JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The concept art for a new Jacksonville Jaguars stadium caught the attention of plenty of fans.
First Coast News checked in with fans heading into the Jumbo Shrimp double header after they got their first look at the ideas.
A lot of excitement, but the number one thing they kept coming back to was the hope for new stadium design to keep them cool.
“It looks beautiful. It looks really new,” said Kathryn Clark. “It looks like it’ll be providing some more shading for the fans.”
“Now it’ll be nice to have the new stadium and hopefully some more shade,” said Russ Henderlite.
One fan told me that since he lives in Clay County, the fact that Duval taxpayers may be footing some of the bill for a new stadium doesn’t really bother him, so he’s all for it.
“I hear there’s a ‘Who’s going to pay for it?’ I don’t live in Duval County, so I don’t have a dog in that fight, so I say, ‘Build away,'” said Brian Reiss.
Henderlite said he hopes he’ll be able to travel to wherever the Jags play if they have to move during construction.
Nothing has been decided on that front – with the possible remote playing sites ranging from UNF, to Orlando to London.
“As long as it’s somewhere reasonable, I’ll go to the games,” said Henderlite.
Duval residents and Jags fans took to social media Wednesday to voice their opinions on the new design.
Some of them were not exactly complimentary.
Tina Warren on Facebook wrote: “Lighted toilet bowl..” while Ben Fong wrote, “Looks like a fancy toilet seat. Symbolic of tax payers getting crapped on?”
Some fans brought up a past project that began with a futuristic rendering: The design for Daily’s Place. The design is pictured below, beside a picture of the current Daily’s Place.
Others were more optimistic, speculating about the possibility of tampering heat in the stadium or the possibility of increased tourism.
Fans will be impacted, and so will businesses that thrive off the Jaguars game days.
“We see thousands and thousands of people from all over the country in here in a day,” said Caitlin Cooper, manager of That Bar at the Arena, which revolves around downtown events. “They go home, we clean up, and we do it again the next day.”
Which means business is rarely busier than when the Jags are in town.
“It’s been a dream to have a roof on the stadium for years now, so I think it’s going to be really cool for the fans, especially the older generation fans that can’t take this Florida heat anymore,” said Cooper.
Cost estimates to the city show the Jags think improvements to the stadium and the larger sports district clock in at between $1.75 and $2 billion dollars.
Half of that could come from taxpayers.
And the early timeline shows the stadium being shut down for two seasons in 2026 and 2027.
“It will be tough,” Cooper said. “We have no idea what’s going to happen, but we’ll make it.”
The plans say two of Jacksonville’s largest tourism drivers, The Gator Bowl and Florida-Georgia game, would also have to relocate.
Cooper hopes they’ll come back once construction is complete.
“We lost Country Superfest, we lost Rockville,” said Cooper. “There were a couple of big staples that went away for a summer and never came home.”
The plans do call for both games to return in 2028, with the goal of turning the Gator Bowl into a college football playoff game once it expands.
After getting a look at the renderings, Cooper’s more excited than anything else.
“Overall, I think it’s going to benefit the city,” said Cooper.
The timeline in early documents shows the Jags are hoping to have a final agreement with the City in March.
Jacksonville Mayor-elect Donna Deegan weighed in on the vision, saying in a statement:
“It’s a beautiful vision for economic revitalization. Infrastructure, especially in our older historic neighborhoods, will be one of the key priorities of my administration. I look forward to the coming negotiations and a deal that is good for taxpayers which keeps the Jaguars in Jacksonville for generations to come.”