JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars won't have any blackouts this season.
They don't even want to use the term, either.
Breer: Week 2 predictions
Can the high-flying Falcons and tough-as-nails Niners win in Week 2? Albert Breer thinks so. See who else he likes. **More ...**
And if things go as planned under new owner Shad Khan, empty seats at EverBank Field also will be a thing of the past.
Team president Mark Lamping said Friday the Jaguars will have every home game on local television in 2012, and in an effort to remove blackouts from the conversation, they won't even ask the NFL for extensions.
"We don't sell tickets to get our game on TV," Lamping said. "We sell tickets to generate revenue and have a stabile franchise. And almost just as important is to have the stadium full so that we have a home-field advantage. Whether the game is on TV or not, that's just sort of a by-product. That's not our goal."
Jacksonville also has several new initiatives to beef up ticket sales. Fans are allowed to bring food into the stadium to avoid high costs at concession stands. Babies sitting on a parent's lap get free admission. And unused seats are being sold for as low as $20 each.
Fans can buy a certificate for up to four tickets the day before the game and then redeem it for unused tickets, some in prime locations, an hour before kickoff. But the new policy, tabbed "Coin-Toss Tickets", does not guarantee location or whether tickets will be singles, paired or nearby each other.
Nonetheless, the Jaguars believe they are taking steps to eliminate those empty pockets of seats that get a lot of national attention and create speculation that the franchise is destined to relocate.
"We wanted to eliminate those policies that were barriers to fans attending games," Lamping said. "The outside perception is that no one goes to the games here, that games are always blacked out here. So now there won't be that talk. All the games will be on television."
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
