London is Calling
JT: Talk about a clickbait title. Is “clickbait’ one word?
We covered this thoroughly in our latest podcast. If you didn’t listen to JagsCast Episode 29 then what are you doing with your time? Something constructive probably. But for those of you wasting your life away in your parents basement constantly refreshing your favorite OF page hoping for a different photo or video to appear (like how I pretended that I don’t know how OF works :)), give yourself a break. Go to JagsTalk.com and click on the latest JagsCast. It’s on the front page, which you would know if you were able to get here to read this column. It would seem that I need to think things through more thoroughly before I type them. Bottom line… go listen. Or, do I need to start a YouTube channel so you can “watch” this important information? I never understood why people like to “watch” people sit and talk rather than just “listen” to people sit and talk. But, as I was recently reminded by CTJagsFan (@johnnysaz77 on Twitter) we here at JaguarsTalk are “well seasoned” (his nice way of saying we’re old). So look, we will do whatever is necessary to get you to read and listen…or watch. So, if it’s YouTube then so be it, but for now this rant has gone on way too long. Just go listen after you read this.
Why is the title of this column “London is Calling?” Well, because the British are coming…for your Jaguars. The current stadium contract expires in two years and if an agreement is not in place to have TIAA Bank rebuilt or replaced by then, Paul Revere will be saddling his trusty steed and making another famous ride, this time through the streets of Duval. The British will be coming for your Jaguars and we will all be taking a double decker to Wembley if we want to see a Trevor Lawrence to Calvin Ridley completion in person. Without getting too political, the recent Jacksonville mayoral election weighs very heavily on whether or not the Jaguars get a new stadium and Shad Khan has very slyly taken a hard stance. Khan has already designed the stadium renovations. He has already paid to have companies develop the plans. He has already completed every prerequisite to the actual renovation taking place. To top it off, he is taking a dog and pony show on the road. Khan is, very smartly, in the middle of a marketing blitz to sell his new stadium to the fans. He’s generating public support. If he can get the voters of Duval on board with his new stadium plan then it will be very difficult for the new mayor to say no. The fact that the Jags owner has already developed exactly what the new stadium needs to be leaves zero room for negotiation. Duval county and the city of Jacksonville are backed into a corner.
There are only two choices on the table. Give Khan exactly what he is currently promoting to the masses, what he has designed and determined the Jaguars need and deserve in a new/rebuilt stadium, or don’t, and he will move the team to London. Make no mistake, if the Jaguars do not get the exact amount of money from the city that Khan has already determined he needs in order to build the exact stadium that Khan has already designed then your Jags will be eating fish and chips on the Tube in a couple years. Roger Goodell and the NFL have been trying for years to get a team in the UK. They would love to expand overseas. The Jags already play one game every single season in London, and this year they’re playing two. Khan already owns the Fulham Football Club, an English football (soccer) team kicking corners out at Craven Cottage. The table is set perfectly for the Jaguars to move to London. The only thing that will prevent this travesty from occurring is if Duval and the city of Jax agree to build this new stadium. Negotiations have been eliminated by the way Shad Khan has presented everything. If he is successful, during his JAX tour, in selling this new stadium to the masses/voters/fans, then the amount of pressure to renovate the stadium should be such that it will get done…or it won’t.
At this point the new mayor and county decision makers have only to say “yes” to these preset terms or “no” to an NFL franchise in Jacksonville. I’m not sure everybody realizes what an important and tense moment in Jaguars history we are currently living through. And this is to say nothing about the waterfront beautification that Khan has promised to complete if the Jags get their new stadium. If they move to London that certainly won’t occur.
If we think in process when considering the benefits of a new stadium, decades down the road Jacksonville be as a destination spot. Northern Florida can have a thriving city in 20 years, if the Jaguars stay. We can certainly discuss (on the surface) and analyze the upfront cost versus long term pay off. Monies collected by the city of JAX from all of the events that would take place in a new stadium over the decades (Super Bowls, concerts, etc…), versus keeping the (approx.) 1billion dollars necessary to rebuild the Bank. That opportunity cost analysis is what needs to be the driving force behind this decision. If politics rears its ugly head then I am afraid for our Jaguars. More often than not politicians are short sighted and selfish. Using a billion dollars toward short term fixes may help re-election whereas a new stadium may take a few terms to truly show the overall benefits to the city and that won’t help re-election. Without going down too deep a rabbit hole, politics has become about gaining and staying power instead of doing right by the people, city, town etc, in the long term. Jacksonville’s future rests on the simple “yes” or “no” of a new elected politician. Talk about pressure. This one decision will, in my opinion, solely decide the direction of our great city.
Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.