{"id":294572,"date":"2026-06-03T16:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/294572\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T16:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:19:15","slug":"jacksonville-beach-approves-ordinance-allowing-bars-to-host-larger-jaguars-game-day-crowds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/294572\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville Beach approves ordinance allowing bars to host larger Jaguars game day crowds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jacksonville Beach leaders approved an ordinance Monday night, establishing a two-year pilot program that will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/jacksonville-beach-considers-pilot-program-223832635.html\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:allow bars and restaurants to host larger Jaguars game day crowds more often;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;allow bars and restaurants to host larger Jaguars game day crowds more often&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">allow bars and restaurants to host larger Jaguars game day crowds more often<\/a> over the next two NFL seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The approved ordinance allows qualifying businesses to temporarily expand their outdoor spaces during Jacksonville Jaguars home games as EverBank Stadium undergoes renovations, and during the team&#8217;s temporary relocation to Orlando in 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jacksonville Beach City Council and Mayor Christine Hoffman narrowly passed the ordinance with a 4-3 vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Establishments were already allowed to expand their capacity up to two times a year, but the pilot program gives them the opportunity to do so up to six more times, from one hour before kickoff until one hour after the game ends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The program runs from Aug. 1, 2026 to the end of the Jaguars&#8217; 2026 season, and from Aug. 1, 2027 to the end of the Jaguars&#8217; 2027 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Council Member Sandy Golding, who voted against the ordinance, expressed concerns about the role alcohol could play as businesses expand their capacity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I&#8217;ll just reiterate what I said at the last meeting, I still have concerns about this because when I talk to residents, they are always telling me that they want less alcohol-related events here in Jax Beach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Council Member Dan Janson pushed back, saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s not limited to just alcohol, but a lot of folks will go out there and they&#8217;ll have food as well&#8230; so it&#8217;s not just an alcohol event.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Janson previously told First Coast News that the city would monitor the program closely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe\u2019re not anticipating that huge of an influx and the key here is it\u2019s a pilot program,&#8221; Janson said. &#8220;So, if things start going in the wrong direction or we see an influx or we can\u2019t handle the security of it, then, as a pilot program, we can shut it down.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacksonville Beach leaders approved an ordinance Monday night, establishing a two-year pilot program that will allow bars and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[124150,79129,116,2130,118,117,1630,19619,36361],"class_list":["post-294572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-approved-ordinance","tag-christine-hoffman","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-beach","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jaguars","tag-jax-beach","tag-pilot-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}