The Stadium of the Future is on the clock.

On Tuesday afternoon, NFL team owners unanimously approved the 50-50 split between the Jaguars and the city of Jacksonville that will see taxpayers cover $775 million to renovate EverBank Stadium prior to the 2028 season.

In all, the renovation is expected to cost $1.4 billion. The Jaguars would pay for all cost overruns. Construction will begin shortly after the Jaguars’ 2024 schedule concludes.

“The NFL believes in Jacksonville. I believe in Jacksonville. I know our fans and the people throughout the community believe in Jacksonville,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said Tuesday afternoon.

Khan and Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan were in London when they received word from Atlanta that NFL owners ensured Jacksonville will field a team for the next 30 years.

Deegan, a longtime season ticket holder prior to her mayoral election in 2023, seemed euphoric.

“We are a city on the rise,” Deegan said. “The Jaguars are a big part of that. I can’t wait to take that victory lap.”

Next steps

The renovation means the Jaguars will have to find somewhere to play the 2027 season. Team President Mark Lamping says the franchise has held discussions about interim homes in Gainesville and Orlando.

Another wrinkle that must be addressed is whether the University of Florida and University of Georgia will continue their 91-year tradition of playing their annual football game in Jacksonville after the interruption. The last time the stadium underwent major renovations, the two rivals temporarily moved to their home campuses.

In 1995, Florida humiliated Georgia 52-17 in Athens. Kirby Smart, then a Bulldogs freshman, is now their head coach, and he has not hidden his desire for the Georgia-Florida game to eschew its neutral-site tradition.

Lamping says the Jaguars have communicated with UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin and Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks about what to expect from the renovated stadium.

“I think this development puts us in position to be stronger in our confidence that those universities choose to stay in Jacksonville,” Lamping says.

Khan says he expects EverBank Stadium to become a world-class facility that can host events outside of Jaguars games.

Price of the pigskin palace

Khan says the Jaguars handled the design process in order to create a desirable facility, but also control costs. However, there is no guarantee the project will stay within projections.

When Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium was announced in 2016, it was projected to cost $2.6 billion. By the time it opened in 2020, it cost more than $5 billion.

Meanwhile, the publicly financed Allegiant Stadium, which opened in Las Vegas in 2020 and hosted the most recent Super Bowl, was $25 million under its $2.02 billion projection.

Over the last three decades, five facilities that host NFL teams have undergone massive renovations similar to the scope the Jaguars have identified for EverBank Stadium: Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City; Soldier Field in Chicago; Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc.; Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

Community benefits from stadium deal

University of Michigan Professor Judith Grant Long says smaller market cities often spend more in stadium financing than larger cities. Jacksonville is the fourth-smallest media market in the NFL.

“The smaller markets will always have to provide, typically, some additional public investment in order to offset the fact there are other teams that are making a lot more money because they are in bigger markets,” Long says.

The markets smaller than Jacksonville – New Orleans, Buffalo and Green Bay – all have differing circumstances. New Orleans and Buffalo received municipal and state money for their renovation and construction. Meanwhile, the Packers have operated as a nonprofit for more than a century.

Another aspect that separates the Jaguars’ agreement from others previously seen in the NFL is the $150 million in matching funds the Jaguars committed through a community benefits agreement – the largest community benefits agreement in NFL history. The city of Jacksonville will devote those dollars to parks, countywide initiatives and special programs for the Eastside neighborhood just north of the stadium.

“This is going to be an amazing ride for our city to be able to create the Stadium of the Future,” Deegan says. “But beyond that, I also want to say the fact that attached to that is a community benefits agreement that is a historic, (the) largest of its kind (and) incredibly generous from this organization, that will transform our community on so many fronts for years to come.”

Eastside evolution

Long says community benefits agreements are becoming commonplace in large real estate developments because community groups have negotiated and advocated for themselves. She says it’s important that there is a monitoring system in place to ensure the impact aligns with the intent.

Erin Battle is hopeful that the impact will be positive.

Battle plans to move into her home on the Eastside by the end of this year. She says the stadium agreement, coupled with other recent investment in the neighborhood where she grew up, is raising property values and giving her an opportunity to leave a nest egg for her son.

“It will definitely mean something prosperous for my son,” Battle told Jacksonville Today in September.

“Knowing that the Eastside has been pretty much ignored for many, many decades, it’s refreshing to know that they get to get a remake of everything they absolutely deserve. There are so many disparities in that community that don’t have to be that way. You have hard-working individuals, like you do in any other neighborhood, who go to work everyday, and all they want is to embrace the comfort of their home and their community.”

Last month, at the opening of The Corner of the Debs Store, Lamping said the team never tried to impose solutions Out East. Their goal was to collaborate with the community and ensure no one is displaced.

“The best way to help a process is to have the community feel proud of what’s happening and to sense that the progress that’s being made is well received,” Lamping told Jacksonville Today at that time.

With the vote behind them, the team is closer to being able to deliver on a goal Khan voiced in June: that everyone in Jacksonville should benefit from the renovation of EverBank Stadium.

“For me, we want the area that we’re doing – with the stadium, the Four Seasons, the (Museum of Science and History) – we want that to be the jewel in the Jacksonville crown. And, we’re headed that way.”