JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Getting an NFL team and keeping an NFL team, Jacksonville has now defied the odds and done both.
Dogged by potshots and innuendo for years as a potential relocation candidate, Jacksonville flushed that narrative with the biggest declaration in city history on Tuesday night. The Jaguars aren’t going anywhere.
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“I think that if you look at other agreements out there, and you look at ours, I think you really see evidence here of a true partnership. And I think that’s what we all really wanted to come to where we came away from the table feeling that we had a true partnership,” said Mayor Donna Deegan. “And honestly, we wanted to keep our NFL team. They didn’t really have to do that. But they did, because they wanted what was best for the city. And I think that speaks volumes.”
Jacksonville stunned the NFL world on Nov. 30, 1993, when it beat out favorites like St. Louis and Baltimore to land the Jaguars. The next momentous occasion was Tuesday night when the City Council voted 14-1 with two abstentions to approve the Stadium of the Future, a $1.4 billion revamp of EverBank Stadium. That vote comes with a new lease agreement that keeps the Jaguars here for another 30 years.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan has already invested more than half a billion dollars in the city, from the Shipyards to property in Neptune Beach to a portion of the Miller Electric Center and previous stadium upgrades.
“I think this is an inflection point, I think, not only for the Jaguars, but I think even for the City of Jacksonville,” Khan said. “We need this. I think we need the power of NFL to really work for us in this city as someone that unites us and helps us move forward.”
The deal still needs to be approved by NFL owners during meetings in mid-October, but that is expected to pass without issue. The city will contribute $775 million of the estimated price tag. The Jaguars will be responsible for cost overruns, a significant piece of the negotiations. Cost overruns with Buffalo’s new stadium for the Bills are nearly $300 million.
“We both approached this with the attitude of ‘we want what is best for each other and for the community,’” Deegan said. “And just like in any relationship, that’s a great recipe for success.”
The path here
How did the team get here and why did it need such an expensive stadium? It’s been a long time in the making and it’s pricey to have an NFL team. The team’s 35-year lease with the city expires after the 2029 season. More than two dozen of the NFL teams have had new or massively improved stadiums since the team’s first game in 1995.
An upgraded stadium means more than just football.
“We want to be able to not only enjoy these wonderful NFL games but attract good concerts and all the other wonderful things that come with having a world-class facility like this,” Deegan said.
Mike Weinstein, the city’s chief negotiator during the stadium talks, said Jacksonville was far more versed on the landscape than it was after the city was awarded the franchise. Jacksonville’s new deal has largely drawn widespread praise since it was announced. Despite the hefty price tag, the City Council didn’t make many change requests to the actual stadium portion or price. Separate charitable earmarks and improvements to Jacksonville’s Eastside that were a part of the initial proposal were removed and will be taken up in separate budget discussions.
“The city had a lot more experience this time than we did 30 years ago. So, the process was good. Right from the beginning, they understood the capacity of our market, the size of our marketplace, the state not helping out, other entities not helping out,” Weinstein said. “So, their position and their vision was realistic. And we felt right from the beginning that it was very important for them to feel they wanted to be here.”
Team president Mark Lamping said that the Jaguars began “dialogue” with Jacksonville in 2016 about stadium upgrades which were tied to signing a new lease. Lamping and the Jaguars first made that known to the general public during the State of the Franchise presentation on April 18, 2019.
That news shocked local residents who had seen the stadium undergo massive upgrades over the years. Jacksonville unveiled the world’s largest in-stadium video boards during $63 million of upgrades in 2014 and $90 million worth of enhancements in 2016 that included Flex Field and Daily’s Place.
“I knew very early on that it’s a small market, you need public-private partnership,” Khan said. “And the city wanted to work. And we had to do our part, OK, to use the city’s money wisely and get a return for it.”
What’s the timeline?
With the deal approved, the next step is sending it to the NFL owners. The NFL owners meet on Oct. 15-16 in Atlanta. Khan said that the Jaguars don’t think there will be much pushback from the owners about the deal, even though the 50-50 split is typically more than an owner contributes in stadium deals. Jacksonville’s deal needs 24 of 32 owners to sign off on it.
“I feel good. I feel optimistic,” Khan said. “I mean, I’ve had the privilege of obviously, knowing the owners and serving on some of the committees. We have some work to do, but I feel good.”
Where will they play?
The Jaguars have picked two locations out for the 2027 season where they will be displaced. The University of Florida in Gainesville and Camping World Stadium in Orlando are the two venues the Jaguars have circled to where they could play. Daytona International Speedway was a darkhorse but the Jaguars said the lacking infrastructure has negated that option.
“We haven’t spent a lot of time working on that because, until last night, it would have been a moot point,” he said. “So, we’re not turning our attention to that. The NFL will have a big say, in terms of qualifying those two stadiums and we’re not in a rush to get it done.”