1968, and a Double-A team (renamed to the Jumbo Shrimp in 2017) from 1970 to 2020.[5] They play at 121 Financial Ballpark
in Downtown Jacksonville.

Hockey

1972-73 AHL season, the Jacksonville Bullets from 1992 to 1996, the Jacksonville Lizard Kings from 1995 to 2000, and the Jacksonville Barracudas
from 2002 to 2008.

Indoor football

Jacksonville is home to the

af2, the AFL's developmental league, from 2000 to 2002, at which point the old Jacksonville Coliseum was demolished to make way for the current arena.[8]

The Sharks won one AFL championship, defeating the Arizona Rattlers 73–70 in Arena Bowl XXIV.

Soccer

Sporting Club Jacksonville is a proposed American professional soccer club located in Jacksonville, Florida. The club is planning to debut in the USL Championship in 2025.

The Jacksonville Armada FC is Jacksonville's professional soccer team who began play in 2015 as an expansion team in the North American Soccer League (NASL), which was the second tier in the American soccer pyramid at that time.[9][10] As of 2016, U.S. Men's National Team's Tony Meola took on the role of head coach. The Armada used to played their home games at University of North Florida at the Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville.[11] After the 2017 season, the NASL ceased operations and the Armada temporarily joined the amateur National Premier Soccer League while looking for another professional league. The team then went on hiatus after the 2018 season. They are set to resume play in MLS Next Pro league in 2025.

Golf and tennis

The

St. Johns County is also home to the World Golf Village and the World Golf Hall of Fame
. The Jacksonville area has around 64
golf courses, of which 18 are public, 18 are semi-private, 15 are private and 13 are resort courses.[13]
Several PGA Tour players make the Jacksonville area their year-round home.

Professional

Ponte Vedra Beach
.

Semi-pro and amateur sports

Australian Rules Football

The Jacksonville Saints were formed in 2018. They train at Alexandria Oaks Park in San Marco and play matches at Willowbranch Park in Riverside. In 2021 they won the inaugural Florida Cup and the Magnolia Cup.

Basketball

The Jacksonville Giants have played in the new American Basketball Association (ABA) since 2010. They play their home games in the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.[14]

Rugby league

Jacksonville Hatchets.[20]

The Axemen play at

Rugby League Atlantic Cup, a tournament between emerging rugby league nations in North America, in 2009 and 2010.[21] In 2008 the school hosted the "Australia Day Challenge" between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Leeds Rhinos, which featured Rabbitohs co-owner Russell Crowe and drew nearly 13,000 spectators.[15]
The New Zealand Police Rugby League team has also played at UNF against both the Axemen and a South Eastern Rugby League team. The Axemen began fielding a women's side in 2021 and have had players represent the US on the national side in 2022.

Rugby union

There are multiple amateur rugby union clubs in the city. Jacksonville Women's Rugby Club was founded in 2006 and have played women's division 2 since its founding. The men's team, Jacksonville Rugby Football Club was founded in 1972 and play FL division 3.[22] The UNF Deadbirds is a club team at the University of North Florida, consisting of UNF students and other college students in the area.[15] The HS U19 boys side won the state championship in 2019.

Soccer

The

Jacksonville United FC in 2011 and won the 2011 NPSL Championship.[23] In 2016, the United were replaced by the development team for the professional Jacksonville Armada FC
. The U-23 team was temporarily replaced by Armada FC when that team took part in the 2018 season, but returned as the NPSL team in 2019 when the professional team suspended operations while looking for another league.

College sports

The city has long supported

Florida–Georgia game between the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the University of Florida Gators
has been played in the city nearly every year since 1933.

Jacksonville's football

EverBank Field. The Florida State Seminoles have also held individual regular season games there, and in 1964 Georgia Tech and Navy played a regular season game there. The latter game was notable because 1963 Heisman Trophy winner and NFL Hall of Famer Roger Staubach played quarterback for Navy. Georgia Tech won the game 17-0. On September 2, 1989 Florida State played Southern Miss in the regular season opener at the Gator Bowl. Southern Miss quarterback and future NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre
led his team to a 30-26 upset of the heavily favored Seminoles.

Jacksonville was the host city for the

Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. The eventual national champion Florida Gators
emerged from the Jacksonville regional.

Jacksonville's two universities, the University of North Florida (UNF) and Jacksonville University (JU), compete in NCAA Division I.

The University of North Florida's sports teams are known as the

Women's golf was added in 2012.[27]

Jacksonville University's sports teams are known as the

ASUN Conference, a non-football league until the 2022–23 school year, for most sports; JU fielded a football team in the Division I FCS Pioneer Football League until shutting down the football program after the 2019 season.[29] JU's varsity sports are, in men's sports, baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, and tennis; and in women's sports, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, and volleyball.[30]

The Edward Waters Tigers, representing the historically black Edward Waters University, currently compete in the NCAA Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a conference consisting mostly of historically black institutions. EWU started a transition from the NAIA in 2021.[31]

Florida State College at Jacksonville BlueWave, members of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) began competing in 1967 as the Florida Junior College Stars. Later the college became Florida Community College at Jacksonville and was later rebranded as Florida State College at Jacksonville FSCJ). FSCJ fields NJCAA DII teams: Men's and Women's Cross-Country, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's Baseball, Women's Softball and Volleyball.

Defunct teams

Baseball

Jacksonville hosted

Brooklyn Robins (later Dodgers) in 1922, the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1918, and the New York Yankees in 1919–1920.[32][33]

In 1904 the city got its first known professional minor league team, the

Negro leagues also played in Jacksonville for three seasons, in 1938 and 1941–1942.[5]

In 1952 the Jacksonville Tars franchise was reorganized as the Jacksonville Braves. The Braves were much more successful on the field than the Tars had been.[36] In 1961 an ownership switchup caused the Braves' major league affiliation to change; they were replaced by the Jacksonville Jets for the season.[36] The original Jacksonville Suns team started play in 1962.

Basketball

Jacksonville previously has had a number of other basketball teams.

The Floridians of the original American Basketball Association played some of their home games in Jacksonville in 1970 and 1971.[37] Originally called the Miami Floridians, the team became a regional franchise for the 1970–1971 season, playing home games across the state in Jacksonville, South Florida, and the Tampa Bay area. Poor attendance caused the Floridians to drop Jacksonville and other cities from their schedule;[37] due to their recurring financial issues the league disbanded the team in 1972, prior to the ABA–NBA merger of 1976.[38]

Jacksonville has had a number of minor league-level basketball teams as well. Teams playing in Jacksonville have included the Jacksonville Jets (

Jacksonville JAM (2006–2008).[39][40] The Jacksonville Jam played one season in the American Basketball Association, from 2006–2007, and transferred to the rival Premier Basketball League the following season, where they were briefly known as the Jacksonville SLAM; however, they did not survive the transfer and folded before the end of the season.[40][41]

Hockey

The city has had an intermittent history of

Southern Professional Hockey League winning titles in both leagues.[2] They initially played their home games in the city's arena, but lease increases forced them to find another venue; they went on a self-imposed suspension of operations in 2008 and did not return.[42]

Lacrosse

The

indoor lacrosse team were scheduled to play in the inaugural season of the North American Lacrosse League in 2012.[43][44] After a dispute with the league, they played part of a season in the Professional Lacrosse League that year before canceling the rest of their games in October.[45]

Soccer

The

American Soccer League; they won the 1983 ASL Championship, but folded the following year.[2]

The

USL Premier Development League and a women's team in the W-League.[47][48][49] FC Jax Destroyers dissolved in 2012.[50]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Garry, Smits (January 31, 2005). "Why Jacksonville Loves Football". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e Garry, Smits (June 7, 2010). "Summer of 10: The top 10 little-known sports franchises in Jacksonville history". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  3. ^ "Jaguars not city's first stars". The Florida Times-Union. January 16, 2000. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
  4. St. Petersburg Times
    . May 6, 1975. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  5. ^ a b "Jacksonville Baseball History". jaxsuns.com. 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  6. firstcoastnews.com
    . February 8, 2017.
  7. ^ "Arena football team to be Sharks". Jacksonville Business Journal. November 18, 2009. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  8. ^ Elliott, Jeff (November 18, 2009). "Jacksonville arena football team hoping for a bang". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  9. ^ Soergel, Matt (February 18, 2014). "Jacksonville soccer team to be called the Jacksonville Armada FC". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  10. ^ "- NASL". nasl.com.
  11. ^ "Community First secures title sponsor of Armada soccer pitch". www.bizjournals.com/. Jacksonville Business Journal. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  12. ISBN 0-7710-7574-X
    . Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  13. ^ "Jacksonville Florida Golf Courses". Florida's Tees and Greens. Archived from the original on 2010-01-30.
  14. ^ Zima, Mike (December 5, 2010). "Jacksonville Giants romp in overwhelming debut". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  15. ^ a b c d Coleman, Matt (April 30, 2008). "UNF rugby support has worldwide draw". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  16. ^ "AMNRL Cup Final X will Celebrate a Number of League Milestones". American National Rugby League News. 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  17. ^ Mascord, Steve (January 12, 2011). "Discord 2011: Edition 2". rleague.com. Archived from the original on 2011-02-22. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  18. ^ "New Rugby League Competition Announced". rugbymag.com. Rugby Magazine. January 12, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-01-22. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  19. ^ "Breakaway league launched in the US". code13rugbyleague.com. January 12, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-01-16. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
  20. ^ "Three New Teams Coming to Florida". jaxeaxe.com. Jacksonville Axemen. May 27, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  21. ^ Matthew Wicks (November 20, 2010). "Atlantic Cup Rugby Tournament". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  22. ^ Woods, Mark (October 22, 2003). "Love of game bonds rugby individualists". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  23. ^ Borg, Simon (November 12, 2013). "Jacksonville expansion soccer team fielding fan suggestions for new club name". www.mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  24. ^ Ric A. Kabat (July 1991). "Before the Seminoles: Football at Florida State College, 1902–1904". Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. LXX, no. 1, p. 33.
  25. ^ Ric A. Kabat (July 1991). "Before the Seminoles: Football at Florida State College, 1902–1904". Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. LXX, no. 1, p. 34.
  26. ^ Smits, Garry (July 8, 2009). "UNF officially moves to Division I". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  27. ^ "University of North Florida Athletics". www.unf.edu. University of North Florida. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  28. ^ Humphrey, Joe (September 29, 2000). "The hidden treasure awaiting excavation". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  29. ^ "Jacksonville University Discontinues Football" (Press release). Jacksonville Dolphins. December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  30. ^ "JU Dolphins". www.ju.edu. Jacksonville University. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  31. ^ "Edward Waters University Returns as SIAC Member Institution" (Press release). Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. July 19, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  32. ^ "Spring Training Sites for all National League Baseball Teams". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  33. ^ "Spring Training Sites for all American League Baseball Teams". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  34. ^ Foley, Bill (February 18, 1998) "Daredevil bicycle feat made news in 1917". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  35. ^ a b Foley, Bill (March 13, 1999). "Millennium Moment: March 13, 1926". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  36. ^ a b c Foley, Bill (October 22, 1997). "Braves ousted again: It's the Jacksonville jinx". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  37. ^
    St. Petersburg Times
    . May 11, 1971. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  38. The Rock Hill Herald. Associated Press
    . July 1, 1972. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  39. ^ Richardson, Darcy G. (December 2, 2010). "Pro-Basketball in Jacksonville a 'Giant' Challenge". Jacksonville Observer. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  40. ^ a b Gurbal, Ashley (November 19, 2010). "Starting Jacksonville Giants a local lawyer's hoop dream". Jacksonville Business Journal. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  41. ^ Boleky, Mark (2008-02-07). "Jam parts ways with Premier Basketball League". Florida Times Union. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  42. ^ Kevin, Basarab (April 30, 2008). "Barracudas suspend operations". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  43. Financial News & Daily Record
    . Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  44. ^ Stephen Stamp (August 31, 2011). "Jacksonville Bullies will look to push rest of North American Lacrosse League around". ilindoor.com. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  45. ^ "Jacksonville Bullies Cancel Season 2012". jaxbullies.com. Jacksonville Bullies. October 18, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  46. ^ "Soccer To Honor Former Coach Dennis Viollet - Jacksonville University Official Athletic Site". Judolphins.com. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  47. ^ Ashley Gurbal (April 14, 2011). "New Jax soccer team will play at JU". Jacksonville Business Journal. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  48. ^ "FC JAX Soccer Appoints 2011 Men's Head Coach". jaxdestroyers.com. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  49. ^ "W-League Announces 2012 Schedule". soccernation.com. February 15, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  50. ^ "Vancouver Whitecaps not back for 2013 season". socceramerica.com. Soccer America. January 28, 2013. Retrieved February 18, 2013.

References and further reading

  • James B. Cooks, Jacksonville: The Consolidation Story, from Civil Rights to the Jaguars, University Press of Florida, 2004.
  • Buddy Martin, The Boys from Old Florida: Inside Gator Nation, Sports Publishing, 2006
  • John Oehser, Jags to Riches: The Cinderella Season of the Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Martins Press, 1997.
  • Daniel Schaefer, From scratch pads and dreams: A ten year history of the University of North Florida, University of North Florida, 1982.
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