ALLTEL Stadium
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ALLTEL Stadium is a football stadium located in downtown Jacksonville, Florida next to the St. Johns River. It is the home stadium facility of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise. The stadium sits on 10 acres (40,000 m²) of land and originally had a capacity of 76,877. However, because of sluggish sales, more than 9,000 seats were tarped beginning with the 2005 season. The current capacity is 67,164. [link] ALLTEL Stadium is used primarily as a football facility but does host other events including monster truck shows and concerts. It is also well-known for hosting college football, including "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" each year between Florida and Georgia and the annual Gator Bowl which pits teams from the Big East and Atlantic Coast Conference. In December 2005, ALLTEL Stadium hosted the first of two consecutive ACC football championship games.
The stadium, originally known as Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, was built on the foundation of the former Gator Bowl Stadium. Construction started January 3, 1994 and the new stadium opened on August 18, 1995. Total construction time was under 20 months and total cost was $134 million, $60 million of which was provided by the city of Jacksonville. ALLTEL Stadium's opening day was also the home debut of the Jaguars during the 1995-1996 NFL season. It as the first time that an expansion NFL team had played its first game in a brand new stadium. In 1997, the stadium changed its name to the current ALLTEL Stadium after naming rights were acquired by ALLTEL, a telecommunications company best known as a wireless carrier.
In 2005, the stadium hosted Super Bowl XXXIX in which the New England Patriots defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. In 2003 and 2004, $47 million in improvements to the stadium were implemented to prepare for the Super Bowl. These improvements included the addition of a unique sports bar in the south end zone called the "Bud Zone", a larger and wider scoreboard display, escalators in the south end zone, and a new "terrace suite" right above the "Bud Zone" in the south endzone. The Bud Zone is a tribute to Titans owner Bud Adams as the field is considered to be the second home of his team.
For the Super Bowl, Florida-Georgia Game, and occasionally the Gator Bowl, temporary bleachers are put up in the South Endzone, raising capacity to over 84,000.
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