At 7:04 p.m. June 25, Jacksonville City Council President Ron Salem rose from his seat to make a celebratory announcement.
“By your vote, we have scored a touchdown,” he said, holding his arms in the air like a football referee signaling a score.
With the Council vote that prompted Salem’s playful gesture, the city of Jacksonville finalized its $1.45 billion deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars to transform EverBank Stadium into the NFL team’s “Stadium of the Future.”
The agreement was easily the most momentous deal in Jacksonville during 2024, with the city committing $775 million toward the most expensive single capital project in Jacksonville history and the Jaguars agreeing to a lease and nonrelocation agreement designed to keep them in Northeast Florida for three decades.
In September, Council followed up by approving the final $96 million of the city’s contribution to a $300 million community benefits agreement with the Jaguars for affordable housing, workforce development and homelessness services in the stadium-adjacent Eastside neighborhood and countrywide. In addition, the stadium deal included $56 million in city spending to build riverfront parks Downtown.
After being ratified in October by the NFL owners group, the stadium deal and community benefits package were final.
Among those credited for the successful complex agreement were Mayor Donna Deegan and the lead negotiators, Jaguars President Mark Lamping and Mike Weinstein, who represented Deegan’s office. The three led a series of community meetings to explain the agreement and take questions.
After those sessions, Deegan delivered a 336-page package of legislation containing nine separate components of the deal to Council.
Salem took it from there, guiding the legislation through an aggressive, two-week timeline for a vote before July when Council would devote most of its time and attention to passing the city budget.
Although some Council members expressed doubt about having enough time to consider the deal before the vote, Salem achieved his goal.
The new stadium, which is on a timetable to open in 2028, will include several features designed to make it more comfortable in hot weather, including a roof canopy, a reflective exterior material and a design that facilitates better cross-ventilation.
The city devised a way to fund its portion of the deal without raising taxes. However, the financial commitment – coupled with raises that were later approved for police officers and firefighters – left the city facing severe limits in its spending discretion in coming years.
The Council approvals came over objections by some residents that it was a lavish and inappropriate use of city tax dollars and that a public referendum should have been held on the deal. Deegan, who had supported keeping the Jaguars in Jacksonville as a candidate, answered those concerns by saying the electorate had spoken on the subject when it voted her into office.
Supporters said the new stadium and community benefits would bolster Jacksonville, especially the economically distressed Eastside.
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