Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan knows there are plenty of taxpayers who aren’t interested in public money being spent on a massive stadium renovation project for the Jacksonville Jaguars. She also knows there’s not much of a choice if the city doesn’t want to see the team pack up and leave town.
“I think everyone wants to see this work,” Deegan said in an interview with Action News Jax. “I’ve had so many community meetings since I was elected and I hear over and over again: people don’t want to spend public money on the stadium. I know that the fans want it, I know some people don’t see the benefit of it. I see a lot of benefit from it: pride in this team and this city, relationships that we can build business wise.
Buy Jaguars Tickets“But the bottom line is 80 percent say they don’t want to spend the money, 80 percent don’t want to lose the Jags. Those two things are simply mutually exclusive so an agreement must be reached. Hopefully, we come up with one that we all are pretty pleased with.”
The Jaguars aren’t asking for a small amount in negotiations with the city. The price tag for the entire project proposed by the Jaguars — which will include turning part of the parking lot into an entertainment district — is expected to come out to about $2 billion. The team said in the summer that it planned to ask the City of Jacksonville to pick up half that bill.
Jaguars president Mark Lamping said in June that the team would ideally love to have a deal with the City of Jacksonville done in the second quarter of 2024. That would allow the team to get official approval at the annual owners’ meeting in May.
There are many hurdles to cross before the Jaguars get to that point, though. The team is currently negotiating with Sidley Austin LLP, a law firm hired by Deegan to represent the city in talks. Any deal reached would also need approval from the Jacksonville City Council, which hired former Jaguars executive Michael Huyghue to represent its interests.
The Jaguars have played in EverBank Stadium, originally called Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, since the team’s inaugural season in 1995.
