When the University of Florida plays Georgetown on the deck of an aircraft carrier moored/parked/anchored/whatever in Jacksonville, everyone who buys tickets to the unique event will also be buying tickets to a Jaguars game.
Whether they like it or not.
According to Hays Carlyon of the Florida Times-Union, ticket packages for the November 9 basketball game start at $1,000. For that amount, the purchaser gets two tickets to the Georgetown-Florida game, two tickets to the Colts-Jaguars game to be played on NFL Network the night before, and four more tickets to the Colts-Jaguars game, which will be donated to military personnel.
So, basically, for every ticket sold to the basketball game, three will be sold to the Colts-Jaguars game. With 5,000 tickets to the basketball game available, that translates to 15,000 tickets to the football game.
The tying arrangement apparently is being justified by reliance on a military regulation that prohibits individual tickets to be sold to an event on a military base.
I’m a bit shocked and perplexed that military regulations could so easily be circumvented by requiring the folks who buy tickets to the basketball game to buy multiple tickets to a completely unrelated event. But sometimes it’s easier to just accept what’s being peddled at face value, no matter how confusing it may be. Especially when the proceeds from packages that also can be purchased for $2,500, $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000 will be devoted to veterans’ services.