Jacksonville Jaguars President Mark Lamping said NFL team relocations in recent years have little to do with win-loss records and more to do with facilities.
“You judge that team based on the wins and losses and it’s the single most important thing,” Lamping said.
“But don’t think for a moment, the path to keeping a team in the city is team performance.”
When the Raiders left Oakland, California, in January 2020 for Las Vegas, the franchise co-financed a new stadium with Clark County.
Taxpayers financed $750 million of the project through bonds and room-tax revenue with the Raiders contributing $1.02 billion, according to an August 2020 breakdown in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The Rams and Chargers share what the Los Angeles Times reported in September 2020 is the $5 billion SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, after vacating their former cities of St. Louis and San Diego.
“All (those teams) had been in the Super Bowl and two of the three had won Super Bowls. Their issues all had to do with stadiums,” Lamping said.
“So yes, winning is the most important thing, but it’s not the only thing.”
During a media roundtable Dec. 13, Lamping said the Jaguars are “on a path” to tackle what he called the single biggest issue for the franchise and its stability — a full renovation of TIAA Bank Field.
Lamping and Jaguars owner Shad Khan discussed the team’s position on stadium improvements during a nearly 50-minute sit-down on Khan’s personal yacht Kismet.
The interview was designed to mark Khan’s 10-year anniversary of buying the Jaguars from Wayne Weaver.
Lamping said keeping the Jaguars in Jacksonville was a criterion for Weaver’s choice of Khan to buy the franchise.
He said Khan’s investment in the Daily’s Place amphitheater is helping the organization’s bottom line.
“Our financial stability is a lot stronger,” Lamping said.
“Even though the performance on the field has been way less than anyone would’ve wanted or expected, we’re a lot stronger financially.”
Lamping repeated what he said Oct. 13 that the Jaguars and “city’s interests are completely aligned” when it comes to improvements to the city-owned stadium.
The Jaguars lease is up for renewal in 2030.
A structural analysis of the stadium completed this year by engineering firm Haskell in partnership with the city shows it is stable and can be upgraded, according to Lamping.
He said the “hardest step to complete the stadium of the future” was the $120 million football performance center City Council approved Aug. 24.
The 127,087-square-foot facility with practice fields will enable the Jaguars to move player training operations out of TIAA Bank Field and make way for renovations, said team executives.
Khan said he has heard from other NFL owners that designs for the Jaguars’ new training facility are being used as a benchmark in the Los Angeles complex.
NFL shuffling
There are reactions and ramifications to an NFL team moving a franchise.
A Nov. 24 report by The Associated Press says the NFL and Rams team owner Stan Kroenke agreed to a $790 million settlement in a 4½-year-old lawsuit stemming from the team’s 2016 relocation from St. Louis.
St. Louis officials sought financial damages they claim the city suffered in the form of stadium debt and loss of tourism revenue as a result of the team leaving the city, according to an Oct.6 CNBC.com report.
In San Diego, voters rejected a ballot measure in 2016 to create a hotel room tax to pay for a new $1.8 billion NFL stadium and convention center for the Chargers, according to si.com
Meanwhile, SoFi Stadium is scheduled to host the Super Bowl in 2022. Raiders owner Mark Davis announced Dec. 15 that Allegiant stadium will host the game in 2024, said NFL.com.
Renovation a “better situation” for taxpayers
Lamping told reporters Dec. 13 that renovating TIAA Bank Field is the better option “given the economic realities of this community and the revenue potential from this marketplace.”
“If you can do it through a renovation, you’re probably going to be in a better situation to provide the taxpayers a positive ROI (return on investment) and to provide a reasonable return on what will obviously be a sizable investment,” Lamping said.
He estimated that a stadium renovation likely would save $600 million in construction costs from building a new facility because it eliminates the need to build a lower deck.
A new stadium also would have other ancillary costs.
According to Lamping, the estimated savings from a renovation do not include the cost of assembling enough property in or near the Downtown’s Sports and Entertainment District to build a new stadium.
“The city doesn’t own enough land close to the existing stadium to build a stadium unless you’re going to build it on the parking lot, tear down the stadium, and go play someplace else for a couple of years, which nobody wants to do,” he said.
The broader pitch
Khan’s pitch to the city for better accommodations includes a bigger spotlight on Jacksonville.
Khan said the stadium needs to secure Jacksonville as the home of the annual University of Florida/University of Georgia football game and broaden its use to host a College Football Playoff game.
Council recently reached an agreement with Gator Bowl Sports Inc. to host the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl through 2026.
“The college playoff is going to be expanding. We’ve got to have a stadium that qualifies for that,” Khan said.
“There’s no reason we can’t have Jacksonville get into the mix.”
