Michael Wright remembers he was delivering mail when he found out his hometown would be home to a National Football League franchise.
On Thursday night, the lifelong Jacksonville resident sat inside a community center to listen to the city’s proposal for how his beloved Jaguars could remain in town for another 30 years.
Wright was attending the second of five “community huddles” on a proposed stadium renovation for the Jaguars ─ a project that would cost city taxpayers more than $775 million. A night earlier, about 150 people filled a high school auditorium for the first presentation. Three more are scheduled this month.
At both meetings, Jaguars president Mark Lamping, Mayor Donna Deegan and the city’s chief negotiator, Mike Weinstein, spent about an hour divulging their vision for renovations at EverBank Stadium.
Both the Jaguars and the city would spend $625 million apiece on construction that would begin as early as February 2025 if the City Council and NFL owners accept it. The city would also spend an additional $150 million in deferred maintenance.
Wright sat through portions of the presentation with his arms crossed, but he left convinced.
“I think it’s a win-win. I’m with Mayor Deegan that you have to spend money to make money,” Wright said. “I go to other cities and I see how progressive they are. I want Jacksonville to be the same.”
Wright compared Jacksonville to Tampa and Orlando. Both cities recently invested millions in public facilities for sports teams in the last 15 years.
Hillsborough County, Tampa and Tampa Sports Authority pitched in nearly $30 million of a $160 million renovation of Raymond James Stadium, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers covering the balance. In Orlando, Amway Center was erected on the edge of downtown with more than $400 million in tourist tax dollars.
Meantime, St. Petersburg is weighing taxpayer investment in a proposed renovation of its Historic Gas Plant District that will include a new ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays. Pinellas County and the Rays are also contributing.
On Thursday in Jacksonville, the mayor stressed to the crowd that ad valorem taxes will not be raised to fund the stadium renovations. Instead, a half-cent sales tax that was slated to sunset would be extended. The city also wants to move $600 million from a capital improvement plan.
City officials say the proposal would save $1.5 billion in debt-services fees over the life of the lease.
The message was the same at Wednesday’s “huddle.” Several attendees then asked questions that included how the deal would affect season-ticket holders and whether the project would improve parking and traffic flow near the downtown riverside stadium.
“This is one of the most beneficial things that we can do for our community,” said Philip Ayles, a life coach who helps military veterans transition to civilian life.
Ayles wore Jaguars colors to Wednesday’s event and said the team brings spirit to a wide cross-section of people: “What it does is allows us to come together.”
Others appeared to view the deal more critically., including George Carroll, who wanted to know, “Should this go to a referendum?”
“I believe the referendum was my election back in May,” Deegan replied, restating an answer she has given in the past to the same question. “This is my job. … Same with the City Council. They were elected to do what’s best for the city of Jacksonville. If we start putting every leadership decision to referendum, we’re not going to get a whole lot done in the city, I can tell you that.”
Deegan, who was voted into office a year ago, pledged to listen to all of Jacksonville in the run-up to that upset win. She began Thursday on the Eastside and ended it in Sherwood. In both communities, people were cautiously optimistic the deal would benefit the Eastside, the historic, majority-Black community just to the north of the sports district.
Northside Coalition opposition
However, before Thursday's “huddle,” the Northside Coalition, a civil rights activist group, announced it was vowing to “oppose the billion dollars for a renovated football stadium and a billion dollars for a new jail unless another billion dollars is invested in Northwest Jacksonville and other neglected parts of the city.”
In a news release, Northside Coalition president Kelly Frazier said, “We appreciate City Council acknowledging the sins of the past against the Black community and the damage redlining had in Jacksonville, and now it is time for the city to put its money where its mouth is.”
The coalition didn’t mount an organized protest at Thursday's “huddle,” but as Deegan, Lamping and Weinstein took questions, they heard from Northwest Jacksonville residents who have lived there long enough to recall unfulfilled promises of previous politicians.
One resident asked why the city could devote so much care and attention to the stadium but not where it chose to build a morgue. Another challenged the team’s economic data that promises economic benefits for all of Jacksonville. Ultimately, several people pleaded for the city and Jaguars to honor promises being made in these community huddles.
History of development and displacement
Though the Jaguars are celebrating their 30th season this fall, the site where they play has been home to a football stadium for nearly a century.
In the 1920s, portions of the Eastside were razed to build what was then called Fairfield Stadium. That facility opened in 1928 as a place for the football programs from Lee, Landon and Andrew Jackson high schools.
Capacity was doubled after World War II to 16,000 seats and the stadium was renamed the Gator Bowl.
The University of Florida and University of Georgia first played there in 1933. The rivals have played on that site every year since with the exception of 1994 and 1995, when the property was renovated in preparation for the expansion Jaguars.
It’s that history of development and displacement that gives Kacheryl “Cookie” Gantt pause. But she’s swayed by the proposed lease’s “community redevelopment agreement” that would see the team and city each set aside an additional $150 million over the 30-year lease to focus on public parks, countywide initiatives like workforce development and affordable housing, specifically on the Eastside.
Lamping, the Jaguars’ president, acknowledged on Tuesday at City Hall that there had been underinvestment in the Eastside for generations. He said the community redevelopment agreement would help erase decades of dismissal from the private and public sector.
“Some things are too good to be true. But, on the other hand, I think it’s still a good deal,” Gantt says. “It’s been a long time coming. I was there when the team came. … I’m on edge about eminent domain happening on the Eastside … because I’ve already been through that once.”
Gantt grew up in the Eastside. She was a middle school student there when her family was displaced in 2001 as the city used Better Jacksonville Plan dollars to build what is now as VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Today, Gantt owns The Avenue Grill on A. Philip Randolph Boulevard, the Eastside’s main thoroughfare. She says she is excited that the proposal could allow for more local restaurants to become vendors inside the stadium.
“I think it’s a good investment for the residents of the Eastside,” Gantt says. “There are people out there who are 80 and 90 years old who have lived to see this moment.”
Will Brown is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Casmira Harrison is a Jacksonville Today reporter focusing on local government in Duval County.
