Jacksonville Sports Foundation Officially Launches

Visit Jacksonville has set up the Jacksonville Sports Foundation in the Florida destination to work on attracting more high-profile events to the city, starting with a move for the Atlantic Sun Conference’s headquarters to the city from Atlanta.

The new Foundation will work to attract sporting events to Jacksonville, which hosted the Super Bowl in 2005 at the home of the NFL’s Jaguars and is known as the long-time host of the annual Florida vs. Georgia college football game. The Jacksonville Sports Foundation is seeking founding partners to help launch the work and volunteers to help carry out its mission.

“The vision for the Jacksonville Sports Foundation is to not only leverage sports tourism to enhance the economic prosperity of Jacksonville, but to expand the appeal of the area,” said Michael Corrigan, president and chief executive officer of Visit Jacksonville. “By doing that we not only attract competitive sports events, but also sports-related entities like the Atlantic Sun Conference, to further the $178 million estimated economic impact that sports had in Jacksonville in 2023 alone.”

As the Foundation continues to evolve, it will have its own staff who will work in partnership with Visit Jacksonville, which will continue to lead efforts on behalf of the Jacksonville Sports Foundation until staff is hired. So far this year, bids have been made to host 14 NCAA Division I and Division II tournaments, USA Gymnastics competitions and various collegiate conference championships.

The Atlantic Sun Conference, established in 1978 as the Trans America Athletic Conference, has a membership of 12 institutions  including nine of the nation’s top 80 media markets, including six within the top 50. It’s best known for having member school FGCU reach the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

“I am more than thrilled to be announcing our relocation to Jacksonville,” said ASUN Commissioner Jeff Bacon. “We look forward to the continued growth of the Atlantic Sun and our phenomenal institutions.”

The ASUN announcement is the second sports-related move to Jacksonville this year. In January, the Amateur Athletic Union announced Jacksonville as the new home of the AAU Track and Field Primary Nationals and Club Championships, which this year will be July 7–13 at Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida.

“I’ve seen first-hand the impact of sports tourism in Jacksonville,” said Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan. “Having an organization dedicated to attracting sport events to Jacksonville is a game-changer and I’m excited to see what the Jacksonville Sports Foundation brings here.”