At a time when the Jaguars are increasing their workload in London, that workload could become even larger two years from now.
Via David Bauerlein of the Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry said during an appearance on 1010XL radio that renovations to TIAA Bank Field could force the Jaguars to play their games elsewhere for two seasons.
And Curry called that “the best-case scenario.”
Bauerlein explains that this is the first time any public official has said that renovations to the venue would displace the Jaguars. It’s unclear where the Jaguars would play their Jacksonville-based games.
“The goal would be to play somewhere in Jacksonville,” Curry said. “Those discussions are happening, but two years is the goal. . . . I do know that they are considering certain sites that are local that could accommodate them for at least two years.”
Curry suggested that, under the current timeline, the Jaguars would be impacted in 2025 and 2026.
Capacity, and in turn revenue, would be critical to the assessment — especially since the Jaguars could pack the stands, and stuff their coffers, with revenue by moving one or more of the Jacksonville games to their home away from home, a long way from home.
The news comes at a time when, as we noted on Wednesday, the doubling of the team’s total games in London next season makes it even more clear that, if any of the current 32 teams would be moved to across the Atlantic Ocean to fill out a four-team European division (and barring four expansion teams at least one will), the Jaguars are the top candidate to go, by far.
If the Jaguars are knocked out of their current Jacksonville venue and if there is no suitable alternative in town, the choices would be Orlando (141 miles away) or London. While it might be locally popular for the Jaguars to openly nudge the decision toward London, it would be a surprise if they abruptly and immediately rule out the possibility of playing somewhere between more and all of their home games in England for those two years.
Through it all, the team’s lease in Jacksonville runs through 2029. Which opens the door to a full relocation at the end of the current decade.