Jacksonville Jaguars fans will be able to watch a game this season while sitting in a pool inside the stadium.
The team has taken out 9,500 seats in the north end zone and is replacing them with a two-level party deck that includes two pools and 16 cabanas complete with plush furniture.
Companies or fans can rent one of the four poolside cabanas on the first level for $12,500 a game, or $250 per person. The package includes 50 tickets and is all-you-can-eat and drink. Wine and beer will be served through the third quarter, as is the case with the rest of the stadium.
A similar package of 20 tickets on the upper level of the party deck, which does not include pool access, costs $3,000 a game, or $150 per person.
Chad Johnson, the team's senior vice president of sales, said the team has sold 65 percent of the in-stadium cabanas for the 2014 season.
"We're targeting businesses who want to entertain some of their clients or even their own employees," Johnson said. "What we've built here you can't get anywhere else."
The party deck is part of a $63 million renovation to the Jaguars' EverBank Field that will include the world's largest HD LED video screens, new seats on the field and tables in the club sections.
"We wanted to take areas in our stadium that were underperforming and get creative," Johnson said. "It's no secret that we've had tarps on seats, so we wanted to turn that around and build premium areas."
Aside from having just 11 wins in the past three seasons, Johnson said the team is challenged by the fact that Jacksonville has the second-highest population turnover of an NFL city after Washington, D.C.
That means doing things that no other NFL team does. Starting this season, the Jaguars will be showing a constant stream of the NFL Red Zone feed in the four displays in the end zones so fans can watch the Jaguars while keeping up with the rest of the league or tracking their fantasy team.
