A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville will retain the rights to the World’s Largest Cocktail Party, as Lenny Curry announced Wednesday an extension of the contract for five more years.
“This is a big deal for Jacksonville,” Curry said, and for “both schools.”
The deal extends the agreement to 2021, which will “mitigate any uncertainty,” with a window opening for re-negotiation of terms in 2018.
“Five years is a win,” Curry said, especially in light of the “uncertainty” of the game’s future when he took office and “negotiations didn’t exist.”
“Our team got to work on it,” Curry said. “We are about solving problems and getting things done.”
“The biggest obstacle,” said Curry, was that there “hadn’t been activity in recent years.”
The Curry administration had to “demonstrate how much we care,” the mayor said, “spending time and showing commitment.”
“Blocking and tackling … that’s Relationships 101.”
Curry added that on his second day of office, after the inauguration festivities, “one of the first calls [he] made” was to the schools’ athletic directors.
For Jacksonville, the game has a $35 million economic benefit … up $2 million in just the past year.
On “spending, sales tax, and bed tax,” Curry said, the city has a “win all the way around.”
Negotiations were a priority of the Curry administration, with Sam Mousa taking a leadership role.
Also instrumental in “making the case,” Curry said: Council President Greg Anderson.
In his comments, Anderson noted that the game brings 127,000 annual visitors, with 35,000 hotel room nights, and 5 million TV viewers, ensuring annual exposure for Jacksonville on a national stage.
Instrumental to the deal, Curry said, was the “commitment of the Jaguars’ organization,” which was a “huge selling point.”
The amphitheater helped. As did the willingness of the Jags and the city to share costs and responsibility for installing and removing temporary seats. And an extra quarter million dollars per year for each school, beyond the current deal.
