Jacksonville Jaguars have been offered a potential temporary home while their stadium undergoes renovations.
The Jaguars are planning extensive renovations to the 67,000-seater TIAA Bank Field which will leave them needing a new home while it’s completed. It’s expected that the plans will take two years to complete, and are likely to be undertaken during the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
Jacksonville had a 9-8 record during the 2022 season, and after a stunning Wild Card round win over the Los Angeles Chargers, fell short against the eventual Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs. Hope is beginning to return for the AFC South team with the help of quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who was the number one pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
However, the reality facing the Jaguars is they will have to find a new stadium while the renovations to their home are completed. A report in Front Office Sports says that the team is currently working to find possible stadiums around the Jacksonville area to house the Jaguars for at least two seasons.
Amid these discussions, Steve Hogan, the CEO of Florida Citrus Sports, has said that Orlando would be a worthy location to be the home for the Jaguars for the time needed. Hogan says that Orlando, which is 140 miles north of Jacksonville, is the “perfect” location to house the Jaguars.
“I’ve been telling just about anybody who will listen to me that NFL regular-season football needs to be in Orlando,” Hogan told the Orlando Sentinel.
“If we can’t have our own team, then I think Orlando is the perfect market to help build your brand in. We’d love to have the Jags come down here and play.”
Jacksonville’s mayor Lenny Curry admitted that the preference for the Jaguars would be to have the team relocated within the Jacksonville area. The Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida is the second-highest capacity stadium in the area, with it officially seating 9,400, but is said to have held around 12,000 fans in the past.
"The goal would be to play somewhere in Jacksonville," Curry told 1010XL Radio last week. “Those discussions are happening, but two years is the goal.
“I do know that they are considering certain sites that are local that could accommodate them for at least two years."
The TIAA Bank Field has been the Jaguars’ home since the 1995 season. As well as the Jaguars, the renovations will also affect the annual Florida-Georgia college football game that takes place in the stadium.
The game has been held in Jacksonville since 1933. It has been suggested that each team could host the game in turn while the renovations take place, with it hoped to return at the TIAA Bank Field in 2027.
