PHOENIX — The Jacksonville Jaguars’ long-expected plan to play their 2027 home games in Orlando became official on Tuesday, March 31, when NFL owners voted unanimously to make Camping World Stadium the team’s home for one season.

The announcement was made during the league’s Annual Meeting at the Arizona Biltmore.

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The Jaguars will play in a reduced-capacity EverBank Stadium (42,507) this year before vacating the facility as a $1.4 billion renovation is completed.

“Absolutely, I think it was a great day for the Jaguars, for the NFL and obviously the Jaguars fans that we’re able to play games close to home and yet expand our fan base,”  owner Shad Khan said during an interview with The Times-Union.

If the current 17-game schedule remains in place, the Jaguars will have 10 “home” games (one preseason and nine regular season) in 2027.

“Right now, we know for certain that one of those games will be played in London,” Jaguars president Mark Lamping told The Times-Union. “Beyond that, there could be as many as three games (played outside of Orlando).”

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One option for the Jaguars could be playing a second game in London (they are playing two this year on back-to-back weekends) and possibly a third international game in 2027 in another country. As part of the league’s Global Markets Program, the Jaguars have marketing rights in Ireland in addition to the United Kingdom.

Lamping said the league did not mandate any improvements to the Orlando stadium before the Jaguars play their first game, likely in August 2027.

“They’ve hosted five Pro Bowls so the league is very familiar with the stadium,” Lamping said. “It’s NFL-ready.”

Construction on a $400 million Camping World Stadium renovation began in February. It includes raising the seating capacity to 65,000, a new community events center and a retractable stage for concerts.

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On the Jaguars’ 2027 home schedule are the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and one team apiece from the AFC West and NFC West.

Lamping said Jaguars season-ticket holders will be initially offered the opportunity to buy season tickets for the Orlando schedule and an announcement in the “not too distant future,” will outline a process to register for tickets.

“Hopefully, Jaguars fans will make the trip down there,” Lamping said. “It’s not that far, it’s a great city to visit and there is a lot to do other than attend an NFL game. It will be a good weekend trip.”

The Jaguars will play two preseason and six regular season games this year in Jacksonville.

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“I think the capacity is going to be good,” Khan said. “It’s smaller, but the energy has gone up and the performance of the team on the field plays a big role in that. Last year, there were close games in which we counted on the fans to help us win. The upper bowl, whether it was because of the sun or whatever, a lot of those people who bought tickets ended up in the end zones by the pools on in The Bud Zone. The current (capacity), I think the energy is going to be spectacular.”

Said Lamping: “It’s going to create a really good environment because we’ll be full. A number of upper-deck season-ticket holders have relocated to the lower deck and hopefully this will be a year when we don’t have a lot of tickets available for visiting teams to buy. I would predict that we’ll have a higher concentration of Jaguars fans attending games than we typically do in Jacksonville.”

Every time Khan is in Jacksonville, he gets to the see the incremental stadium renovation progress, but also the construction of his Four Seasons hotel make progress … and it is still exciting each time.

“Yes, absolutely,” Khan said. “We hope other people are going to supplement what’s going on. The marina in the back (of the hotel) is a game-changer to really maximize key assets the city has, which is the river and the waterways.”

Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: NFL owners approve Jaguars playing 2027 games in Orlando