JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Businesses across the Jacksonville area are expecting huge crowds for the Jaguars-Chiefs playoff game on Saturday.
Sports bars tell News4JAX that they’re gearing up for crowds as passionate as ever.
“We are ordering more food, more liquor,” said Rana Kazaneh at MVP’s Sports Grille. “I’m hiring more staff every day.”
MVP’s is a fixture in East Arlington, and bartenders like Kevin Vencito are preparing for the crowds that they haven’t historically seen when the Jaguars used to struggle.
“Not many people coming in, leaving at halftime. People, they believe in this team — obviously, Trevor [Lawrence] — and we have a lot of key parts and people that we believe in,” Vencito said. “So people are staying and having fun.”
Other bars in Northeast Florida are doing the same thing. News4JAX called around, and beyond MVP’s, Lillian’s Sports Grill in Ortega will have a live band. At Dalton’s Sports Grill in Middleburg, employees are ordering extra wings. At Shaughnessy Sports Grill in St. Augustine, beyond the crowds, it will have a lot of takeout orders — sometimes hundreds for wings. And Sneakers Sports Grille in Jacksonville Beach says that it has been busy each weekend and that Saturday will be no exception.
There is also the question of whether the team will have any activities before leaving town this week. A Jaguars spokesperson on Tuesday said, “No details to share. We’ll send out a press release if and when any details are made available.”
And in the meantime, Music star Darius Rucker is clarifying his tweet Monday about the Jaguars saying: “If your team is out who u got in the @NFL playoffs. Nobody wants to see @Trevorlawrencee and the @Jaguars !!! Let me hear who u like to win it all!!”
While some thought it was a knock at the Jaguars, Rucker says that it was the opposite.
“The fact that u took that as hate when I am saying that no one in the NFL wants to see the Jags because they are playing great football says a lot about u,” Rucker tweeted, in part, Tuesday. “I think Trevor is one of the best 3 QBs in the league. And he is a friend.”