Jacksonville Jaguars are planning to renovate the publicly owned TIAA Bank Stadium which will cost them around $2 billion. The franchise proposed to seek around $1,000,000,000 in taxpayer money to help them with their new project. However, the residents of Jacksonville don’t show priority to it which led the President of the team to make a straightforward comment which many believed to be a threat.
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Jaguars President Mark Lamping at the AXS DRIVE conference in St. Louis last week made what appeared to be a threat to relocate the team if the funds demanded for the renovation of the stadium were not fulfilled. However, after the news picked up, Lamping clarified the true intentions behind his comments which as per him were not meant to be a threat.
Jacksonville Jaguars Threaten To Relocate Over Stadium Demands
The Jaguars are planning a large-scale renovation of the publicly owned TIAA Bank Stadium which opened in the year 1995, on the site of the Old Gator Bowl Stadium. The team has already released the renderings of their “Stadium of the Future” in June this year. The entire project is set to cost around $2 billion which the franchise plans to split by half with the community.
The city of Jacksonville ranks 11th in the list of most populous cities in the US but sits 41st in the media market size. As per PFT’s Mike Florio, a recent poll showed that the residents “don’t have the stomach” to fund the project which will cost them nine figures. When asked about the same in the presser, the Jaguars President said, “If there’s a referendum, the ballot question should be: Do you want to keep the NFL in Jacksonville?”
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“Look, if Jacksonville loses an NFL team, they’re never going to get another one,” Lamping also said last week. “And if the Jaguars have to relocate from Jacksonville, those of us that went down there would have failed. OK? And none of us want to face that.”
One of the proposed renovations was to include a canopy in the stadium to beat the scorching heat of Florida. The franchise has recently opened a new practice facility which cost them around $120 million. However, it is considered one of the best facilities in all of the NFL as it has state-of-the-art technology installed in its bathrooms which detects the health score of each player. Surely they would have something similar in mind for the stadium.
Jaguars President Addresses the Relocation “Threat”
After his comments raised a lot of eyebrows President Mark Lamping addressed the story whether it was in fact a threat or a promise to the city. In his chat with the Jacksonville Business Journal, Lamping explained that his comments were never meant to be a threat while also stating that, “viewing [his] comments as a threat to leave Jacksonville isn’t correct.”
That said, the team would still need to raise another billion to complete the desired project which Lanning believes is necessary to compete with average NFL teams. However, will they be able to convince that to the Jacksonville residents is yet to be seen?
