Jaguars and Bills Top 2 Targets For New Los Angeles Football Stadium

We’ve been covering it for a while already, but its now official. Majestic Realty Co., the developer organizing the new Los Angeles Football Stadium and NFL Relocation Project, has announced that the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills are the top two targets for relocation.

Initially, Majestic Realty had seven teams as potential relocation candidates and intended to start contacting these teams are the season ended. The regular season has come to an end and Majestic has narrowed their targets on two of the more realistic relocation candidates in the Jaguars and Bills.

John Semcken of Majestic Realty believes that one of these two teams would fit perfectly in the new LA stadium.

“Jacksonville and Buffalo are two teams in very, very small markets," he said. “They are teams that have either outdated stadiums or are having trouble filling their stadiums or both.”

Again, Los Angeles is the second largest media market in the United States and Majestic’s plans for the new Los Angeles Football Stadium ensure that a relocating team will fill a beautiful, feature-filled stadium.

The Jaguars had a hard season in terms of ticket sales as the Jacksonville franchise has to deal with the tough economy facing those potential customers in Northern Florida following the housing market collapse.

Jaguars senior VP of business development Tim Connolly said, “People are having it tough down here. People are watching their dollars and they’re being tighter than ever.”

The Jaguars blacked out seven of their eight home games and barely avoided going the whole season without a locally televised game as ticket sales were boosted by a division matchup Thursday Night Primetime visit from the then undefeated Indianapolis Colts . Next season doesn’t look good either especially when the Jags’ season ticket base was nearly cut in half from 42,000 all the way down to 25,000.

Unlike the Jaguars, who entered the league as an expansion franchise in 1995, the Bills have a storied AFL/NFL history and a deeper fan base. Moreover, the Bills have no trouble selling season tickets. Buffalo Business First reported the Bills season ticket sales rank third in the league. But the Bills low revenues and poor stadium make them an appetizing candidate to move to the City of Angels and fill the new, state-of-the-art Los Angeles Football Stadium.

We at Touchdown Los Angeles still believe the Jaguars are the prime candidate to relocate to Los Angeles and fill the new Los Angeles Football Stadium.  The ticket sales are not there and do not look like they’re coming back anytime soon. If it comes down to the Bills or Jaguars, the fan base and history of the Bills franchise will keep them in Buffalo and put the Jags in sunny Southern California.