Jaguars supporter group, The Bold City Brigade, got national attention yesterday from sports media giants ESPN andCBS Sports with Evenifhesreleased.com, a website advocating a Tim Tebow-free roster.
Created to send a message of support for owner Shad Khan’s plans for the team, Bold City Brigade’s Director of Communication Jeremy Nettles said, “We launched evenifhesreleased.com as way for Jaguars fans to show support for their team and the vision of Shad Khan, Dave Caldwell and Gus Bradley.”
The straightforward website allows for Jaguar fans to click in support of Jaguar General Manager David Caldwell’s statement from a press conference: “I can’t imagine a scenario where he’d be a Jaguar, even if he’s released.”
Tim Tebow played for the Florida Gators at nearby UF after playing for Nease in St. John’s County. Many Jaguars fans hoped the home grown player would join the Jaguar’s roster in 2010.
And they weren’t afraid to talk about it.
Amid speculation of Tebow’s ability to successfully play quarterback in the NFL, he was selected in the first round by the Denver Broncos. Tebow would go on to be traded to the New York Jets in 2012. With each trade, Tebow fans got louder.
But the Bold City Brigade wanted to show that those were not the only voices.
After a lawyer-sponsored radio ad and a petition to the White House urging Jaguar owner Shad Khan to go after Tebow, Bold City Brigade designed Evenifhesreleased.com.
Many of the pro-Tebow voices didn’t come from Jacksonville. The White House petition came from New Jersey and the radio ad from Orlando. The Bold City Brigade wanted to give real Jacksonville fans an opportunity to be heard.
Yesterday, ESPN.com reported that over 31,000 fans had clicked in support – What the website calls, “Endorsements from real Jaguars fans that don’t need Tim Tebow,” which appears after the user clicks his or her support.
“We were proud of the fact we received over 30,000 clicks without any media coverage,” Nettles said. “But once that article went live we received a flood of support from all across the country– As of this writing we are now at 547,233 clicks.”
