Super Bowl XXXIX: Inside the numbers of Jacksonville's Super Sunday, 20 years ago
The scoreboard at Alltel Stadium read 24-21, but on the night that lifted Jacksonville into the club of Super Bowl host cities, the final score was only the beginning.
Thursday marks 20 years to the day since Super Bowl XXXIX arrived in Jacksonville, bringing the New England Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles and the eyes of much of the planet to the First Coast on Feb. 6, 2015.
Here are some of the numbers to remember from Jacksonville's week in the Super Bowl spotlight.
0: Amount of food remaining at some Super Bowl XXXIX vendors by the second half. Oops.
1: Number of Super Bowls held in Jacksonville.
2: Interceptions by New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison in Super Bowl XXXIX, one shy of the game's record.
3: Number of special park-and-ride lots opened ahead of Super Bowl festivities from Thursday through Sunday. Those lots were at Interstate 10 and Lane Avenue, Interstate 95 and Emerson Street and the Imeson Industrial Park lots along Busch Drive.
3: Number of roasted pepper types (red, yellow and green) served for the famously vegetarian Paul McCartney, in a menu prepared by Florida Community College at Jacksonville Culinary School lead instructor Joe Harrold. Also on the menu, per Times-Union archives: a salad of wild mushrooms with fresh herb balsamic dressing; creamy tofu hummus; black bean and corn salad; marinated grilled tofu steaks with a fresh tomato and red onion salsa; eggplant casserole topped off with shredded vegan cheese; brown rice and assorted baby organic vegetables; and organic fruits with a sweet soy yogurt.
4: Songs performed by Paul McCartney on the Alltel Stadium field during the halftime show. Theset list: "Drive My Car," "Get Back," "Live and Let Die" and "Hey Jude."
7: Planes used for two separate Super Bowl flyovers. The first featured vintage aircraft, a B-25 escorted by two T-6 Texans. The second wave included two F/A 22 Raptors and two F/A-18 Super Hornets.
7: Trash trucks — two measuring 13 yards in length, five 18 yards — used to clear trash, litter and general debris from the Jacksonville Landing.
7: Super Bowl championships won by Tom Brady. Super Bowl XXXIX was his third.
7: Driving distance, in miles, between Alltel Stadium and Raines High School, where Eagles defensive backs Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard played.
8: Hours of pregame coverage on Fox leading up to Super Bowl XXXIX, beginning at 10 a.m.
15.59: Weight, in pounds, of the seven bass caught by former Jaguars lineman Eugene Chung and Wayne Stumpe to win the VIP portion of the Super Celebration Bass Tournament in Palatka on the Saturday before the game.
34: Fox TV cameras at Alltel Stadium for the game.
35: In dollars, price of a Patriots championship cap after the game.
39: New homeowners at the HabiJax SuperBuild XXXIX dedication in Jacksonville on the Wednesday before the Super Bowl, part of the NFL home-construction program with Habitat for Humanity.
58.9: TV rating (with a 77 share) for Super Bowl XXXIX among Jacksonville viewers, the highest recorded since Nielsen Media Research added the city in 1998. That was the third-highest rating recorded to that point for any city for any Super Bowl.
101: Number of golf balls landing on the green, out of 1,650 attempts, for the 17th hole at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass at the Tuesday party for media and the Super Bowl XXXIX host committee.
160: NFL Alumni Association members playing the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course on the Friday before Super Bowl XXXIX.
190: Number of Jacksonville Transportation Authority shuttle buses used on Super Bowl Sunday.
200: Concourse level at Alltel Stadium, where a plumbing overflow spewed water into malodorous puddles during the Super Bowl. Susie Wiles — then spokeswoman for Mayor John Peyton, now White House Chief of Staff in the administration of President Donald Trump — attributed the problem to a pipe failure on the stadium's west side, unrelated to the stadium's packed capacity.
308: Yards rushing for Jerome Messam of Team Canada against Team USA in the Global Junior Championship, played at the Bolles School the night before the Super Bowl.
357: Passing yards for Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in Super Bowl XXXIX. It wasn't enough.
400: In dollars, minimum ticket price for the Taste of the NFL event at ATP headquarters in Ponte Vedra.
1,558: Jacksonville's days to prepare between Nov. 1, 2000, when NFL owners voted to award the city hosting rights for Super Bowl XXXIX, and Feb. 6, 2005, when the game kicked off.
3,667: Number of rooms in five cruise ships docked in the St. Johns River for Super Bowl XXXIX. The ships — the Seven Seas Navigator, Carnival Miracle and Holland America's Volendam, Zaandam and Zuiderdam — provided Jacksonville the necessary luxury lodging capacity of 17,500 required to hold the Super Bowl.
4,600: In dollars, maximum street price observed for Super Bowl tickets on the day of the game.
9,000: Local volunteers for Super Bowl XXXIX events.
10,000: Estimated attendance for rapper Snoop Dogg's Snooper Bowl, a charity youth football game for ages 9 to 12, at Raines High School on the Saturday before Super Bowl XXXIX.
10,000: Estimated rental cars used at Jacksonville International Airport during Super Bowl XXXIX weekend.
18,355: Career rushing yards for NFL all-time leader Emmitt Smith. Three days before the Super Bowl, the former Florida Gator announced his retirement at a press conference inside Jacksonville's Prime Osborn Convention Center.
25,000: Estimated fliers departing the airport on the Monday after the Super Bowl, more than three times the usual average.
40,000: Visitors to the St. Marys Mardi Gras in Georgia on the Saturday before Super Bowl XXXIX.
50,000: Visitors at the Jacksonville Landing on the night before Super Bowl XXXIX.
68,000: Winner's share, in dollars per player, for Super Bowl XXXIX.
78,125: Number of fans attending Super Bowl XXXIX.
2.4 million: Price, in dollars, of a 30-second commercial during Super Bowl XXXIX.
12 million: Estimated amount, in dollars, raised by the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee.
86,072,000: People in the United States who watched Super Bowl XXXIX, per Nielsen statistics. In a March 2005 release, the NFL recorded millions of international viewers as well, including more than 20 million in China, 12 million in Mexico, 4 million in Japan and 2 million in the United Kingdom.
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