The NFL owners on Tuesday unanimously approved the agreement between the Jaguars and the city of Jacksonville on a $1.4 billion renovation of EverBank Stadium.
Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2025 with the team playing in Jacksonville under a reduced capacity in 2025 and 2026.
"Never doubt Jacksonville. That was my message in the summer to Mayor [Donna] Deegan, the Jacksonville City Council and our residents, and I am humbled and grateful that my fellow NFL team owners agree," Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a statement. "... The venue will be world-class by every definition. It will impressively serve the Jaguars and their fans, attract major sports and entertainment events to our region, and serve as an economic catalyst for decades to come. It also means a new and vibrant Downtown Jacksonville that once may have seemed unimaginable will indeed come to life.
"I send my deepest appreciation to all who believed, and especially to everyone who did the hard work to make this happen. We have much more hard work ahead, but a lot to be proud of today. Celebrate!"
The Jaguars and the city have agreed to each contribute $625 million to the renovation, but the city also has agreed to pay $150 million over the next two seasons on maintenance and repairs to prepare the stadium for construction. That means the city will be responsible for 55% of the total cost.
The Jacksonville City Council voted 14-1 in late June to approve the deal, which also calls for Khan to be responsible for cost overruns of the renovation as well as 80.4% of the game-day expenses.
Deegan, who was born and raised in the city, said this stadium agreement and accompanying lease will permanently put to rest the relocation rumors that have plagued the franchise for the past decade.
"I clipped every article, I took note of every person who said that this was never going to happen," Deegan said. "I remember Forbes came out with something that said there was no chance we were going to reach this agreement. So you betcha Jacksonville is a can-do city, as I said, and I want the people of this city to really start believing that because it's true.
"... We are a city on the rise, and the Jaguars are a big part of that, and I can't wait to take that victory lap."
The renovated stadium would be similar to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, with a shaded canopy over every seat that would reduce the temperature by 15 degrees. Capacity for Jaguars games would be 63,000, but seating could be expanded to 70,000-plus to accommodate the annual Florida-Georgia game as well as attracting other potential sporting events and concerts.
The plan is for the Jaguars to continue to play in EverBank Stadium with a reduced capacity in 2025 and 2026 and then play the 2027 season elsewhere.
"We have a lot of work to do on that decision," Jaguars president Mark Lamping said on where the team will play in 2027. "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 at that point we'll have a recommendation and then we have to work through the NFL. We haven't done just surveys with our fans. We've done surveys with our fans, we've done surveys with our sponsors, we've done surveys amongst our employees. One of the most important constituents is our football operations. We have a good feeling on what they want to do, but we've also had ongoing discussions principally aimed at Gainesville and Orlando."
In addition to the renovation, the deal between the city and the Jaguars also includes a 30-year lease that would begin once the stadium reopens and a non-relocation agreement, which would put to rest the relocation rumors that have surrounded the small-market franchise for the past 15 years. The agreement also includes a clause that allows the Jaguars to play up to six home games internationally over the next three seasons, with a maximum of three in 2027, when the Jaguars will play all home games away from EverBank Stadium. There also is a clause in the lease that limits the Jaguars to one home game annually in London starting in 2028 unless mandated by the NFL to participate in an additional international game once every four seasons -- and that's only during the seasons in which the team has nine home games (every odd year).
"We have no commitments [to play multiple international home games yet]. That's just to set a maximum," Lamping added. "Then in 2027, when we're not playing in Jacksonville, it was important to us that we had some lever if we run into scheduling difficulty in the stadium we're going to be playing. We don't know where we're going to be playing yet, and that lever that we have if we run into scheduling problems could allow us to play up to three games in 2027. Those are just limits. That is not what our plan is at this point. And I'm sure those plans will be released when they're done."
The Jaguars have played a home game annually in London since 2013 (except for 2020 because of the pandemic). They also played a road game in London in 2023 and were the road team this past Sunday against Chicago. They play the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium in their home game on Sunday.