The NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars had a storming visit to the UK this October and spent 10 days in London preparing for their historical back-to-back regular season games in the nation’s capital. First up was their dominating win at their home away from home, Wembley Stadium, beating the Atlanta Falcons 23-7 on 1 October.
A week later, on 8 October, another convincing win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where the Jags took on the Buffalo Bills and managed to edge past them 25-20. The Jaguars are the first team to play back-to-back games in an international market.
Not only was the team hugely successful on the pitch, there were sell-out crowds for both games. Maria Gigante, VP of UK Operations Jacksonville Jaguars, had a large role to play in that success.
As Gigante explains, “Wembley is the Jaguars home away from home, and this year I was so proud to witness a sea of Jaguars colours as the team ran out, it was an incredible atmosphere and being able to not only win at Wembley, but then on the road at Spurs stadium, it really was a special time to be part of the organisation. London, the UK and Ireland as a whole are hugely important to us, we know our fans come from far and wide to see the games, and we really appreciate their support.”
Based in London and previously working for the NFL itself, Gigante now oversees the Jaguars overall business in the UK and Ireland as well as the planning of the London games. On top of that Gigante sets objectives for growth across the team’s programmes, commercial operations, and marketing strategy to enable the Jags to continue their upward trajectory of growth and success.
The Jags partnered with Ticketmaster back in 2022 to deliver the ticketing for all their upcoming London games. As Gigante explains, “we knew that Ticketmaster would work collaboratively with us to achieve the best customer service for our fans and for the organisation.”
“We have been impressed with the pro-active way that Ticketmaster assist us with mitigating any challenges that we have encountered and work with us to find solutions to provide the best and most effective experience to reach our sales objectives. Ticketmaster have also assisted us with smaller scale projects, like fan events and UK based community initiatives that are no less important.”
As part of her role Gigante is always looking to provide the best possible solutions for the Jags fans, and working with Ticketmaster has enabled Maria to “provide a best in class experience” for them.
Selling out a stadium is no easy task. As Gigante explains, the marketing team “work closely on strategy for on sale dates which is a complex process. This enables us to sell out the stadium and track the sales in real time, and gives us strategic insights to help us consistently improve in the future.”
The teams at Ticketmaster have been here to support the Jags throughout the process. Gigante outlines that they “appreciate all our working relationships across the Ticketmaster team, but find the team dedicated to on-sale sequencing and strategy particularly helpful. The ticketing and on-sale process is complex and there are multiple layers to consider.
The Ticketmaster team are very patient, supportive, and work collaboratively through our timeline. They have taken the time to get to know why we do things, which helps us ensure we deliver the best customer experience to our loyal fan base.”
The Jags aren’t resting on their laurels of course. They are continuously looking for ways to improve as an organisation and grow the business in the UK and Ireland. And as Gigante confirms, “I see Ticketmaster as being an important partner to assist us with this.”
The Jags are here to stay in the UK. In Gigante’s words: “We are here for the long term, and that includes a year round presence in the UK and Ireland, to grow our fans base, deliver even more community programmes and cement ourselves as the team to follow.”
Ticketmaster looks forward to continuing its partnership with the Jags. As Gigante comments: “We have enjoyed working with Ticketmaster since the partnership began and found the Ticketmaster team to be a partner that helps us deliver our objectives. As we continue to grow as a business, we know how important this relationship will be to our future successes and look forward to continuing to work together.”
