NFL Owners Approve $1.4B Jacksonville Jaguars Stadium

The Jacksonville Jaguars will continue representing Florida’s most populous city thanks to NFL owners voting in favor of a new stadium.

Dubbed the Stadium of the Future, the project will cost $1.4 billion and keep the football franchise in Jacksonville for at least another three decades, as reported by AP News.

Under a unanimous 32-0 vote, the stadium will include 63,000 seats but capacity could potentially reach 71,500 to support College Football games, according to the news outlet. The new home to the football team will also include a translucent covering that could lower outside temperatures by 15 degrees and a party deck.

The Stadium of the Future will surround the city’s downtown entertainment district, which has several real estate projects under development. This includes a new Jaguars office building, a Four Seasons hotel, and a residential project. Plus, there will be a shipyard project that will include a satellite campus for the University of Florida, which is expected to lure 10,000 students to the district, according to AP News.

Toward the stadium, the Jaguars will contribute $625 million, followed by the city pitching in $775 million, which includes covering the costs of deferred maintenance. The move will give the city 55 percent ownership of the team.

“A great night for Jacksonville, and I couldn’t be more grateful,” Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said, according to a post from Jaguars.

“At the end of the day, it does mark a significant moment for us and a movement into the construction phase of this process, which is going to be exciting to watch. “We are a city on the rise, and the Jaguars are a big part of that. I can’t wait to take that big victory lap.”