New stadium is 'almost too nice' for game

By Troy Johnson, Assistant Sports Editor

    JACKSONVILLE - One would be hard-pressed to find fault with the new Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, which replaces the crumbling Gator Bowl as the home of the Georgia-Florida football rivalry.
    The two-year-old 80,000-set facility offers nearly everything the old Gator Bowl couldn't provide.
    - The teal stadium, home of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, features two "signature" amenities, including a pair of Stadium Clubs and twin 60-by-156-foot scoreboards equipped with 24-by-32-foot Sony JumboTron screens. Municipal Stadium offers Fan Accommodation Booths that addresses a variety of needs, including listening devices for hearing-impaired fans.
    - In addition to chair-back seats, the facility provides other "crowd friendly" features, including 260 concession serving lines, 48 public restrooms, seven elevators, four escalators, four wheelchair access ramps and six entry/exit gates.
    "That was the problem with the old stadium," said Guerry Key, a mobile home dealer from Fernandina Beach, Fla. "The exits were too narrow and there weren't enough of them."
    There is, however, one advantage the new stadium may not have over the Gator Bowl - atmosphere. Jacksonville resident Travis Reier, who has attended several Jaguars games at the new stadium, said the atmosphere borders on antiseptic.
    "The old stadium had personality," Reier said. "I'm going to miss the old, decaying Gator Bowl. The old Gator Bowlwas a bourbon-reeking, beer-bottle kind of place.
    "It's going to be different with the new stadium. It's almost too nice for this game. They should play the Harvard-Yale game in it. It's a wine and cheese stadium."
    Reier, who saw his first Georgia-Florida game in 1975, said Bulldog and Gator fans probably won't know how to act in the new facility.
    "People are going to see all those chair-back seats and they're going to kick the backs out," Reier said. "It's too nice. They'll probably sit in the aisles instead."
    The $138 million Municipal Stadium project was financed through municipal bonds. Demolition of the old Gator Bowl began Jan. 3, 1994, as nearly 90-percent of the stadium was razed. The only piece of the Gator Bowl retained was the west upper deck that had been built in 1982.
    Even as the Gator Bowl was being reduced to rubble, two contractors, 12 consulting firms and 121subcontractors were busy erecting Municipal Stadium on the same site. The construction project lasted 19 1/2 months, the shortest duration for any professional sports stadium in North America.
    Municipal Stadium opened its gates to more than 70,000 fans on Fri., Aug. 18, 1995, for a Jacksonville Jaguars exhibition game.
    While Municipal Stadium will host the Georgia-Florida rivalry for the first time this weekend, the facility has drawn rave reviews from NFL players, coaches and general managers.
    "It's a magnificent stadium, the most beautiful place I've ever played in," Jacksonville Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin said. "This has to be one of the greatest stadiums in the country, bar none."
    While the name and appearance of the stadium has changed, at least one aspect of game day will remain the same.
    "The whole town is going to be caught up in the game," Reier said. "Saturday is the day to rob houses in this town."

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