We will drive from our home in northwest Florida to Jacksonville, FL on Saturday, September 30, for our son's football game. (Webber International University vs. Edward Waters College.) The game will be played at Earl Kitchings Stadium, which appears to be near Jacksonville University. The address is 2800 University Blvd North.
We are looking for a hotel for less than $100.00 per night, in a safe area. Is the area around the staduim in a good, bad or iffy area? The RiverFront hotels seem nice, but may be too pricey. What other areas would you suggest? Any areas to avoid? We are fine with chain motels. Thanks for your suggestions.

The La Quinta Hotel on J Butler Blvd is a good location for getting around the city , right off of I-95.
It is a newer one so everything is clean and smells nice still

There is a mall called the St Johns Towncenter and they have a lot of nice places to stay, google the Towncenter and look up the hotels..again, that is on a road that can get you all over town easily.

Good luck, have fun!

Thanks Scarlett. I looked at photos of the La Quinta on their website and it looked fine. Are their any areas of town to avoid? I have been to Jacksonville a few times, but it has been a while.

When we lived there ( not long ago) we were told to stay out of Springfield/"behind" the part of downtown where the hotels are. We lived over in Mandarin and only for a year ... I will tell you where to go though lol...Avondale, Riverside, Mandarin , San Marco and Five Corners..there are others but those are at least a bit interesting..I could get a real list of Stay Away Froms when I email my daughter, she still lives there

Wyndham Riverwalk is around $100 on weekends.

The Wyndham is new, I cannot remember what it was before ( another hotel) but the Chart House restaurant is right there, as well as the RiverCity Brewing Co ( although we really did not like that place at all ) but the views are good for drinks in the evening..and the Hilton with Ruth Christ Steak House .. you can walk all along the boardwalk, it is very nice there. If you can get the hotel for a good price, go for it!

The Hilton Inn on North Gate Ave. is about $60.00 a night on the weekend. A good and safe location.

Thanks for all your replies and suggestions. I now have some idea where to stay and where to avoid. We will probably leave home so that we arrive about four hours before the 5:00 pm game, so that we can check in to the motel, shop, get a bite to eat and get to the stadium. Although I love to shop and sight see, this isn't really a trip for that. As my husband would say, this is all about the son's ballgame.

Thought I would let you all know how our trip went, since you were so nice to offer suggestions.
We thought we would not be going, as son didn't think he would be traveling with the team (he is a freshman) so I made plans to work early Sunday morning. Then, the Friday before the game, son tells us he is going and will get to play. So, we drove over and back in one day. Turns out the stadium was not at JU, but at Raines High School, in northwest Jax. It was in an older, poor neighborhood, so their was no shopping to be done or restaurants to try. However, the people were very kind and we had a great trip. (Since we arrived a few hours before the game, we did find a Steinmart's several miles away, on University Blvd.)