The Jacksonville City Council approved an agreement on Tuesday between the National Football League’s Jaguars and the Florida city for a $1.4 billion renovation of EverBank Stadium.
The team and the city each will contribute $625 million to the facelift, and the city also agreed to pay $150 million over the next two seasons to prepare the stadium for the work. Jaguars owner Shahid Khan will be responsible for any construction cost overruns.
Jacksonville plans to pay for the renovation by delaying a previously-accelerated pension contribution until 2031. By shifting the pensions back on the payment timeline by four years, the city will fund infrastructure projects with existing sales tax revenue instead of debt and free up an extra $600 million in borrowing capacity from an already-approved $1.3 billion capital improvement plan.
Jacksonville will then tap the bond market to finance their share of the renovation.
The accord also includes a 30-year lease that would begin once the stadium reopens, and a non-relocation clause that will keep the team in north Florida for the next three decades.
The contract passed by a 14 to 1 vote, with two council members abstaining. The deal now needs approval from at least 75% of NFL team owners at their meeting in October before the renovations can proceed.
Sports economists for years have warned that teams and local officials frequently overestimate the benefits of stadium deals, while lowballing the costs. Yet sports franchises including Major League Baseball’s Athletics, and the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers of the NFL, have recently successfully petitioned for public dollars.
