Bulls, Tea Men, Firebirds: The Gator Bowl was home to these pro football, soccer teams

Posted by author December 30, 2024 Football

The Jaguars aren’t the first professional team to call Jacksonville home. Heck, they’re not even the first Jaguars team to play in Jacksonville. Here are the professional football and soccer teams that played home games in the Gator Bowl.

Jacksonville Robins

Florida Football League, 1962

Southern Football League, 1963-65

The Robins were champs in ‘63, playing in a league with teams in places like Gadsden, Ala, and Columbus, Ga.

Jacksonville Jaguars

North American Football League, 1966

The Robins were renamed when their league folded and they moved to another. The team finished 4-8 in its lone season, averaging about 4,500 fans at four home games.

Jacksonville Sharks

World Football League, 1974

The Sharks drew 59,000 to the Gator Bowl for their home opener, but attendance fell off sharply after it was found that many of the tickets were giveaways. The team was taken over by the league midseason and the league itself folded shortly after.

Jacksonville Express

World Football League, 1975

The Express played in a reconstituted World Football League and averaged about 13,000 fans, but again the league folds.

Jacksonville Firebirds

American Football Association, 1979-81

The minor league team won the title in its first season and reportedly averaged more than 11,000 fans per game.

Jacksonville Tea Men

North American Soccer League, 1980-82; American Soccer League, 1983; United Soccer League, 1984

The New England Tea Men relocated to Jacksonville for the 1980 season, playing indoor games at the Coliseum and outdoors at the Gator Bowl. Attendance dwindled and the team dropped to a lower league before folding.

Jacksonville Bulls

United States Football League, 1984-85

The Bulls led the spring-season USFL in attendance in their first year, drawing a USFL record 73,227 to a game with New Jersey. The Bulls were prepared to play in 1986, when the league proposed moving to a fall schedule, but the league folded.