Hockey Team Owner Andy Kaufmann Expands Business During COVID

 We were at an Epping Forest lunch where our host Diane Pauly with Morgan Stanley and I had the opportunity to chat with Andy Kaufmann, Owner and CEO of the Jacksonville Icemen Hockey Team. I was concerned about how he was doing since he purchased the hockey team just before the pandemic. But COVID hasn’t stopped him. Since then he brought in Tim Tebow, Myles Jack, Reggie Hayward and other local individuals as investors. He purchased the Savannah expansion hockey team and he has set up a facility now known as Community First Igloo. The outstanding part about this is Andy, a local guy, is doing so much to use his business assets to help various charity groups in the area. Plus, he has developed a unique venue at the Igloo for business functions. The facility, renovation expected next August, will offer meeting rooms with catering, a 210 seat sports bar and team building opportunities. The hockey season starts with opening night on November 6. The season will feature the nationally televised Warrior/ECHL All Star Classic and Fan Fest in Jacksonville on January 17. There are plenty of opportunities for your business to participate in hockey promotions. Go to JacksonvilleIcemen.com for more info. Andy is seated between Diane and me in this “Lunch with Les” photo.

Visit Jacksonville Promotes City Through COVID

 Thanks to strategic planning during COVID, Visit Jacksonville continues to play a key role in the promotion of the city, including assistance with the coordination and marketing of the Green Bay/New Orleans NFL game at TIAA Bank Field this past weekend. In a conversation with the agency’s President & CEO Michael Corrigan, I found that the strategy for promoting Jacksonville during the pandemic is to focus on the drive market (within 7 - 9 hours drive time from the city) and especially to Florida cities to generate tourism. Also, the agency is working with local hotels, motels, restaurants and conference venues to offer financial incentives to bring in visitors. Armed with funds saved from 2020 expenditures and working with groups to reschedule cancelled Jacksonville events, the agency is going full steam ahead in generating visitors through the fly market as well as the drive market. The agency is offering assistance at NO COST to Duval County companies interested in having their corporate or trade associations gather in the city over the next few years. For specific information and assistance with planning a conference in Jacksonville, just go to VisitJacksonville.com. Michael is on the left in this “Lunch with Les” photo.