NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – The Jags hosted their third community “huddle” outside of Duval County Friday night to get feedback on the team’s proposed “stadium of the future.”
The meeting was held at Yulee High School in Nassau County.
The team has held almost 20 of the stadium huddles so far — 16 were in Duval County.
Earlier this week, Clay and St. Johns counties were visited by the team to discuss the planned stadium renovations.
The meetings focus on what the area around the stadium would look like, along with what would need to be done to get a deal approved.
The proposal for an upgraded stadium and a new “sports district” around the stadium would come with a price tag of more than $2 billion.
Taxpayers are potentially splitting the bill.
“That’s what this stadium is all about,” Jaguar President Mark Lamping said. “And the development outside is to provide that development momentum, particularly on the Eastside of downtown, and then work back towards the commercial core to the west. And the end result would be more people visiting downtown Jacksonville, more people living here, more people working downtown Jacksonville.”
RELATED | UNF Poll: Duval County voters don’t want to fund stadium upgrades, but want Jags to stay | Jags’ ‘huddles’ spark questions about area surrounding ‘stadium of the future’ | ‘Stadium of the Future’: Jaguars reveal renovation plans in online presentation
Results from a new UNF poll revealed:
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51% want the Jags to purchase land and pay for the stadium renovation and sports district without public investment
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33% would be willing to split between $250 to $500 million of public funds for the upgrades
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6% would support the current proposal of the $1 billion public investment
What’s most important to fans in any possible deal (UNF results):
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45% of people said community and economic investment in underserved neighborhoods
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19% said creating more entertainment downtown
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17% support negotiating the smallest possible public investment
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5% want minimum construction time to make sure the Jags play more games at home
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4% said fixing temperature problems in the stadium
Most Duval County voters are against spending public funds on the stadium and sports district development, but many are willing to compromise if that means keeping the Jaguars in Jacksonville, the UNF poll found.
James Matchett is a football fanatic and is not opposed to the renovations but feels there are more pressing issues the city needs to address first.
“They were supposed to be getting rid of septic tanks. We have areas that are still on septic tanks that haven’t been done. We have areas that are prone to flooding that have not been done. We have rec spaces that have been neglected or not kept up because there was no funding,” Matchett said.
Even among those who oppose spending any public funds on the project, 33% were willing to split the cost when faced with the possibility of losing the team to another city.
During the meeting, Lamping responded to a question about the price tag and how much the city would be committing to the projet. He asked that people be critical once they know what the deal is. The talks between the team and the city are still in the early stages, but one thing that’s for certain is the Jags want to stay in Jacksonville.
Earlier today, Lamping pushed back against national reports that the Jaguars would pull out of Jacksonville if they didn’t get the funding for the stadium renovations.
Researchers with the company Tourism Economics predict if the deal goes through, it will create more than 17,500 jobs and bring in nearly $71 million in state and local tax revenues.
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