Exploring Jacksonville's Tourism: Insights from Michael Corrigan

[00:00:01] Mike's on Mic, a conversation about politics, government and Jacksonville with 50 year opinion

[00:00:10] leaders Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, an award winning broadcaster and longtime political

[00:00:16] observer Mike Miller.

[00:00:18] Welcome once again to another episode of Mike's on Mic, I'm Mike Miller along with

[00:00:21] Mike Hightower here in studio and of course Mike Tolbert is back at the farm because

[00:00:26] he can only really stand to be with us together so often and then he has to get a break and

[00:00:31] he has to get out of here or just away from us.

[00:00:33] So that's why he's back at the farm and the two of us in the studio.

[00:00:36] I thought it was the other way around.

[00:00:37] Actually we ban him from the studio.

[00:00:42] Over the years Jacksonville has toiled to develop itself as a tourism destination

[00:00:47] city today we're going to be discussing those efforts and talk about how we've

[00:00:51] done and what we plan to do in the future.

[00:00:53] We're also going to take a look at what's going on today in tourism development and learn about a very recent

[00:00:59] creation the Jacksonville Sports Foundation.

[00:01:02] To shed light on the state of Duval County tourism our guest is Michael Corrigan who has been the president

[00:01:08] and CEO of Visit Jacksonville since 2018, former two term city council member as well as president of the

[00:01:15] council and served as our Duval County tax collector.

[00:01:19] Just great enviable positions to be on.

[00:01:22] Welcome to Mike's on Mike Mike.

[00:01:24] Thanks Mike.

[00:01:25] Nothing better than three mics.

[00:01:27] I'm just glad to hear that Mike Tolbert went down to the farm to get away from you.

[00:01:30] I thought maybe he was going to get away from me.

[00:01:31] Actually I just got a note handed to me from our producer.

[00:01:34] It says only three mics allowed in studio at one time.

[00:01:38] So since you're here we're going to get straws and Tolbert won.

[00:01:42] Well after seven years as tax collector whenever I showed up everybody left.

[00:01:48] I was going to want to talk about this tax collector.

[00:01:50] Alright Mr. Tolbert kick it off for us.

[00:01:55] Michael thank you for being here with us today we appreciate it so much.

[00:01:59] Before I ask my first question I want to tell you a little story.

[00:02:03] Back in the 80s when Jake was the mayor and I don't know what the visit Jacksonville

[00:02:09] was called back then I think it was just called the Vustis Bureau or something.

[00:02:13] But they had a new CEO from Kansas and he came to town and he set up a meeting with

[00:02:20] the mayor and the mayor said to move out on July 7th or was meeting.

[00:02:25] And so I do it and the guy said right in front of Jake in a chair and Jake said

[00:02:31] what are we going to do to get more tourists to come to Jacksonville?

[00:02:35] And this guy says well the first thing we're going to do is we're going to change

[00:02:38] that river right there.

[00:02:39] That is not a river.

[00:02:40] We're going to call it Lake Jacksonville.

[00:02:43] And I'm telling you a true story.

[00:02:46] So I was sitting next to Jake and he wrote to me and he said you want to go first

[00:02:51] and we want to go first.

[00:02:53] And I said you know the mayor you go first.

[00:02:56] So Jake explained to this guy in pretty uncertain terms as to why that was not

[00:03:02] going to become a lake.

[00:03:03] I think that was a river.

[00:03:06] And he was pretty straight with the guy and at one point the guy said let me tell you

[00:03:11] something Lord I don't prefer a river when there's a gun to my head.

[00:03:16] And Jake looked at him and he said I don't have a gun to your head.

[00:03:19] I've got a damn knife to your head.

[00:03:22] And this guy looks and I'm assuming we start laughing.

[00:03:27] About two weeks later President Carter came to town and we got him a van over on

[00:03:31] the top of the Daniels office building on the river over there.

[00:03:36] And after the President left I took a couple of so-conservative guys to a South Bank

[00:03:41] Bart Beer Joint and while I'm in there the fun went away and it's Jake.

[00:03:47] And they gave me a telephone and Jake said well this is where you're going to

[00:03:51] say you're inspired today.

[00:03:53] So read this my honey.

[00:03:55] It's actually real stupid.

[00:03:57] But now you feel it all for a long time.

[00:03:59] It won't be long until that claim of a lady got there will you?

[00:04:02] Tell us about visit Jacksonville.

[00:04:07] Tell us about visit Jacksonville.

[00:04:11] How long did it take to build a mountain and where are you doing?

[00:04:14] I'm never going to call it Lake St. John's for sure.

[00:04:18] Obviously this guy never got in a boat and went in the middle of the river downtown.

[00:04:22] He would have known it wasn't a lake.

[00:04:24] But visit Jacksonville is just about 27 years in existence.

[00:04:28] It spun off from the Chamber of Commerce.

[00:04:30] Mike touched on it.

[00:04:31] It used to be called the Jacksonville Inuit Speech Conventions and Visitors Bureau.

[00:04:36] Sonny Mayors was in charge of that wasn't he?

[00:04:39] Yeah I think so.

[00:04:40] It just rolls off your tongue.

[00:04:42] So back in 2006 and 2007 when I was City Council President and Terst Development Chair at the same time,

[00:04:50] which happens every year, then the president of visit Jacksonville,

[00:04:54] a guy named John Reyes came to me and said look everybody else is calling much cooler names than what we have

[00:04:59] and we decided to change it to visit Jacksonville.

[00:05:02] And it's really visit Jacksonville and his speeches is the formal name,

[00:05:05] but much more appealable to people than the previous name.

[00:05:09] But for the last 25 years we've had a contract with the Tourist Development Council

[00:05:14] which oversees the tourist development tax that's paid by people that stay in hotels.

[00:05:19] I can go into more details about that in just a minute.

[00:05:21] But the 2% of that bed tax, one third of the 6% that's paid in bed tax goes towards tourism promotion

[00:05:29] in our community and visit Jacksonville has been that entity for the last 27 years.

[00:05:34] And usually it was a five year contract that kept getting renewed,

[00:05:37] but then two years ago then City Council President Aaron Bowman came to me and said this seems ridiculous.

[00:05:44] Visit Jacksonville is the authority you should be doing this.

[00:05:46] And so we entered into a direct contract with the City or with the Tourist Development Council

[00:05:51] for a 10 year contract with an option to renew for 10 more years.

[00:05:54] So for the next 8 years visit Jacksonville, continue to have the honor of representing the city in any tourism activity that we do.

[00:06:00] I remember working with Sonny Mayors during the Save the Saratoga campaign I did on radio a thousand years ago.

[00:06:07] But boy if it weren't for Sonny Mayors and the Chamber and the Convention Bureau

[00:06:12] it would have never gotten anywhere.

[00:06:14] And we were together for 16 months trying to get that bump here.

[00:06:17] It was great.

[00:06:18] You brought up tourism, you came up with the bed tax.

[00:06:21] You talk about 6%, 2%.

[00:06:24] Help us understand exactly how that works and how much money we're talking about

[00:06:29] because when we start talking about percentages I'm always worried about government is not telling us the whole story.

[00:06:36] So tell us really what 6%, 2% and how it works and how much money you get and how do you use it.

[00:06:42] Sure, do you want me to give the government answer or not?

[00:06:45] Or do you want me to give you the Visit Jacksonville answer which is much cleaner?

[00:06:48] How about the straight one?

[00:06:50] That'd be the Visit Jacksonville answer.

[00:06:52] We're all for transparency.

[00:06:54] Exactly.

[00:06:56] When you stay at a hotel your charge is 6% tax on top of your hotel room.

[00:07:00] Alright that is the 6% we're talking about right now.

[00:07:03] So it's up to your hotel bill.

[00:07:04] It's tagged onto your hotel bill.

[00:07:06] So if you spend $100 on your hotel you're paying $6 in bed tax.

[00:07:09] So that's the simple math in it.

[00:07:11] So it's divided up into three pieces and each piece is 2% of that 6%.

[00:07:16] That $2.

[00:07:18] $2 for each.

[00:07:19] That's good math.

[00:07:21] So here's how it's split up.

[00:07:23] The first $2 goes to...

[00:07:24] Night off.

[00:07:25] He's radio, he doesn't know.

[00:07:27] We're not allowed to do math.

[00:07:32] The first $2 goes to pay off the Altael Stadium bond issue.

[00:07:36] I know you're going to tell me it's no longer called Altael Stadium

[00:07:39] but that's the bond issue that has been paying off the last 30 years.

[00:07:42] So when they decided, when we made the deal with the Jaguars 30 years ago

[00:07:46] that first third was put towards that bond issue.

[00:07:51] So what's happened over the years is we kept extending that bond.

[00:07:55] So that bond should be ending now

[00:07:57] but every time we did a stadium amendment to the stadium lease, it got extended.

[00:08:01] So that 2% will continue to go and will continue to go to the bond issue for the stadium.

[00:08:06] The second third of it is used for maintenance of the sports complex.

[00:08:11] So that's maintenance on anything that's located in what we all call the sports complex

[00:08:15] which is the arena, the football stadium, the baseball stadium

[00:08:18] and all the parking lots that surround it.

[00:08:20] Alright so that's $4.

[00:08:22] That's $4.

[00:08:23] $2 of the $6 is in quote and state statutes available for tourism promotion.

[00:08:31] So that's what goes to the Tourist Development Council.

[00:08:34] The Tourist Development Council is an appointed board, appointed by the mayor

[00:08:38] and approved by the council of nine individuals that manage that last $2

[00:08:43] of that $6 that you pay in the $100 room

[00:08:46] and then Visit Jacksonville has a contract with the Tourist Development Council

[00:08:49] to get 70% of that.

[00:08:51] So I'll simplify it greatly for you.

[00:08:54] Last year approximately $30 million was generated by bed tax.

[00:08:59] So the first $10 million of that $30 million went to the stadium bond

[00:09:03] to pay off the stadium bond issue.

[00:09:05] The second $10 of that $30 went to maintain the sports complex.

[00:09:08] The last $10 is available for tourism promotion.

[00:09:11] Visit Jacksonville gets $7 of that $10.

[00:09:14] So our Visit Jacksonville's budget was $7 million last year.

[00:09:17] I understood that.

[00:09:20] Good.

[00:09:21] I can now understand that.

[00:09:23] How would you describe the state of tourism here in Jacksonville in 2024?

[00:09:28] The state just publicized and reported that tourism in the first quarter of 24,

[00:09:33] I guess, actually broke records for the state of Florida

[00:09:36] and were inching closer to pre-pandemic numbers with international tourism.

[00:09:41] How do we do in that regard and how do we compare with the statewide numbers?

[00:09:45] Jacksonville is done, when the pandemic hit and immediately following it,

[00:09:51] Jacksonville has been beating everybody else in the state except for Key West.

[00:09:54] We've been exceeding expectations on recovery.

[00:09:57] A lot of it had to do with a couple things.

[00:10:00] One is the speed at which the mayor reopened the beaches.

[00:10:03] That message resonated throughout Florida and throughout the country

[00:10:06] and people said, well, we can come to Jacksonville.

[00:10:08] It was also the first time that 840 square miles was your best friend

[00:10:12] because we would market the fact that we had 840 square miles,

[00:10:16] which meant you weren't going to be this close to each other.

[00:10:18] Right. You didn't have to wear a mask.

[00:10:20] Yeah. You could get out to the beach and out in the river and everything else.

[00:10:23] Obviously, the largest urban park system, all those things.

[00:10:26] So we recovered quickly there.

[00:10:28] We also entered the Hyatt downtown, our largest hotel in Jacksonville,

[00:10:32] entered into a six-month agreement with the U.S. Marines that sold out that hotel.

[00:10:37] So it created compression.

[00:10:39] I'll explain more on that in just a second, but it created compression.

[00:10:42] So all the other hotels were many hotels around the country were shutting or reducing staff and laying off people.

[00:10:49] We filled up the biggest hotel and therefore there was compression on the rest of the property.

[00:10:53] So a lot of hotels stayed operating and to keep their staff and everything else.

[00:10:57] So let's talk about the Marines for a minute.

[00:10:59] We were approached, Vista Jackson was approached by the Defense Department and said,

[00:11:04] we want to quarantine all the incoming recruits for two weeks prior to going to Camp Lejeune and training.

[00:11:12] And we said, OK, what does that mean?

[00:11:15] They said, we need to buy out your hotel.

[00:11:17] So they bought out 900 rooms at the Hyatt.

[00:11:20] And what they did was they brought in two recruits in each room and they put them in the room and they tested them on.

[00:11:25] As they're coming in the door, they test them for COVID.

[00:11:27] And then they tested again in two weeks to see if they had COVID because they knew that if you didn't have COVID for two weeks,

[00:11:33] then you were clean.

[00:11:35] So they came in and anybody that tested negative on the way in and negative on the way out,

[00:11:39] then headed off to boot camp.

[00:11:41] So nonstop this hotel is filled up for six months.

[00:11:44] Well, the leadership of the Marine Corps loved it because all the leadership sitting on the St. Johns River

[00:11:50] in fantastic rooms, you know, watching these recruits.

[00:11:53] And it was incredible, incredible feat that the biggest problem that Vista Jackson had with us, we couldn't tell anybody.

[00:12:01] I was going to say, we didn't know about this.

[00:12:04] Not very many people knew about it and we were sworn to secrecy during it.

[00:12:09] And then the commander at the end of the six month period, two things.

[00:12:13] One they said, we want to stay longer.

[00:12:15] Well, at that point, we were afraid that people are going to start thinking that hotel was closed

[00:12:19] because very important people were trying to make reservations in this hotel

[00:12:22] and couldn't get a reservation because of the Marines occupying.

[00:12:25] Nobody else was allowed in the hotel.

[00:12:27] I would say the Omni was the only real hotel in the North Bank that you could go to.

[00:12:30] Yeah, and so at the end of six months we said, no, we're not going to extend it.

[00:12:34] We've got to start returning to normal and crank it back up.

[00:12:37] And secondly, they said, OK, because you were such a great partner with us,

[00:12:41] we're going to have a press conference and tell everybody what we just did.

[00:12:45] I didn't know until that press conference when the manager of the Hyatt

[00:12:48] and the head of that area, the Marines told us

[00:12:51] it was the largest single contract that the Hyatt Corporation had ever done.

[00:12:56] They'd never done a contract that big before.

[00:12:59] And the important part is, I guess it's important,

[00:13:02] we didn't generate any of the bed tax that we talked about a few minutes ago because of that.

[00:13:06] It's a government contract. You don't generate it.

[00:13:08] But I touched on it.

[00:13:09] It did save a lot of other properties that we had to close during that period.

[00:13:13] So it was a brilliant move by the Marines.

[00:13:15] It was a gift to Jacksonville and obviously visit Jacksonville

[00:13:19] and the tourism industry in general.

[00:13:21] But it's part of the story of why we didn't have that massive dive

[00:13:25] that everybody else had because we were able to recover that.

[00:13:28] And then since then, we've recovered well.

[00:13:31] We flattened out for sure.

[00:13:32] We dipped a little bit.

[00:13:33] Just saw numbers earlier today that said our April was the highest April that we've ever had.

[00:13:38] Wow.

[00:13:39] So it's definitely back.

[00:13:41] The other part that we're doing that, you know,

[00:13:43] we look at three different things when you look at how our hotels are doing.

[00:13:46] You look at obviously occupancy.

[00:13:48] You look at average room rate and you look at what's known as REVPAR.

[00:13:52] And REVPAR is revenue per available room.

[00:13:55] So what you don't think about is every hotel always has a bathroom that's not in order

[00:14:00] or they're redoing a room or some kind of factor hits them.

[00:14:05] Rock group had just been there.

[00:14:08] Trash the place.

[00:14:09] Yeah, trash. That's a real thing.

[00:14:13] Or Talbert came to town.

[00:14:15] Very similar.

[00:14:17] So, so it was right there, Mike.

[00:14:20] So he threw the softball up there and no other thing to do but hit it.

[00:14:24] See why he left for the farm quickly.

[00:14:28] But so REVPAR is what the industry looks at as they say,

[00:14:31] okay, what is our REVPAR?

[00:14:32] What's our revenue per available room?

[00:14:34] And how's that doing?

[00:14:35] All three of those metrics are doing good in Jacksonville.

[00:14:38] It's the first time in the history I've been watching Jacksonville,

[00:14:41] similar to the three mics here on this show that,

[00:14:46] and this is going to sound a little bit negative,

[00:14:48] but it's the first time not being known for something really became valuable.

[00:14:53] Because you look at New York City,

[00:14:55] they completely lost a bunch of properties that still haven't come back.

[00:15:00] Orlando, we didn't have an amusement park.

[00:15:02] We didn't have that sudden drop.

[00:15:03] Nobody wanted to stand in line with somebody else during that period.

[00:15:07] The tragedy in South Florida with the condo collapse,

[00:15:11] everybody thought everybody was going to collapse.

[00:15:13] Tampa, Jacksonville and the west coast of Florida were beneficiary of those things.

[00:15:19] Yeah, Michael, before you became the CEO when we visited Jacksonville

[00:15:24] and there was a new tenure,

[00:15:26] I would call that was a lot of conversation about visitor centers,

[00:15:31] where they should be, how big they should be and what they should do.

[00:15:35] What's the status of visitor centers right now?

[00:15:38] That's a great question, Mike.

[00:15:40] Visitor centers continue to be a great topic of discussion for us.

[00:15:44] We currently have four visitor centers.

[00:15:47] We have the one that's at the airport when you come down the escalator to go get your luggage.

[00:15:52] That visitor center, we have a visitor center downtown

[00:15:54] at the corner of Lower and Forsyth Street right next to Bellwether Restaurant

[00:15:58] and the old Center State Bank location.

[00:16:00] We have a visitor center in the Beaches Museum.

[00:16:03] The fourth one is a mobile visitor center called Seymour Jacks.

[00:16:06] It's a Mercedes Sprinter van that's wrapped in colorful Jacksonville things

[00:16:12] and then it goes around to different events in Jacksonville

[00:16:14] and also goes out of town to festivals and stuff of that nature.

[00:16:17] Coming down to the farm in a couple weeks to do a showdown at the farm with Mike.

[00:16:24] Sorry, it's a rodeo, Mike.

[00:16:26] Yeah, and then we spend a lot of time at the Florida Welcome Center on I-95.

[00:16:30] Some 38% of the people that go to that particular visitor center

[00:16:33] don't know where they're going to sleep that night.

[00:16:35] No kidding.

[00:16:36] So we go there and we...

[00:16:37] The one on I-95.

[00:16:39] Crossing Georgia.

[00:16:40] Yeah, across the Georgia line right near Wildlight.

[00:16:43] So we spend a lot of time there letting people know,

[00:16:47] hey you can stop in Jacksonville.

[00:16:48] You don't have to go all the way to Orlando or wherever they might be going.

[00:16:51] But as technology's evolved and your visitor center really isn't a palm in your hand

[00:16:56] in the form of a mobile phone now,

[00:16:58] the role of those visitor centers is changing every single day.

[00:17:02] We spend a lot more time doing chat on online chat versus in-person exchanges.

[00:17:09] We still do a ton of...

[00:17:11] Obviously we have a VisitJax app and a VisitJaxville.com website

[00:17:14] that are getting a lot more interaction than the visitor centers are getting now.

[00:17:18] So we're taking another hard look now as should we be in a visitor center

[00:17:22] waiting for a visitor or out in the community

[00:17:24] and going to where the visitors are.

[00:17:26] But Mike told me it's still a great conversation that we have every single day.

[00:17:30] It hasn't changed at all.

[00:17:31] I'm surprised.

[00:17:32] You didn't have a visitor center coming to Florida from 75 though, did you?

[00:17:36] Just at 95?

[00:17:37] No, there's one on 75.

[00:17:38] There is one.

[00:17:39] But it's the number of people that go from there to Jacksonville is...

[00:17:43] Yeah, most everybody on that one is going towards central Florida.

[00:17:48] I remember when I first moved to Florida which was in 72

[00:17:51] and I was coming down from Indiana, but I was going to Orlando.

[00:17:55] So that's why we took 75 and I thought there was some place we got some orange juice.

[00:18:00] I don't remember exactly what you did.

[00:18:02] Well, I know to answer your question because when I'm coming back from North Carolina

[00:18:05] I come down 75 and then I come on 10

[00:18:08] and the only thing that follows me or I'm behind is a semi.

[00:18:11] Most everybody follows...

[00:18:13] All the other cars have gone south.

[00:18:15] It's only the semis that have found that.

[00:18:17] I have a question though that we talked about a new thing that was coming out called

[00:18:22] the flip side of Florida.

[00:18:24] But I want you to talk about that, but then I want to come back to something that's not on the script

[00:18:29] because I really want to give you time to think about it.

[00:18:33] When you think of tourism in the Jacksonville, North Florida,

[00:18:36] give us an idea of what that looks like.

[00:18:39] We run campaigns like any organization would do

[00:18:41] and you have to refresh them periodically.

[00:18:44] For instance, when I got to visit Jacksonville our campaign was It's Easier Here

[00:18:48] and took a lot of grief in the media about it.

[00:18:51] I actually met with the Times Union leadership and their editorial page writers

[00:18:56] when I first got here and they had on the record that they hated that campaign.

[00:19:01] I asked you just for one favor and they said,

[00:19:05] please keep writing about it. Keep writing about how horrible it is.

[00:19:09] I can't pay for local media and you're giving it to me.

[00:19:15] Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

[00:19:19] And another Mike, Mike Clark of course didn't let me go on that and kept pushing me

[00:19:23] and I finally told him, I said, Mike think about if you were a visitor

[00:19:28] and you flew into Jacksonville International Airport,

[00:19:30] think about, visualize this for a minute.

[00:19:32] I said, you don't ever do this but visualize this.

[00:19:34] I said, when you get off that plane how easy is it to get to the main concourse?

[00:19:38] It's really easy and I go and you go down and it's easy to get your luggage.

[00:19:42] And he goes, yeah.

[00:19:43] And I said, if you get a rental car it's 100 feet away,

[00:19:45] not get on the bus and ride somewhere, it's so easy.

[00:19:47] I said, and when you get in that rental car,

[00:19:49] then wherever you're trying to go in 20 minutes unless you're doing it right in rush hour,

[00:19:53] you're there in 20 minutes and you get there and you're welcome

[00:19:56] and you can go to dinner that night without having to make a reservation six months in advance.

[00:19:59] It's just easier to do that.

[00:20:01] And he said, well, I guess it really is kind of easier.

[00:20:03] I never really thought about it.

[00:20:04] So that campaign was effective from that but it ran its course.

[00:20:07] We ran a bunch of different levels on everything else.

[00:20:09] So when it was time to come up with a new campaign,

[00:20:12] we contracted with the Wingard Agency here in town,

[00:20:14] a local advertising agency to come up with a new campaign.

[00:20:17] And we've seen a lot of choices but when we looked at it,

[00:20:21] Jacksonville is really the flip side of Florida.

[00:20:24] We touched on a few of these earlier.

[00:20:26] We're not the big condos and crowded beaches and what you get in Miami.

[00:20:31] We're not theme parks like you see in Orlando.

[00:20:33] We're not even in the middle of nowhere like West Florida is

[00:20:36] when you get over to the far over to the Pensacola Panama City area.

[00:20:40] We're really the flip side of Florida.

[00:20:42] We've got more oak trees than palm trees.

[00:20:44] You know, we've got the largest urban park system.

[00:20:47] You know, you can amuse yourself in a lot of different ways and go into an amusement park.

[00:20:50] So we really are starting to have been and will continue to play on that flip side

[00:20:54] that we're not like the rest of Florida.

[00:20:56] We're the Florida you want but we're not like the rest of Florida.

[00:20:59] Michael, by my channel, we've had a lot of slumming over the years.

[00:21:07] I'll read some of them down.

[00:21:09] Believe you city of the south where Florida begins.

[00:21:13] Gateway to Florida.

[00:21:15] Sitting on the man item.

[00:21:16] It's easy we're here and now the flip side of Florida.

[00:21:20] This is a statical viewpoint.

[00:21:23] Maybe that attributes to the fact that we don't know what our identity really is.

[00:21:28] I'd love to address that Mike.

[00:21:30] That's 100% the challenge that we face every single day.

[00:21:33] The good news is Jacksonville is 840 square miles.

[00:21:36] The bad news is Jacksonville is 840 square miles.

[00:21:40] And we obviously do a lot of research on who comes to visit us, why they come to visit us, and everything else.

[00:21:46] And the reality is there is no one thing.

[00:21:48] There is no one reason people come to Jacksonville.

[00:21:51] Our visitor split is incredible.

[00:21:53] The number one thing that people come to Jacksonville for, by 54% of them, is to visit family and friends.

[00:22:00] And until the last year and a half we didn't really understand that.

[00:22:04] And now we're spending, at Visit Jacksonville, spending a lot more time educating locals about what there is to do and how to do it and everything else.

[00:22:12] Because that's where the majority of the visitors are coming from.

[00:22:15] And so if we manage the people here and help them understand what's available in their city,

[00:22:20] then they're going to invite more people and they're going to have them stay longer and everything else.

[00:22:23] And we all win.

[00:22:24] One thing I was always surprised that we never really highlighted, and that is the natural beauty of Jacksonville.

[00:22:30] I mean as you pointed out, all of the oak trees and all of the things that are non-Floridian, if you will,

[00:22:36] but between the largest park system in the United States, something that we've always been proud of,

[00:22:43] but I've been surprised that they haven't said, let's take a look at environmental tourism

[00:22:48] and start really pushing the idea of kayaking and hiking and all of those things that are associated with that kind of work.

[00:22:54] Well, plus you've got the beaches, and you've got the river, and then you've got, I mean when you sort of think about that.

[00:23:00] Black Amok Island, I mean you've got just so much.

[00:23:02] You know it's really interesting. I had, the percentage was 54% they come to visit.

[00:23:10] That's really what I was leading up to when you were talking about tourism is,

[00:23:15] I've been here now since 1957.

[00:23:18] Talbert would say it was 1857 or it was 1957.

[00:23:22] He used to wear his in 1757 like him.

[00:23:24] Well he yelped on statehood.

[00:23:26] But you know when people ask why Jacksonville, I don't have a brochure that talks,

[00:23:33] I mean I can sort of because I lived on the river in Avondale,

[00:23:37] but you have to sort us up and think.

[00:23:39] So I'm thinking, have we ever thought together of putting a brochure together for those of us that said,

[00:23:44] by the way this is all that you can do.

[00:23:47] Because I have one of those in North Carolina, you go to our little town,

[00:23:51] and they list all the places, all that.

[00:23:53] I think that's a huge opportunity there.

[00:23:57] Yeah, it's been the challenge we've been trying to figure out because

[00:24:02] we've got 60 brochures because there's so much to do,

[00:24:05] but how do you put that on a single brochure to do it?

[00:24:09] That's why we start pushing more and more people towards the app,

[00:24:13] primarily the app on your phone because that particular device is location based.

[00:24:18] So if you're on one side of town and pull up what is there to do in nature, natural beauty, whatever,

[00:24:24] it's going to show you what's within you in the next few miles

[00:24:27] because we know that people come to Jacksonville because they want to go to the beach.

[00:24:32] They may stay at the St. John's Town Center, they may actually stay at the beach,

[00:24:35] and they get here and they wander around a little bit and start seeing another Jacksonville they have

[00:24:40] and didn't even know existed.

[00:24:41] So they go, we're coming back next time, we're going in that direction,

[00:24:44] we're going to stay on the other side of town.

[00:24:47] I was asked earlier this week that somebody said,

[00:24:50] if you were going to tell somebody to come in town and do one thing,

[00:24:53] what would you tell them to do?

[00:24:55] Well, 840 square miles of things to do, I thought for a second,

[00:24:59] I said, you know, the answer to that is touch the water.

[00:25:02] Somehow touch the water.

[00:25:03] Whether you're going to touch our 22 miles of wide sandy beaches

[00:25:07] or if you're going to get on a river taxi and take a cruise on the river

[00:25:11] or if you're going to stay at a hotel and have a chance to go to the pool,

[00:25:14] in some way, somehow touch the water.

[00:25:17] And go back to Mike's comment earlier about Lake St. John's,

[00:25:21] if you don't totally appreciate and understand the beauty of the St. John's River,

[00:25:25] I challenge you to go downtown to the Main Street Bridge,

[00:25:28] the Blue Bridge downtown,

[00:25:29] and just park your car somewhere and walk across that bridge.

[00:25:32] Get in the middle of that bridge above that river

[00:25:34] and watch the sheer power of that water going through

[00:25:38] and stand there and just breathe for a couple minutes.

[00:25:41] You're going to realize two things.

[00:25:43] One is the river is by far our largest asset.

[00:25:46] I mean, it's just amazing.

[00:25:47] And two is, and this is an amazing place to be,

[00:25:50] I spoke at a Rotary Club last week and started by saying,

[00:25:54] you know, how many of you are from here?

[00:25:56] There's probably 70 people at this speech.

[00:25:59] Four people raised their hand.

[00:26:01] I said that means over 60 of you came here and fell in love and never left.

[00:26:05] And that's what happens every single day in Jacksonville.

[00:26:08] Absolutely.

[00:26:09] And as I work with the Chamber of Commerce about, you know,

[00:26:11] how do we grow our community,

[00:26:12] how do we bring more business here and everything else,

[00:26:14] I said well it all starts with one thing.

[00:26:16] You got to come visit first.

[00:26:17] And visit Jacksonville's job is to get people to come here and visit first.

[00:26:20] And once you visit, the rest is history, I mean.

[00:26:23] This is purely an aside,

[00:26:26] but only because I saw it last night on TV

[00:26:30] and I can't remember if it was action news or news for Jacks,

[00:26:34] but I think the anchor went to Tampa to talk to the former mayor there

[00:26:39] about the amazing development that they've had downtown

[00:26:43] and asking what was the secret?

[00:26:45] And the whole secret from what they said last night was the River Walk.

[00:26:50] The River Walk of Tampa is the place.

[00:26:54] And boy, we need to learn that lesson here for downtown too.

[00:26:58] We've got to get that going.

[00:26:59] Kind of going back to what Hightower said a few minutes ago,

[00:27:02] you know, why come visit here?

[00:27:05] I did a show with a former Jaguar player that hadn't done any prep,

[00:27:10] and he walked in and he goes,

[00:27:14] why would anybody want to come visit here?

[00:27:17] I said, well, I mean, you came here as a,

[00:27:21] coming straight out of college, you moved here when the Jaguar started

[00:27:25] and you're still here.

[00:27:26] I said, why did you stay here?

[00:27:28] And he rattles off like 20 reasons why he stayed here.

[00:27:31] And I said, can I hire you as my marketing VP?

[00:27:33] Because you're pretty good.

[00:27:34] I mean, if you ask 10 different people what they really love about Jacksonville,

[00:27:38] you're going to get 10 different answers.

[00:27:39] And that's what our biggest strength is.

[00:27:41] But end of the day, the difference between Jacksonville and any other community

[00:27:45] in the state or even in the country, it's the people.

[00:27:48] It is the people.

[00:27:49] It's the people, 100% the people.

[00:27:51] Think back to the first Jaguar game you went to,

[00:27:53] complete strangers around you and we scored a touchdown.

[00:27:55] They were your best friends for the next five minutes.

[00:27:57] And then you had to buy five years worth of tickets.

[00:28:00] So you had the same people next to you for five years.

[00:28:02] Think how many lifetime friendships were created there that are still in existence.

[00:28:06] Exactly.

[00:28:07] The connectivity.

[00:28:09] Considering you're bringing up the Jaguars,

[00:28:11] and we will talk about the stadium a little bit later on,

[00:28:14] but I do want to ask you about the creation of the Sports Foundation.

[00:28:18] Tell us how that came about, why was it needed,

[00:28:20] and what did it be doing?

[00:28:21] I appreciate you asking, Mike.

[00:28:23] The Jacksonville Sports Foundation was created just over a month ago.

[00:28:26] We had a press conference just over a week ago where we made two announcements.

[00:28:30] One was the formation of the Jacksonville Sports Foundation.

[00:28:33] The second part of that was the relocation of the Athletic Sun Conference to Jacksonville,

[00:28:38] the first Division I sports conference to be located in Florida.

[00:28:42] Not in Jacksonville, but in Florida.

[00:28:44] So a huge win for our community.

[00:28:46] The Athletic Sun is going to be very helpful in our sports development throughout that.

[00:28:50] But what happened was back in 2019, I was in my job for just a couple months,

[00:28:55] we hosted the NCAA men's first and second round basketball games.

[00:28:59] Phenomenal experience.

[00:29:01] Everybody loved it and everything else.

[00:29:03] I knew nothing about what I was doing at that point.

[00:29:05] I was really just trying to figure out where the door was at that point.

[00:29:08] But we finished, and we knew they had already scheduled them out for four years after that.

[00:29:15] So they had 20, 21, 22, and 23 already scheduled.

[00:29:21] And so we knew we couldn't do anything about that.

[00:29:23] We weren't going to get it.

[00:29:24] So we were ready to visit Jacksonville,

[00:29:26] we were ready to go try to get it again when it became available.

[00:29:29] Then the pandemic hit.

[00:29:31] And that really had a two-year impact on the NCAA tournament.

[00:29:33] It canceled one year, put it all in Indianapolis the year after that.

[00:29:37] And so you're looking at all of it up to 2026 before the decision was made.

[00:29:41] So about a year, almost a year and a half ago now,

[00:29:44] I started asking questions of the administration, the ASM Global, which ones are Phen use.

[00:29:49] I said, how are we organized?

[00:29:52] Who's helping to make sure we get this basketball tournament back?

[00:29:56] I realized that Jacksonville as a community had only bid on two things.

[00:29:59] One, men's first and second round basketball, Division I,

[00:30:02] and the other was a regional track championship that the University of North Florida bid on to the NCAA and won.

[00:30:09] So they're very good at it.

[00:30:11] So I said, wait a minute, this doesn't make any sense.

[00:30:13] We need to do better than that. Jacksonville is a better community than that.

[00:30:16] So visit Jacksonville, contract with the consultant up in Indianapolis to understand the system, how it worked and everything else.

[00:30:24] When we hired them, we had two goals.

[00:30:26] One is help us bid on NCAA championships and the other was should Jacksonville be in this game?

[00:30:31] Should we be in the sports tourism game and how should we do it?

[00:30:35] The response was overwhelming.

[00:30:37] They said, we can't believe you're not in it already.

[00:30:40] You used to be in it. Why are you not in it now?

[00:30:44] And then we were basically analyzing the need that we needed to do it.

[00:30:49] And then I said, okay, the first thing we need to do is go and find out that there's a political will to do this.

[00:30:54] Does the mayor and the council, do they see the belief in doing this?

[00:30:58] And obviously the answer was yes or we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[00:31:02] So I said, okay, I need initial support to be able to start this process.

[00:31:07] And President Ron Salem said, look, we think it's huge.

[00:31:10] We really want to get the, at that point everybody's talking about basketball, we really want to get that back.

[00:31:14] And so they allocated one point five million dollars to sports tourism effort through visit Jacksonville.

[00:31:20] So we knew we had the seed money.

[00:31:22] We need to be able to do that and started working on establishing the entity, which is now the Jacksonville Sports Foundation.

[00:31:28] And now the next step is to build a corporation and community support to be able to to to excel.

[00:31:34] It cannot be done if you're just relying on governmental tourist development tax funds to do it.

[00:31:39] That's government is not the way to do it.

[00:31:41] It's private investment.

[00:31:42] We know that the G.J.O. turning into the players is was the first major example.

[00:31:47] The second one called Cannon left led the effort to sell the club seats of the Jaguars.

[00:31:52] That community and corporate response was critical.

[00:31:54] So that's what we're trying to do now.

[00:31:56] So where the city historically has only been on two NCAA championships through the efforts of visit Jacksonville Sports Foundation in the city,

[00:32:04] we've been on 14 for the calendar year 2026, 27 and 2728.

[00:32:09] So we hope to get four, six, eight of those championships would be phenomenal.

[00:32:14] But we instantly realized the untapped opportunities we had to do that if we do it right.

[00:32:21] And the key to it and it's been tried before.

[00:32:23] You know, the city had a Sports and Entertainment Commission, Jack, the Gator Wars started Jack Sports and both those efforts were great efforts.

[00:32:29] And they had their place and they were doing what they were doing.

[00:32:32] The reality is, in my opinion and the people that we're working with, it needs to be a complete community effort.

[00:32:39] And it needs to take place all over the community.

[00:32:42] We shouldn't be focused on doing things in the sports complex.

[00:32:45] There are people, a lot of people that are paid money to bring things into the sports complex.

[00:32:49] We need to be focused on 840 square miles.

[00:32:52] And we need to include every single resident in that effort.

[00:32:55] And when these things come to town, it needs to benefit every single person in the community as well.

[00:33:00] The long term plan is to be able to have, obviously the foundation that attracts and recruits and puts on sporting championships.

[00:33:08] It's also time to get all the previous sports champions that have chosen Jacksonville as a place to live and put them together and become an asset as we try to go get these.

[00:33:16] You know, we're trying to get a, for instance, if we're trying to bring a swimming championship here, we should have swimming champions helping us do that.

[00:33:22] Where's Greg Lugana when you need him?

[00:33:24] Yeah, yeah.

[00:33:25] We'll have Nancy Holgate.

[00:33:26] There's a guy swimming in the Olympics in a couple of months, next month called Ryan Murphy.

[00:33:30] He's pretty good.

[00:33:31] He lives here.

[00:33:32] So, you know, he's going to have a business here.

[00:33:35] So there's all kind of athletes and all different sports that are here that we're going to try to put together as a resource for us to be able to do that.

[00:33:42] And the third one is what we're loosely calling children are champions.

[00:33:45] It's children are the future athletic stars, but even more importantly, they're future people that can live here in Jacksonville.

[00:33:52] All of us want our kids to grow up and stay here in Jacksonville.

[00:33:55] So let's make sure that when corporations invest in events and they're not going to use the tickets, those tickets go to children.

[00:34:01] They can come to the event.

[00:34:02] Oh, great.

[00:34:03] When those children come to the event, let's get one of these champions to come in and talk to them about the importance of staying in school, participating in sports, staying in shape.

[00:34:09] I mean, there's such a huge, massive community wide effort that can take place and everybody wants to participate in it.

[00:34:16] I haven't talked to anybody yet that says, well, why are you wasting time on sports?

[00:34:20] I mean, it's it makes perfect sense to be able to do this.

[00:34:23] And it's really in the infancy of a now.

[00:34:26] But we're very, very confident this is going to be a huge game changer.

[00:34:30] And the great news is the city who used to do it is 100 percent supportive of it.

[00:34:35] Greg McGarrity, the Gator Bowl said not only were you in favor of it, we'll get our volunteer army to help you do it.

[00:34:40] And every single entity we've talked to has said, tell us how we can help.

[00:34:44] Jacksonville historically has had a lot of great athletes among its residents.

[00:34:52] I remember back in the 70s when I was working for their chancellor, but I counted on all the with Harold Carmichael's help.

[00:35:01] He played for the Philadelphia Eagles.

[00:35:03] I counted on all the football players who were in the NFL from Jacksonville.

[00:35:08] And at that time, there were 38.

[00:35:10] This was before we had an NFL team.

[00:35:13] And I have been convinced for a long time now, especially what we have the Jaguars, that there is a lot that can be harnessed from those people.

[00:35:22] But if we could just figure out a way to make that magic happen.

[00:35:26] But I haven't said that Michael Plinks will be in here.

[00:35:29] This is very frantic.

[00:35:31] We learned a lot of what 300 words will be telling other people about what's going on.

[00:35:37] I'd appreciate it.

[00:35:39] Last question, sir.

[00:35:40] Yes, sir.

[00:35:41] City Council.

[00:35:42] This is put in.

[00:35:43] Put your City Council hat on.

[00:35:46] City Council is beginning the process of evaluating whether or not to spend $775 million to renovate Football Stadium.

[00:35:54] If you were back on the council, what would you want to know before you vote?

[00:35:59] And which way are you leaning at this point?

[00:36:03] So put on your old hat.

[00:36:05] Sure.

[00:36:06] I don't know the details of what's been announced.

[00:36:09] Press conferences are a moment in time.

[00:36:11] That doesn't matter.

[00:36:12] Yeah, I know.

[00:36:14] Press conferences are a moment in time.

[00:36:16] You're not chairman of the Finance Committee anymore.

[00:36:18] More president.

[00:36:20] But I'm looking forward, like many people, to reading the actual legislation that's going to be introduced.

[00:36:27] My understanding, I heard seven or maybe nine different bills that go with that.

[00:36:33] I think it's important to read them and understand them.

[00:36:36] And I think it's very important.

[00:36:39] The stadium, reimagined the way that it's been presented to the public, is going to be a huge asset for our community.

[00:36:46] It feels, Mike kind of touched on the Convention Center earlier, it can fill a lot of roles of meeting spaces and exhibition spaces and stuff of that nature as we do it until we build something else that would be solely for that purpose.

[00:37:01] But I think it's important to know the details.

[00:37:03] How it's going to get calendared, make sure that we're not stepping on each other.

[00:37:08] It's just one venue of a multi-venue.

[00:37:11] You don't want to have a stadium concert at the same time you have a concert lined up in the arena.

[00:37:17] That's not going to be good for either one of the promoters.

[00:37:19] So that coordination of effort is extremely important to me and to Visit Jacksonville.

[00:37:25] And I know the council is going to look at that as well to make sure that we're maximizing that opportunity.

[00:37:31] It's a massive investment.

[00:37:33] And if we make a massive investment and shoot ourselves on the foot, it's just been another project.

[00:37:38] If we do it right, we can really soar.

[00:37:41] The goal of Jacksonville should not be solely to host the Super Bowl, which we did in 2005.

[00:37:47] It should be to make each one of those venues in that sports complex active hundreds of days a year.

[00:37:53] The arena is doing really good in that.

[00:37:56] The Jumbo Shrimp are filling up the summertime months.

[00:37:59] The Reimagined Stadium needs to be able to do that.

[00:38:02] Over 100, some closer to 200 days a year needs to be extremely active.

[00:38:07] Having said that, we need this stadium project.

[00:38:11] I'm in favor of the stadium project.

[00:38:13] It needs to be, we all as taxpayers made the investment 30 years ago and told our elected officials 30 years ago,

[00:38:22] support this but make sure it's a good deal for the city.

[00:38:25] And they voted it and it happened.

[00:38:27] And we knew when they took that vote 30 years later, we were going to have to take another vote.

[00:38:31] And everybody assumed that next time was going to be approved and it should be.

[00:38:35] Nobody is going to be completely happy with the deal, but the definition of a good deal is when both sides give some.

[00:38:42] And so that's, you know, we think that's what's happening now.

[00:38:45] I know the process started with the previous administration.

[00:38:49] They did a lot of the nuts and bolts details of it.

[00:38:52] And the financing of it was left to the new administration is primarily what's happened.

[00:38:56] Rory Diamond said the other night during council meeting, this thing hasn't changed.

[00:38:59] This deal hasn't changed at all except adding a new community element to it.

[00:39:03] Okay, well, that's good.

[00:39:05] It's great that all the work that was done previously didn't go in the trash can.

[00:39:07] We kept that work.

[00:39:09] So I think that at the end of the day, the council will approve it.

[00:39:12] You know, you don't get a lot of tweaking opportunities when you deal with an NFL stadium deal.

[00:39:17] I worked on one of the lease amendment back when I was council vice president.

[00:39:21] And you don't have a lot of chips to negotiate with, but you partner with the entity to make sure it's a good deal.

[00:39:27] You know, Mike, you made your point about both sides being unhappy.

[00:39:32] Mike Tolbert and I, one of our best friends in the whole world, the late Betty Houlsendorf,

[00:39:36] when she was in Tallahassee, senator, and when she would introduce legislation and she'd be there,

[00:39:43] she said, you know, if my bills made both sides a little unhappy, then I've got a pretty good deal out of it.

[00:39:49] Exactly.

[00:39:50] Because nobody should get everything.

[00:39:52] And if they both walk away and they're a little unhappy, I got a pretty good deal out of the way.

[00:39:56] Because at the end of the day, do you want to accomplish something?

[00:40:00] But if there's two sides, both have got to give up a little bit.

[00:40:03] So my only thing is that knowing the leadership that you bring,

[00:40:09] I just think some of our council members should just keep their powder dry and wait until the details before they start talking.

[00:40:16] That's an observation.

[00:40:18] That's typically how I did it when I was there.

[00:40:21] That's all I'll say.

[00:40:23] And you did it well.

[00:40:24] Thank you.

[00:40:25] I'm going to be your council member for eight years.

[00:40:27] He moved after I got off council.

[00:40:30] Why not?

[00:40:32] Well, it was after he became tax collector.

[00:40:34] Then we had an issue.

[00:40:36] That was a different issue.

[00:40:38] He still has an issue with us.

[00:40:40] Mike, thank you.

[00:40:41] Thank you for what you're doing for our city.

[00:40:42] Thanks for the new information.

[00:40:43] Mike Tolbert said it right.

[00:40:45] We found out a lot of things we didn't know about.

[00:40:47] I appreciate it.

[00:40:48] I love the opportunity to come see you.

[00:40:49] I mean, three good friends for a long time that's given me advice, sometimes asked for some advice.

[00:40:54] I'm solicited, but I've always gotten a good advice.

[00:40:57] We got what you paid for, at least for me.

[00:41:00] Exactly.

[00:41:02] And by the way, we're so close.

[00:41:03] He's got my treadmill at his house.

[00:41:05] Oh, then that's close.

[00:41:07] That's very close.

[00:41:08] I hang my jacket on it.

[00:41:09] That's all.

[00:41:10] That's true bromance.

[00:41:12] All right.

[00:41:13] Thank you, Michael.

[00:41:14] Very, very much.

[00:41:15] It's great to see you.

[00:41:16] Thank you all, by the way.

[00:41:17] And once again, we want to thank, of course, our sponsors, the Jacksonville Historical Society, located in the History Center.

[00:41:23] Our thanks to Alan Bliss and the donors who keep the lights on in the studio to allow us to do our podcast every week.

[00:41:29] We hope you'll join us every week.

[00:41:31] In weeks to come, we're going to be talking about the stadium deal.

[00:41:33] We're trying to put together three different programs to attack the whole issue before it gets to city council.

[00:41:41] We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can get all the guests on that we're going after.

[00:41:45] We definitely do have David Bauerlein, however, on June the 6th.

[00:41:49] He will be kicking off the three-week look into the stadium deal.

[00:41:54] And nobody has covered the stadium situation as well as David Bauerlein has.

[00:41:58] So he'll be able to bring just a fountain of information and great insight, as well as perspective and so on and so forth.

[00:42:05] Thank you all for joining us.

[00:42:06] Join us, of course, on Facebook, on our website or wherever you get your favorite podcast.

[00:42:10] And we'll see you again next week.

[00:42:12] Bye bye.

[00:42:13] Y'all take care.

[00:42:14] Thanks.

[00:42:15] Mike's on Mike with Mike Tolbert, Mike Hightower and Mike Miller can be found on your favorite podcasting platform, Facebook and YouTube.

[00:42:23] Visit the website at Mike's on Mike dot com.

[00:42:26] Join us next time for more conversation with Mike's on Mike.