JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The price tag for Jacksonville’s “Stadium of the Future” just got bigger – about $100 million bigger. But city officials want taxpayers to know they don’t expect to foot the extra bill.
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s Chief of Staff Mike Weinstein presented the update to the City Council Finance Committee on Tuesday.
“Right now it’s a little bit over budget,” Weinstein said. “Things do change. Everything has an effect. Tariffs have an effect.”
But he said the city’s share of the $1.4 billion project isn’t budging from the original $775 million. The expectation is that the Jacksonville Jaguars will pick up any costs beyond that.
“It will be what we all agreed to spend $775 million on,” he said.
Weinstein said the overall split between the Jaguars and the city for the cost of the stadium could end up closer to 50/50. But he said the city is pitching in some of the funds up front to purchase the materials to get ahead of the impact.
“There’s a $25 million savings if the city purchases the items that need to be in the renovation,” he said.
They’ve also bumped up their Capital Improvement Plan spending from $150 million to $210 million this year to stay ahead of rising costs.
“It won’t increase the total,” he said. “It’s just the timing.”
But looking into next year, there might be more financial juggling needed.
“There’s a possibility come March, April, May we might come back and say we need another $30 million moved up. But again, it won’t affect the total, it just affects the timing,” Weinstein said.
While the money side has hit some bumps, the project is still right on track for kickoff in August 2028.
Mother Nature has helped – no major storms have slowed things down and Weinstein even said potential home playoffs games were a part of the discussion should the Jags continue maintain their momentum on the field.
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