The mayor's office and City Council are sharing 48 Jaguars game tickets purchased with city money with local non-profit organizations, volunteers and schools.

Mayor John Peyton's decision to allocate $43,000 in taxpayer funds to purchase Jacksonville Jaguars season tickets rubbed many taxpayers the wrong way, but the City Council has backed him on this. The council and mayor's staff have been splitting 48 tickets and eight skybox passes for each home game, including the preseason.

The same purchasing agreement has been in place every year of the team's existence except the 2009 season, when the Jaguars funding was cut by President Richard Clark (with Peyton's blessing) in an effort to reduce city spending.

In the past, city employees, their families and friends used the tickets. This year, Peyton and Council President Webb said they would give them to nonprofits and business partners.

Staff from several public schools were awarded passed during the preseason as a reward for progress in student achievement.

The council gave tickets for the Denver game to Ladies First, a community-service organization at First Coast High School, and tickets for this Sunday's game against the Eagles have been distributed to APEL Health Services.

The mayor's office gave its Denver game tickets to Team Teal volunteers (the organization behind the recent blitz to increase Jaguars season ticket sales). The mayor's office has invited the folks from Teach for America to the Eagles game.

Does the news that city leaders are indeed giving the tickets away to non-profits and schools change anyone's mind about the decision to purchase the Jaguars tickets?