The city of Jacksonville is looking to entice tourists with tickets to a professional football game.

Granted, tickets to a Jacksonville Jaguar game aren’t difficult to come by.  The team is 3-3 so far on the season and they finished the 2008 season at 5-11.  That’s 5 wins and 11 losses.  Needless to say, fans aren’t pouring into Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.

However, this does provide an opportunity to save money on a unique travel experience.

Jacksonville Municipal Stadium

One of the travel packages offered at VisitJacksonville.com is a “Football Package”.  These packages include discounted rates at local hotels and tickets to Jaguar games, as well as the option of admission to other local Jacksonville attractions.  For example, you can add tickets to The Museum of Science & History or the World Golf Hall of Fame to your vacation package.

You have to book your Football Vacation package through the website, and it’s difficult to see exactly what your pricing options are without plugging in dates.  You’ll pay about $80 per person for your football tickets, but you’ll also receive a discount at local hotels.  One package I researched offered rooms at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for less than $90 per night.

I priced a weekend in Jacksonville for two people for the November 8th game against the Kansas City Chiefs.  For 2 nights at the Crowne Plaza and 2 tickets in mid-level 200th row (approximately), you can pay just under $350 booking as a package.  For the same tickets on Ticketmaster, you’d pay $530.

Check out the Visit Jacksonville web site for more information.

Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik