Stadium negotiations between city, Jaguars still have ‘many months’ to go

Negotiations between the city of Jacksonville and the Jaguars regarding stadium renovations are going well, per a representative from Mayor Donna Deegan’s office. But don’t expect anything to be presented to the public anytime soon.

Mike Weinstein noted that he has been talking to Jaguars’ President Mark Lamping, addressing the City Council.

Meetings continue between city and Jaguar representatives, with the “lines of communication going quite well.”

“Just to give you a sense of the process, there were 14 of us in the (introductory) meeting,” Weinstein said, describing a conclave some weeks back. “Twelve of the 14 were lawyers, (which should) give you a sense of how complicated this process is going to be as we move forward.”

The Jaguars offered information that they have been presenting to the community, Weinstein said, but “we wanted a lot more.”

“So yesterday, as a matter of fact, we had a two-hour meeting, our team with their team, as well as their engineers, their architects and their designers to really get into the weeds about what this picture really is that they’ve been presenting, what’s in it, the value of it and, and how possibly could it be constructed as we talk about construction,” Weinstein said.

“I continue to feel very confident that they want to be here. We want them to be here long term,” Weinstein added, cautioning that negotiations will “take a while,” but the goal is to have the team in its revamped stadium by 2028 with a new 30-year lease.

As Florida Politics first reported earlier this year, the Jaguars envision a heavy local investment in the stadium, with the Jaguars responsible for the sports district around it. The city government would primarily shoulder the stadium cost, which could be on the hook for anywhere between $800 and $934 million — two-thirds of the overall price tag. Meanwhile, the city would be expected to spend between $75 million and $100 million on the sports district.

Weinstein said a full package is “many months” away from being able to be divulged, but he expects to present a full proposal to the Council as soon as possible.