JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said the city is looking at having the Jacksonville Jaguars play in an alternate spot while TIAA Bank Field undergoes renovations in the coming years.
Curry told Action News Jax radio partner WOKV since the lease on the stadium between the city and the Jacksonville Jaguars expires in 2030, the city and the Jags have been in discussions about renovations “for quite some time.”
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The next administration will likely have to finish the deal, as Curry said it is “highly unlikely we’ll be ready to take it to City Council” before he leaves office.
Curry said it would be a “two-year deal where they would be out of the facility for two years, most likely 2025 and 2026.”
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Though the Jags would be out of the stadium during renovations, Curry said, “the goal is to find a way to play in Jacksonville for those two years.”
He also spoke about how the renovations would affect Jacksonville hosting the annual matchup against the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs, saying that each team would get a home game in 2025 and 2026 and then the game would return after that.
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Curry said in the long run, the renovations would be a “huge plus” for the Gator Bowl and the Florida-Georgia game.
Though he didn’t have specific numbers to share, Curry said looking at recent stadium deals in Nashville and Buffalo could give an indication.
“When you look at how the terms were structured in those cities, that’s a good starting place to say, ‘What’s the NFL going to be looking at?’” Curry said.
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Curry emphasized that the deal would have to go in front of Jacksonville City Council, and the NFL and other team owners would have to approve the plan as well.
He also said that information will need to be shared with taxpayers when numbers of the deal are available to share.
He said city leaders “really need to educate the public on this and bring people in that aren’t necessarily football fans and help them understand the importance of this team to the city at large.”
You can hear the full interview below.
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