After an accelerated process that Jacksonville City Council President Ron Salem has described as “aggressive” and “ambitious,” the proposed “Stadium of the Future” deal between the city and the Jacksonville Jaguars is scheduled for a final vote June 25.
The deal, contained in Ordinance 2024-0904, is the last item Council members will consider during the meeting scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., two hours before the standard starting time of Council regular meetings.
The public will be allowed to speak about the stadium deal during the public comment portion of the meeting when speakers can comment on any city-related topic.
Salem has scheduled several portions of the meeting, including public comments, to take place between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. There will be no public comment when the ordinance comes up for discussion by Council members at the end of the meeting.
Under the ordinance, the city and team would both contribute $625 million for construction costs involved in remaking EverBank Stadium into a modernized and upgraded facility with a roof cover, cooling features such as an open-air design that provides cross ventilation, an elevated and expanded concourse with observation areas providing views of the St. Johns River and the Downtown skyline, and more.
The Jaguars introduced plans for the makeover in mid-2023.
The city would provide an additional $150 million in deferred maintenance and capital improvements to prepare the stadium for the project and allow the Jaguars to play in it during the 2025 and 2026 seasons while construction is underway. In a final funding element, the city would invest $56 million for riverfront park development and to improve the Daily’s Place flex field adjacent to the stadium.
The stadium deal was delivered to Council in mid-May, and the ordinance was introduced June 11.
Salem set a schedule to pass the legislation in two weeks, including workshops and committee meetings in which Council members dissected the nine separate agreements that make up the broad stadium deal. Under the normal Council schedule, it takes six weeks for legislation to go from introduction to final vote.
A public hearing on the ordinance June 17 drew dozens of speakers, many from the Eastside neighborhood near the stadium.
In a split vote June 21, Council members decoupled $94 million in city funding for community benefits such as workforce development, affordable housing and homelessness services for the Eastside and countywide. That funding will be considered in standalone legislation scheduled to be introduced in July.
The Council meets at City Hall at 117 W. Duval St.