The Jacksonville Jaguars’ “Stadium of the Future” project is under way as construction has started on the team’s old practice fields. The team will be building a new team facility and headquarters there, which will allow the players and employees to move out of TIAA Bank Field for its upcoming renovations.
While the details of the cost and renderings of the stadium renovations have not yet been disclosed, fans have been vocal for years about what they want most in stadium additions: shade. Most of the Jags’ games take place early in the afternoon, and it goes without saying that it probably hasn’t been very fun to watch a struggling franchise in the sweltering summer heat of the Sunshine State.
With the stadium renovations being such an important topic, the team has shown a willingness to lean on fans and others who have ties with the stadium (like the Universities of Georgia and Florida) for insight. In fact, back in April they conducted a survey with season ticket holders asking them about the upgrades they would like to see.
According to News4Jax, some of the specific questions on the survey included:
- How important to you is shade coverage on all seats for a renovation of TIAA Bank Field?
- How important to you is coverage or protection from rain on all seats for a renovation of TIAA Bank Field?
- How important was the potential renovation on your interest in season tickets?
- How important is shade in your seating decision?
The survey is an indicator that the organization is listening to the complaints, and now the work is in motion to make the stadium experience better. The team hired and interacted with eight sports architects to come up with designs that would address these complaints and more.
One option for shade that we pointed to last season was a canopy like the one over Hard Rock Stadium, which is home to the Miami Dolphins. However, in an interview on 1010XL radio in April, Jags president Mark Lamping said the Jags are looking for something more “robust” than the Dolphins’ solution.
“Well, we’re looking at everything.” Lamping said when 1010XL’s Rick Ballou asked him what examples the Jags had seen. “We’re looking at the things that work really well and we’re looking at mistakes that have been made [by other teams and stadiums in the past]. Our situation is a little different than Miami I think because we really need a solution that [puts] shade on all the seats.
“The Miami solution does a good job of protecting shade in certain parts of the stadium and protecting fans from rain in the upper deck, but as far as keeping fans totally out of the sun, all you have to do is go to a 1:00 kickoff there and see that there is still some issues there [with the heat]. Strategically, all of those issues are on the visiting side bench, just like it is here in Jacksonville where the issues are on the east side. So our roof solution needs to be more robust than that because we have to get shade on all the seats.”
Lamping also said that they were surprised how many fans stated they wanted protection from the rain in the survey. He said that the suggestion opened up a lot of possibilities in terms of events that could be held at TIAA Bank Field because it would give the Jags the upgrades needed to host a college football playoff game or Final Four basketball event.
“As I mentioned a moment ago, the concept of protecting fans from the rain is not something the Jaguars necessarily need, but it is something that we should be interested in because it opens up the stadium for many more events,” Lamping said. “College football playoffs is the best example of that.”
These statements hint at the Jags potentially wanting a full roof of some sort. When looking at projects that went a step further than Miami’s roofing solution, I believe several projects seem like viable options. However, what stood out the most were the additions made to the legendary Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2016.
The stadium, which was constructed in 1997, was built without a roof, but after dealing with rain delays for almost two decades, plans were made to build a retractable roof for it. A lightweight solution was needed because of the soil conditions beneath the stadium, and a concept was created by Rossetti Architects to build a 210,000 square feet retractable roof made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
New Arthur Ashe Stadium roof unveiled @usopen, can open/close in under seven minutes. READ: https://t.co/tIUNWWajWS pic.twitter.com/x8s9bo6BcJ
— TENNIS (@Tennis) August 2, 2016
Ultimately, the cost of the roof was $150 million, but it was included in a full renovation plan that totaled $550 million.
With the Jags already doing business with Rossetti, the architects of their pending practice facility, it would make sense for them to be one of the companies the Jags have reached out to for concepts. But regardless of who the Jags are talking to, a roof like the one over Arthur Ashe Stadium makes sense for TIAA Bank Field. After all, they are familiar with PTFE roofing because it’s the same roofing material they used to construct their amphitheater (Daily’s Place) and indoor practice facility with.
With inflation being an issue, it’s hard to say how much the full renovation project would be, but it’s almost certain to cost more than the aforementioned Arthur Ashe Stadium project. Additionally, the NFL has been known to ask for more tax payer participation out of smaller markets, which is something Lamping hinted at in the interview.
“The facts are that it will be a partnership between the team and the city and that in itself will create some controversy,” he said. “People shouldn’t be surprised by that conclusion when you understand how the NFL came to Jacksonville in the first place, but also just look at other small markets in the NFL.
“It’s very consistent. The smaller the market the more public participation you need in the stadium and we’re even seeing it with the most recent developments with the Buffalo agreement and what looks like a new domed stadium in Nashville, that agreement.”
The Bills new stadium is set to cost the taxpayers $850 million (of $1.6 billion), according to reports. Tennessee taxpayers could be facing a situation where they are paying over $1.5 billion for a new Titans stadium. Luckily, unlike the aforementioned teams, the Jags are only renovating, which should make the cost more reasonable. Additionally, both the city and Jags have been working towards this for a while, so there seems to be a lot of transparency about the situation.
Regardless of the cost, though, it’s clear the appetite for a roof has increased on both sides — and with an innovative, cost-effective blueprint in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the Jags would not have to compromise with a partial solution.
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