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Jacksonville Express
Established	January 1975
Folded	October 1975
Based in	Jacksonville, Florida
Home field	Gator Bowl Stadium
Head coach	Charlie Tate
Owner(s)	Earl Knabb, Bill DeCarlis
League	World Football League
Division	Eastern
Colours	Black, red and gold

The Jacksonville Express were a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida which competed in the World Football League (WFL) in 1975. They were preceded in 1974 by the WFL's Jacksonville Sharks, though the two teams had separate ownership and identities. The Express folded when the league ceased operations during the 1975 season.

History

The Jacksonville Sharks were a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida which competed in the 1974 WFL season. The Sharks folded during that season due to financial difficulties. The WFL returned to Jacksonville the following season with the Jacksonville Express. While head coach Charlie Tate and a few players returned from the Sharks, the Express had new owners (local businessman Earl Knabb along with several minor partners) and a mostly new front office staff. The team's biggest player acquisitions were quarterback George Mira, who had been co-MVP of the 1974 WFL championship game with Birmingham and had been a college All-American with the in-state Miami Hurricanes, and Tommy Reamon, who had led the WFL in rushing in 1974 with the Florida Blazers.^[1]^[2]

The new ownership group sought to be much more frugal than the free-spending Sharks had been. One notable example of this was that while the Sharks' headquarters had been located in a large suite atop a skyscraper in downtown Jacksonville, the offices of the Express were located in a mall in the basement of a hotel.^[3] Accordingly, the franchise was able to meet its financial obligations throughout its short existence. However, the WFL had lost their television contract right before the 1975 season, putting the entire league in serious financial difficulty. The Express had compiled a 6–5 record when the WFL folded in October 1975, 11 games into a planned 20-game schedule.

Schedule and results

Key:

Win

Loss

Bye

1975 regular season

Source:^[4]

Week	Day	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	Sunday	August 2, 1975	at Memphis Grizzlies	L 26–27	25,166
2	Sunday	August 16, 1975	Birmingham Vulcans	W 22–11	16,049
3	Sunday	August 23, 1975	San Antonio Wings	W 26–19	16,133
4	Sunday	August 30, 1975	Charlotte Hornets	L 14–33	16,428
5	Saturday	September 6, 1975	at Shreveport Steamer	W 22–15	13,638
6	Sunday	September 14, 1975	at Hawaiians	L 15–33	18,479
7	Saturday	September 20, 1975	Philadelphia Bell	W 16–10	10,296
8	Saturday	September 27, 1975	Birmingham Vulcans	W 26–18	10,881
9	Saturday	October 4, 1975	Portland Thunder	W 32–29	8,119
10	Sunday	October 12, 1975	at Charlotte Hornets	L 15–22	7,750
11	Sunday	October 19, 1975	at Portland Thunder	L 13–30	8,713