JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A deal between the city of Jacksonville and the Jaguars to turn EverBank Stadium into the “Stadium of the Future” will be unveiled at next week’s City Council meeting.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan released a statement Wednesday after City Council President Ron Salem announced the news at a joint meeting of the City Council and the Duval County School Board.
“We have reached an agreement on the framework of a deal. The negotiating team is currently putting the final details on paper, and we will release that information as soon as it is available,” Deegan said.
The Mayor’s office said Deegan, lead negotiator Mike Weinstein, and Jaguars President Mark Lamping will present the stadium renovation agreement at the beginning of the Jacksonville City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 14.
“The Jaguars are pleased with the process and progress on a stadium agreement with the City of Jacksonville. While we are optimistic that we will soon finalize a deal that equally serves the team, community and all who will use the stadium, there is still work to do. The Jaguars and Mayor Donna Deegan have the same goal – a stadium agreement that will earn the approval of the City Council, the National Football League office and, ultimately, NFL owners. In that spirit, we continue to meet and look forward to joining Mayor Deegan and lead negotiator Mike Weinstein on Tuesday to jointly present to the Jacksonville City Council the structure of the stadium agreement between the Jaguars and City of Jacksonville,” the Jaguars said in a statement.
Salem said he is looking forward to learning more about the deal.
“I will also outline Tuesday night the path forward for the City Council,” Salem said. “As I have stated many times, I, nor any members of the City Council, have been a part of these negotiations. I do not know the specifics of this particular deal but look forward to engaging the council during the month of June as we move forward to review it.”
Right now, the stadium renovations are expected to cost $1.4 billion, but how that would be split between the Jaguars and the city has not been released.
Residents should learn more about that during the council meeting.
When talks first started nearly a year ago, it was thought the city would pick up the lion’s share of the cost. Now, that might not be the case.
News4JAX reached out to the Jaguars and the city on Tuesday and neither side wanted to talk about where the deal stood. Then Deegan released her brief statement on Wednesday.
“The agreement is quite complicated and voluminous. It relates to finances. It relates to keeping the stadium up to speed, you know, maintenance, capital improvements, what have you. It’s all the different pieces. And what happens is, if you change one piece of the agreement, it may change for other pieces that you already had agreed to,” Weinstein said recently about the deal.
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Obviously, city council members will have lots of questions. And residents probably will as well.
A series of town hall meetings are being scheduled where residents will have the chance to give feedback.
This deal is only for the stadium and does not include any development in the surrounding area.
News4JAX was also told the renovations will follow much of what the public was shown when the stadium renovations were first introduced, including shade for all the seats.
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There is still a lot that must happen before the new stadium becomes a reality.
The city council must approve it, which could happen by summer, and then the NFL owners have to agree to the plan which might not happen until October.