Jacksonville approves $1.4 billion Jaguar Stadium renovation

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville City Council voted 14-1 Tuesday night to approve an agreement between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the city for the $1.4 billion renovation of Everbank Stadium.

That brings the Jaguars a step closer to securing the long-term stability of the franchise, with the final hurdle of getting approval from 24 of the NFL’s 32 club owners at the league’s October meetings in Atlanta.

If that happens, construction is scheduled to begin after the team’s 2025 season and finish in time for the 2028 season.

“This is a historic day for our city,” Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said. “As I told the council, this is what we can do when we argue together and focus on a goal together.

“Huge. I think it’s generational progress.”

The Jaguars and the city agreed to contribute $625 million toward the renovation, but the city also agreed to pay $150 million over the next two seasons for maintenance and repairs to prepare the stadium for construction. This means the city will be responsible for 55% of the total cost.

Additionally, the agreement stipulates that Jaguars owner Shad Khan will be responsible for renovation cost overruns as well as 80.4% of game day expenses.

In addition to the renewal, the agreement between the city and the Jaguars also includes a 30-year lease that begins once the stadium reopens and a no-relocation agreement, which would put an end to the relocation rumors that have surrounded the minor stadium. -Franchise market for the past 15 years. There is also a provision that limits the Jaguars to one home game per year in London unless they are mandated by the NFL to participate in an additional international game once every four seasons – and that is only during seasons in which the team has nine home games (each It is a strange year.)

The Jaguars have played a home game annually in London since 2013 (except in 2020 due to the pandemic). They played back-to-back games in London last season, but only one match with the home team. They are scheduled to do so again in 2024.

Jaguars president Mark Lamping said the team began the process toward eventually creating a new or renovated stadium in 2016 and Tuesday night’s vote was the culmination of eight years of work.

“The reason we started this so early is because we looked at those cities that were having problems with their teams,” Lamping said. “Unfortunately, there have been cities that have lost teams in the NFL and they generally have the same thing in common. It’s a smaller market. The team doesn’t have a lease tying them to the city and they have a stadium issue that hasn’t been resolved. Shadd’s commitment from the beginning was to do everything in We sought to ensure that this does not happen to Jacksonville.

“We have spent a tremendous amount of time and resources, especially over the last four years, and we are thrilled that we were able to achieve this goal. This was a goal that Shad had and shared with the community in preserving Jaguars here in Northeast Florida for future generations this evening. We transformed This goal has become a reality thanks to the Mayor and her team.”

The renovated stadium will be similar to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, with a shade canopy over each seat that will reduce the temperature by 15 degrees. Jaguars games will have a capacity of 63,000 but seating can be expanded to more than 70,000 to accommodate the annual Florida-Georgia game as well as potentially attract other sporting events and concerts.

The plan is for the Jaguars to continue playing at EverBank Stadium at a reduced capacity in 2026 and then play the 2027 season elsewhere. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville and Camping World Stadium in Orlando are two options after the Jaguars nixed the possibility of playing at Daytona International Speedway due to a lack of infrastructure.