A.G. Gancarski
The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, led by former mayoral candidate Daniel Davis, is endorsing a deal between the city and the Jacksonville Jaguars for a new stadium.
One of the big issues of the 2023 Jacksonville mayoral race between Donna Deegan and Davis was the negotiations of the renovations for the Jaguars stadium.
The race has been over for roughly a year now. And with retail politics long since in the rearview mirror, Davis and the Chamber are putting their muscle behind the stadium proposal that could cost Jacksonville taxpayers $925 million all-in, when the $625 million in local share of renovations, $150 million of deferred maintenance and $150 million in “community benefits” is rolled in.
“This is an incredibly important deal for the future of our city,” Davis said. “A deal to keep the Jaguars here for at least another 30 years and a state-of-the-art stadium for the team and other major events are huge wins. I commend Mayor Deegan and the Jaguars for coming together, listening to community input and getting a fair agreement done.”
Davis added that the Chamber will lobby the City Council to get the deal through.
“We have to invest in the Jaguars and the stadium — that’s part of the deal of being an NFL city and we understand that. The Community Benefit Agreement is also a huge part of this deal and we will see significant benefits from these investments.” Davis said. “We will be active in speaking with the City Council on the importance of this proposal and urge them to approve the agreement.”
10 comments
Larry Gillis, Libertarian (Cape Coral)
May 17, 2024 at 1:16 pm
THIS DEAL IS COMMERCIAL BRIBERY, WITH TAXPAYER MONEY.
Let us describe it for what it is: bribery.
FYI, my Party (the Libertarian Party of Florida) says the following in its platform” ” … VI. Paying for Government … 3. Tax Favoritism As long as we have taxes, equal protection of the law requires that for each type of tax, the rates should be the same and the tax base should be calculated in the same way for every individual or business. There should be no abatements, subsidies, credits, refunds or other preferential treatments as incentives to businesses to invest or create jobs, or as a privilege to individuals or classes of individuals, such as age, race or location. Such tax favoritism should be unconstitutional. .. ”
No amount of “Boosterism” and local pride should allow or require the taxpayers to fund this deal.
MH/Duuuval
May 17, 2024 at 1:22 pm
It’s a done deal except for the MAGAs on the Council who will try to kill the add-on for the struggling Eastside neighborhood adjacent to the stadium complex.
Richard D
May 17, 2024 at 1:31 pm
The real cost of the stadium will be much larger than the numbers shown in the article because the money will be obtained as loans (probably tax-exempt bonds). The interest that will be paid over the decades to lenders will be huge. The total interest amount is absent from the article. Taxpayers are unlikely to see a positive return on their investment.
Nope
May 17, 2024 at 3:47 pm
The article cannot calculate the trust cost of funding because city hall has refused to be transparent about financing and total costs. Why bother when people just bow down and drink whatever crap city hall is serving up today? Taxpayers are still paying off the existing stadium at $100M a year and that cost will not disappear but rather be stacked with the new costs. Economists agree on the fact stadium financing is a strain on cities that undergo this especially where state matching funds don’t exist (Duval county pays the whole thing). Cities with stadiums perform worse across every category because any local funds (as if) going to tickets etc (which go in the owner’s pockets, not the city’s btw—refresher—the city taxpayers foot the bill, the owner and NFL pocket the profits. That’s how it works, folks, plain and simple) just diverts that money away from wherever it would be spent locally on small business otherwise, while the costs of upkeep and hosting and maintenance and cost of funding create a drag against any other investment in basics such as infrastructure, maintenance, health, safety, transportation, climate resilience, and community investment with local impact. Or you know, just paying the bills and not having to keep raising taxes. Remember, your tax dollars are not being spent on the things that come back to you to make the city worth living, but they do and will continue to increase with fewer and fewer returns. Jacksonville’s existing debt is ballooning and getting worse by the day and year. The unfunded pension take up half the budget. $3.5B in unfunded liabilities today, before any of this new debt. Congress has declared stadium financing all but illegal many times over the decade yet have been too chicken to close the loopholes for obvious reasons, yet there is the understanding that using public taxpayer funds to fund private enterprise for private profit is constitutionally unjust, economically unsound, a breach of fiduciary obligation to meet existing debts and city operations in a timely and responsible way, and has no equal in municipal economies in terms of the size, scope and boondoggle drag spanning generations. It’s theft of taxpayer funds to benefit billionaires with private profit, all for a few days out of the year that most people watch on tv. That’s it. There’s just no other explanation. Shake your Pom poms and enjoy it because Duval just dug its own grave. The way this was handled by the current administration is the perfect example of high handed corruption and cronyism. And the other DD, mentioned here, would have done the exact same rubber stamping which the city council is about to do. No matter what kind of ridiculous virtue signaling gets done to get elected, once somebody gets in office in Jax, they all look and act the same. Idiocracy at work.
MH/Duuuval
May 17, 2024 at 7:55 pm
You pays your money, and you takes your pick in elections. Daniel Davis and DD both support this colossal giveaway. I didn’t see any other options for mayor in 2022, so I voted AGAINST the Curry/CofC candidate. It’s unfortunate that powerful locals look outside the city for models, when we already have and always have had other locals who work for comity, equity, a reasonable standard of living, libraries, and a good public education across the board. (Science Blvr. can be heard humming “Imagine” in the background.)
Frankie M.
May 17, 2024 at 5:37 pm
I don’t see AG waving the teal pom poms on this one. On the bright side by the time we need a new stadium in 30 years we’ll still be paying off this one!
MH/Duuuval
May 17, 2024 at 7:59 pm
The last I heard the yacht Shad Khan sold was valued by Khan at $199M.
BTW: I believe you may be conflating AG with the former Mayor who couldn’t get enough of being privy to the Jags” locker room and sidelines.
the Truth
May 19, 2024 at 11:35 am
Khan the Con has bought a 400 foot, four hundred million dollar yacht..yet people are struggling to pay their bills in Jacksonville and their tax dollars will go to a Edifice to Khans massive ego… make Khan pay for the stadium, period
MH/Duuuval
May 19, 2024 at 1:03 pm
Upgraded himself, eh? Well, he is apparently worth three or four times what he was worth when he bought boat #1, Kismet.
Crooked city hall
May 20, 2024 at 11:40 am
Why do people not blame the mayor on this when it’s obviously number one priority of the administration. So there is nothing left for anything else. People accept getting robbed for what. Why people keep saying great mayor honest mayor not the mayor’s fault but crooked deal. Explain to me how that works.
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