Home away from home: Jaguars face decisions for renovation years

Sometime around the last week of June, the Jacksonville City Council will vote on the $1.7 billion stadium renovation proposal. If passed, the Jaguars will then finalize plans for the coming seasons.

The plan now is for the Jaguars to play to a limited capacity in 2026, something in the range of 40,000 seats, and then play somewhere else in 2027.

What could that look like?

First, don’t be surprised if the Jaguars play more than one “home” game in London. Last season, the Jaguars played two games in London, one was considered a “road” game. But in 2027, when the stadium will be unavailable for games, it makes sense for the Jaguars to maximize profits by playing an additional game (or maybe more) in London.

There are two remaining locations that could host the Jaguars in 2027. The Daytona Motor Speedway proposed hosting the Jaguars, but various issues led to the team cutting the speedway from the list of contenders.

That leaves Orlando and Gainesville as the most likely suitors. Orlando’s Camping World Stadium holds just over 60,000 and could be expanded to add at least five thousand more seats. The AstroTurf surface might be an issue for the Jaguars. The NFL Players Association has been aggressively campaigning against artificial fields due to the increased rate of injuries compared to natural grass surfaces.

The Swamp in Gainesville has natural grass and a larger capacity than Orlando. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium boasts a capacity of 88,548, much more than the Jaguars would likely need. Some of the bleacher seating may not be utilized for all of the games if the Jaguars played in Gainesville.

It is also closer than Orlando, making the trip an easier one for Jaguars fans in Jacksonville, many of whom are used to making the trek to cheer on the Gators.

Orlando could put more money into the offering as part of an effort to lure more tourism dollars to the city. Because of the length of drive from Jacksonville, some fans would opt to stay a night in Orlando either before or after the game instead of driving straight back home. It is not unreasonable to think that some family vacations involving a theme park and a football game could be bundled as well.

Seeing how the Jaguars handle the travel to home games will be intriguing. Typically, for road games, the team leaves on Saturday, stays the night in a hotel in the away city, and then returns to Jacksonville immediately after the game.

If the games are played in Gainesville, will they treat it the same way? They could travel to Gainesville as a group early Sunday morning. The NFL has rules about visiting teams being in town a day before the games are to be played, but playing in Gainesville might be handled differently.

For games in Orlando, the team would almost certainly travel the day before.