The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Jaguars, along with the Carolina Panthers, joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1995.
The club has played all of its home games at EverBank Field, located near the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville. The team headquarters is also located in the stadium. The Jaguars practice during the season and training camp in the stadium and on adjoining practice fields. They are the only team in the "big four" sports leagues to play in the city of Jacksonville. Since their inception the Jaguars have won two division championships and have made six playoff appearances.
Every year Jacksonville hosts the Gator Bowl, an annual civic highlight traditionally accompanied by parties, ceremonies, parades and other events leading up to the game. The annual Florida vs. Georgia Football Classic, a major college football rivalry game between the University of Florida Gators and the University of Georgia Bulldogs is also played in Jacksonville.
The Gator Bowl stadium was built out of steel trusses during the Great Depression and was frequently built onto, with the final addition of the reinforced-concrete west upper deck coming in 1982. The stadium hosted short-lived teams in both the World Football League (Jacksonville Sharks/Express) and the United States Football League (Jacksonville Bulls) and the occasional NFL exhibition game. The city also hosted the American Football League All Star Game in 1967 and 1968. The city briefly attempted to lure the Baltimore Colts, whose owner Robert Irsay famously landed a helicopter in the stadium as thousands of Jacksonville citizens urged him to move the team there. City leaders also attempted to get the Houston Oilers to move to Jacksonville at one point in the late 1980s. Great efforts were made to lure the Oilers, including the creation of a "Jacksonville Oilers" banner and designation of a specific section of the Gator Bowl as a non-alcohol, family section for proposed home games (a feature utilized today at Jaguars games).
In 1992, the NFL announced that it would add two new teams, originally in time for the 1993 season. The league had not expanded since the 1976 season with the addition of Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers; with the sport growing the NFL felt the time was right to add additional franchises. Five cities were ultimately chosen as finalists for the two new teams: Charlotte, North Carolina; St. Louis, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; Memphis, Tennessee; and Jacksonville. From the beginning, Charlotte and St. Louis were considered the heavy favorites; Baltimore also a strong possibility. Though not as strong a bid, Memphis was still considered an outside possibility, as the NFL did not have a presence in the area.
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