BRING ON THE BIG GAME
Jacksonville has opened its doors to
the world, ready for the arrival of SuperBowl
XXXIX. The "River City" is ready to welcome
the tens of thousands of visitors pouring
into northeast Florida during Super Bowl
week, ready to showcase ALLTEL Stadium
to the biggest TV audience of the year,
and ready for the two championship teams
that will battle it out for the SUPER
BOWL title and the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
ALLTEL IS ALL SET
Opened in 1995 for the Jaguars' inaugural
season, ALLTEL Stadium sits on the shores
of the majestic St. Johns River where
the Gator Bowl was once located. Built
in a short period of 9 months, it remains
one of the best sports complexes in the
country. To prepare for Super Bowl XXXIX,
the stadium underwent a $64 Million renovation
that was completed prior to the 1003 season.
Among the additions were a Terrace Suite,
a 25000 - square foot sports bar, a 10000
- square-foot patio with a view of the
field, 20 new escalators, and four new
elevators. Also, two new video boards-towering
above each end zone - were installed and
new practice fields were developed. ALLTEL
officially seats 76,877, but stands added
behind the South end zone have raised
Super Bowl capacity to more than 79,000.
The stadium hosts the annual Florida-Georgia
college football game, the Gator Bowl
contest (won this year by Florida St.
over West Virginia), and will be the site
of the first two ACC title games, starting
this December. It also has held concerts
by U2, Shania Twain, George Straight,
and NSYNC, and was the site of the Billy
Graham Crusade, which had four days of
sold out shows in 2000. Jacksonville is
the 12th city to host the SuperBowl and
ALLTEL Stadium becomes the 15th different
facility to welcome the league's championship
game.
FLORIDA FOOTBALL
With Jacksonville joining the list, Florida
has now hosted 12 Super Bowls, the most
of any state. Previous Super Bowls in
the Sunshine State have been played in
Miami (eight times) and Tampa (on three
occasions). California ranks second, having
hosted 11 Super Bowls, and Louisiana is
third with nine games, all in New Orleans.
Florida is also a major producer of NFL
talent. At the start of the 2004 season,
league rosters were stocked with 173 players
from the state. That number ranked behind
only California (200) and Texas (174).
There were 11 players from Jacksonville,
including the Jaguars' own Rashean Mathis;
the team's starting left cornerback who
graduated from Englewood High School.
Miami was home to the most NFL players
of any city in the country with 24. The
state also is well served in terms of
college representation. The University
of Miami had 43 players in the league,
first among the nation's schools.
THE COVERAGE IS WORLDWIDE
Super Bowl XXXIX will be televised to
230 countries and territories in 30 languages
by 54 different television partners, making
the game available to a worldwide audience
estimated to be between 750 million and
a billion people. There are 14 international
television partners carrying the game
live: Global, Canada; Dragon TV, China;
TV2, Denmark; Canal Plus, France; Premiere
World, Germany; Sky Italia, Italy; NHK,
Japan; Nippon Television, Japan; NTV Plus,
Japan; Televisa, Mexico; TV Azteca, Mexico;
Canal Plus, Spain; BSkyB, UK; and ITV,
UK. Several international "first' will
be recorded. The NFL's Mexican broadcasters
- TV Azteca and Televisa - will each be
on -site and air the game live. ITV, the
largest commercial broadcaster in the
United Kingdom, is covering its first
Super Bowl. And China' Shanghai Media
Group is producing a live broadcast which
will be seen nationwide on Dragon TV.
The BBC and Grupo Acir are providing live
radio coverage for fans in the UK and
Mexico respectively |
Sportsbook
Review Rating: A+
