Jacksonville and the Jaguars unveil the ‘Stadium of the Future’
Writer: Pablo Marquez
July 2024 — The National Football League has supplanted itself as the United State’s premier sports league, bringing a ’90s expansion team that started in River City along for the ride. Now, Jacksonville aims to make the Jaguars a long-term fixture in a downtown area ripe with development opportunities through a new agreement involving taxpayer funding.
“The city is fortunate to have many big initiatives planned, including the new stadium for the Jaguars. Business leaders are very supportive of this, and the benefit of having an NFL team as well as a stadium that can be rented out for other events is important. Development of the downtown area with beautiful waterways will help move this great city forward, but the economic challenges for many consumers and affordability are not waning,” said Brent Lister, president and CEO of the First Florida Credit Union in an interview with Capital Analytics.
The Jacksonville City Council approved the agreement through a 14-1 vote, with two abstentions. The project will keep the Jaguars in Jacksonville for another 30 years, securing the NFL in Northeast Florida in a lease for the next three decades. Each side will contribute $625 million for the proposal, and the city will contribute another $150 million for maintenance, repairs, and renovations in order to get EverBank Stadium ready for construction.
“They have gone around the bend to get an agreement that was so much better for our taxpayers. I’m very, very proud of that. As a native of this city and someone who really believes in that and in this team, I think, in the next 30 years, we are going to watch this city truly blossom. And I think this stadium is a big piece of that,” said Mayor Donna Deagan, as cited by JAX TDY.
This means that Jacksonville will be responsible for covering $775 million, or 55% of the total cost of this project. However, the city will not levy any new taxes in order to pay for the rebuild. The agreement places that responsibility in the hands of Shad Khan, owner of the Jaguars. Khan will be charged with covering the cost of renovation overruns, assuming day-to-day operations and taking the majority of game-day expenses moving forward.
According to the EverBank Stadium’s proposed timeline and next steps, construction is scheduled to begin following the 2025 season. In 2025, the Jaguars would play in Jacksonville with a 60,000-plus capacity. In 2026, the Jaguars would still play in Jacksonville but this time with a reduced capacity of approximately 43,500. In 2027, the Jaguars would play in a new location, hosting games either in Gainesville or in Orlando. The renovated EverBank Stadium is expected to open at the start of the 2028 season, marking the Jaguars’ debut at the updated facility.
The renovations are expected to include new, future-focused features compiled through information gathered among Jaguars fans, stadium guests, and other stakeholders, as well as a comprehensive assessment of the facility’s structure. Some of these key features include a protective canopy, wider concourses, new communal spaces, scenic lookout decks, new seating types, special event capacity, immersive in-bowl tech and a nature park.
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The Jaguars’ new stadium will also grow in terms of size, becoming four times wider than the current one. The stadium will have interactive areas, state-of-the-art technology, and a translucent covering that will reduce heat retention, lower outside temperatures by 15 degrees Fahrenheit and protect game days from rain conditions. The open-air stadium will also come with a 63,000-seat capacity.
The project, billed as the ‘Stadium of the Future,’ could potentially revitalize the city of Jacksonville. The Jaguars see it as an economic opportunity to generate financial resources, business activity and overall prosperity that could then be invested in the community. Also, there is the old debate as to whether a new sports stadium revitalizes a city’s downtown, whether it is tax-funded or not, and how to make the investment in a new stadium pay off, if it’s actually possible. In the case of a city like Jacksonville, which is not the size of larger metropolitan areas like New York or Los Angeles, bringing a new football stadium could be key to creating an economic impact and attracting investment to the downtown area.
A recent study commissioned by Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration showed that having the NFL in town yields positive net benefits. Large amounts of revenue, economic opportunities, and employment can be secured from construction projects and ongoing operations that develop around a football stadium.
“It is with great pride that we’re an NFL city. It means a lot to this community,” said Deagan, as cited by NPR. “It’s a rallying point for Jacksonville. And while nobody wants to spend a lot of money, the truth is this was a binary choice: We could build this stadium or we could lose our team. And that’s not going to happen on my watch. This is something that’s incredibly important to Jacksonville.”.
Top image via: EverBank Stadium
