Mike Bianchi: This Jagwagon may be Super Bowl-bound! Roarrrrrr-lando, better get your season tickets while you can!
Published in Football
ORLANDO, Fla. — Honk! Honk! Get out of the way, NFL. The Jagwagon is coming through!
And I have an important announcement from behind the wheel of this teal-and-black, touchdown-scoring, Trevor Lawrence-loving, Liam Coen-coached bandwagon:
We may have to make a slight detour on our way to Roarrrrrr-lando next season.
A little side trip to Los Angeles. You know, to play in the Super Bowl.
Holy Duval, Batman! Have you seen what the Jacksonville Jaguars are doing? They’re not just winning football games anymore. They’re committing acts of aggravated assault against opposing scoreboards.
They’re running away with their division, blowing out opponents and making the rest of the NFL look like unsuspecting tourists who wandered into the wrong part of the jungle.
Trevor Lawrence has blossomed into an elite NFL quarterback right before our eyes. Liam Coen has become one of the hottest young coaches in the league. And the Jaguars? They’re starting to look like legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Consider this: The Jaguars’ 33-10 demolition of Baltimore on Thursday night was their fourth victory by 23 or more points this season. According to ESPN, only four other NFL teams since 1999 have accomplished that feat in their first eight games, and three of those four reached the Super Bowl.
Translation: My Jagwagon may be heading to SoFi Stadium in Southern California before it rolls into Camping World Stadium in Central Florida for the 2027 season.
Somebody check the tire pressure and fill up the tank. We’ve got places to go.
And, Roarrrrrr-lando, we’ve got tickets to buy. Lots and lots of tickets.
Earlier this week, Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan and his crew announced that season-ticket deposits are officially being accepted for the Jaguars’ 2027 season at the newly renovated Camping World Stadium.
And I have a message for every football fan in Central Florida: What are you waiting for? A personal invitation from Roger Goodell? A handwritten note from Lawrence? Jags owner Shad Khan showing up at your front door with his magnificent mustache and complimentary club seats?
Come on, Orlando! We’ve got home games against the Dolphins and Bucs next season. We’ve got Josh Allen and the Bills coming to town. Buy the tickets. Fill the stadium. Pack the parking lots. Fire up the grills. Crack open the Budweisers. Let’s turn Camping World Stadium into the loudest, craziest temporary home-field advantage in NFL history.
Let’s make the rest of the country look at Orlando and ask: “Why in the world doesn’t THAT city have its own NFL team?”
“I expect sellouts. I want sellouts,” Hogan says. “I want our town, and everybody else watching our city host NFL football for the first time, to say: ‘How is THAT market untapped?’ … Hey, I’m not saying Orlando will have its own NFL team in the next couple of seasons, but sports is a business, right? They want to make money, right?. Well, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that Orlando is too big to be ignored.”
Which brings me to something else. Earlier this week, Orlando moved ahead of Detroit to become the nation’s 14th-largest television market. Yet we remain America’s largest city without an NFL or Major League Baseball franchise.
Think about that. We’re big enough to attract millions of tourists, fill theme parks, host massive conventions and stage major sporting events, but somehow we’re not big enough to have our own football or baseball team?
Puh-leeze.
For decades, Orlando has been treated like the NFL’s favorite rest stop. The league loves to visit us, vacation here, hold owners meetings and Pro Bowls here. But actually give us a franchise? Oh, heavens, no.
Well, guess what, NFL? We’re about to show you that we have what it takes to be an NFL city — if only for one season.
This is why Orlando’s deal to bring the Jaguars here while their Jacksonville stadium is being rebuilt is so much more than a temporary arrangement.
It’s an audition. A showcase. A chance to prove Orlando isn’t merely a place where people ride roller coasters. It’s a place where people will ride the emotional roller coaster of an NFL season, too.
And don’t tell me we can’t fill Camping World Stadium. Of course we can.
We’ll obviously get help from the thousands of diehard Jaguars fans from Jacksonville who will make the pilgrimage down Interstate 95 and I-4 next season, bringing their teal jerseys, tailgating equipment and gloriously obnoxious “DUUUVAL!” chant.
And then there are the tourists and visiting fans. Think about it: You’re a Bills fan living in Peoria or a Colts fan living in Scranton and your team is playing in Orlando. You can fly in Friday, take the kids to Disney or Universal on Saturday, watch your team get pulverized by Lawrence on Sunday and fly home Monday.
It’s the perfect family vacation! Well, except for the pulverizing part.
Orlando is guaranteed at least seven Jaguars home games in 2027 — one preseason and six regular-season games — with the possibility of eight. And that’s not even counting the playoffs.
Imagine a nationally televised Sunday night game at Camping World Stadium with 60,000-plus screaming fans and the entire country getting a prime-time look at what Orlando can do.
Look, I understand the Jaguars aren’t moving here permanently. We’re not trying to steal Jacksonville’s team. We’re trying to show the NFL (and Major League Baseball) what they’re missing.
Maybe someday, when those leagues start talking expansion, Orlando’s name will be part of the conversation. Not because we begged or whined or produced another PowerPoint presentation about population growth, but because we actually demonstrated what this city can do.
Because we filled the stadium. Because we created an atmosphere. Because we turned a temporary NFL season into an unforgettable football spectacle.
Tampa has the Buccaneers. Miami has the Dolphins. Jacksonville has the Jaguars. And Orlando? We have Mickey Mouse.
Well, with all due respect to the world’s most famous rodent, it’s time to put some claws on those mouse ears.
So here’s my challenge to my fellow Orlandoans. Get aboard. Buy the tickets. Bring your friends, family, clients and neighbors. Let’s sell out every game and make the Jaguars feel so welcome that they’ll wipe away tears when it’s time to leave.
It’s time to stop acting like a city that wishes it had an NFL team and start acting like a city that deserves one.
The Jagwagon is rolling. The Jaguars are roaring.
Get your season tickets and jump aboard!
And don’t worry, there’s plenty of room for everybody. I’ve got Jaxon de Ville riding shotgun, teal-and-black fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror and Skynyrd cranking on the stereo.
Just one warning: We may have to make a quick detour to L.A. to pick up a little something called the Lombardi Trophy.
After that, it’s full speed ahead to the City Beautiful.
Or should I say …
ROARRRRRR-LANDO!
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