JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – NFL owners voted unanimously to approve the stadium deal between the Jaguars and the City of Jacksonville on Tuesday, clearing the way for the Stadium of the Future to become a reality.
The vote at the NFL owners meetings at the Whitley in Atlanta was expected, but it is now official, a 32-0 vote sewing up what has been an eight-year process between the franchise and the city.
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“The NFL believes in Jacksonville. I believe in Jacksonville, and I know our fans and the people throughout the community believe in Jacksonville,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said from London on a press conference Zoom with reporters. “So now we’re about to make magic happen in Jacksonville.”
The $1.4 billion deal is the largest in Jacksonville’s history and includes $775 million in money put up by the city. Khan will pick up the remainder, plus any additional cost overruns.
It is the exclamation point on a long and arduous process that began in earnest eight years ago and picked up momentum in 2020. But it wasn’t until the City Council approved the massive deal last June that the bulk of the project was moved closer to the finish line. Tuesday’s decision means it is finally there.
“I’m just going to say, I am a shameless homer, and I have been a huge fan of this city my whole life. I’ve been a huge fan of the Jaguars since before we actually got the team. I just I clipped every article, I took note of every person who said that this was never going to happen,” Mayor Donna Deegan said. “I remember Forbes [magazine] came out with something that said there was no chance we were going to reach this agreement. So, you bet’cha [she’s going to celebrate]. You know, Jacksonville is a can-do city, as I said, and I want the people of this city to really start believing that.”
The city locks in its NFL team for another generation and with it, a much-desired and needed revitalization in the neighborhoods, parks and infrastructure surrounding EverBank Stadium. The Jaguars’ $150 million community benefits investment is the largest by a team in NFL history.
It’s another milestone in Jacksonville’s NFL history. Against massive odds the city was awarded the 30th NFL franchise on Nov. 30, 1993. When the team struggled in the early 2010s and the London and NFL talk heated up, the familiar refrain was that the Jaguars were destined to leave Jacksonville. The lease agreement with the city was set to expire after the 2029 season and the Jaguars weren’t going to sign an extension without a new or significantly refurbished stadium.
Where’s the money coming from?
Almost all of that money will come from stretching the Better Jacksonville Plan out until 2030 and using those funds to help fund the renovation. The Better Jacksonville Plan was a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2000, a $2.25 billion program set to improve things like roads, infrastructure, development and public facilities.
What now?
The renderings will become actual design plans later this year and construction is expected to begin in its primary stages in early 2025. The Jaguars will play in the stadium as usual next year and then in a reduced capacity in 2026. The big changes will come in 2027 when the Jaguars will play home games at a venue to be determined, likely Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville or Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
“I anticipate that it’s going to take us at least through the end of this regular season to have a really good handle on it that,” team president Mark Lamping said of the 2027 home for the Jaguars. “At that point, we’ll have a recommendation, and then we have to work through the NFL the same process that we went through on the stadium.”
It’s likely that London could get an additional Jaguars home game in 2027. Construction would be completed in time for the 2028 season. Khan and Lamping have both said that where the Jaguars play during that 2027 season was always a good conversation to have because it would mean that the team and the city would have finalized the stadium deal.
Community benefits
The other portion of the stadium package includes the community benefits addendum. That is separate from the Stadium of the Future deal but it was a significant piece of the overall package. Both the Jaguars and Deegan wanted to emphasize the areas surrounding the stadium, the Eastside and the downtown areas and parks within the vicinity of that area.
When the stadium deal was presented initially, there was some apprehension among City Council members on wrapping that in with a stadium deal.
It was later taken out and voted on separately, passing in a 13-2 vote. The city is contributing $150 million as part of that plan with the Jaguars agreeing to match that over a 30-year period. That contribution from the Jaguars is the largest ever by an NFL team. The Bills agreed to $100 million in community benefits and the Titans agreed to give $48 million over the course of their lease to the Nashville Needs Impact Fund during their recent deals for new stadiums.
Deegan and City Council’s agreement has $56 million earmarked for downtown parks and Flex Field. The other $94 million will go to the Eastside ($40 million), to the county ($40 million) and to each of the 14 council districts ($14 million).
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