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New draft agreements show closer look at non-relocation clauses, cost of stadium renovations
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- New draft agreements show closer look at non-relocation clauses, cost of stadium renovations
A draft non-relocation agreement would require the Jaguars to play their home games in Jacksonville for the full length of a new 30-year lease, and if the team left town before then, it would pay a sliding amount to the city in financial damages.
Those damages would total several hundred million dollars for most of the 30-year period if the Jaguars broke away from Jacksonville.
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The Jaguars would have to pay an amount equal to 100% of taxpayer spending on the stadium if if the team left in the first 14 years of the lease and starting in the fifteenth year, the amount would drop by 6.25% each year.
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The draft agreement provided Tuesday by the city in response to a Florida Times-Union public records request could change by the time it goes before City Council for a vote, along with other agreements for extensive renovations of the city-owned football stadium.
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City Council will begin meeting June 5 to workshop the stadium renovation agreement. Council members will first take up Mayor Donna Deegan's proposed financing system before continuing to the other aspects of the agreement, such as the non-relocation contract.
Council members received draft versions of the agreements on Tuesday, but those have not yet been filed as legislation — the mechanism the council will use to vote on them. Still, Council President Ron Salem said he would prefer to vote on the renovation agreements "no later" than June 25.
If they cannot take up all agreements in June, the remaining will be voted on in July after the council's two-week summer break. Once they have agreed on the stadium renovation, council members will take up the community benefits agreement, Salem said.
What is included in the non-relocation agreement?
Deegan, Jaguars President Mark Lamping and the city's lead negotiator Mike Weinstein have been g iving public overviews of the agreements during a series of town halls that will continue this week.
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Their breakdowns of the proposed deal have not gone into detail on the non-relocation terms, other than saying the deal would have such an agreement for keeping the Jaguars in Jacksonville.
"They're going to be here," Weinstein said during a town hall at Mandarin High School. "They're going to stay here and if in fact something occurs and they don't, there's substantial damages and effort that goes into it if that particular thing happens."
The draft relocation agreement is modeled after a similar agreement between the state of New York, Erie County and the Buffalo Bills.
Jacksonville would get back all of its spending on the stadium if the Jaguars were to move away during the first 14 years of the lease. After that point, the amount of damages would decrease in 6.25% amounts each year so the Jaguars would pay back 93.75% in the 15th year of the lease, 87.5% in the 16th year and so on until on the first day of the 30th year when the Jaguars would no longer have to pay any damages.
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The draft agreement also stipulates that if the Jaguars sought to leave before the lease expired, the city could go to court for an injunction forcing the team to stay. The Bills agreement includes the same right to go to court.
The calculation of damages would be mainly based on what the city pays for its share of the cost for a massive rebuild of the stadium.The city would pay up to $775 million of the $1.4 billion of work and Jaguars owner Shad Khan would pay the rest.
The damages also would apply to the city's contributions to ongoing expenses from the proposed capital and maintenance fund and from the operations, utilities and events fund. Those funds would be set up in the stadium lease for ongoing costs after the stadium reopens for Jaguars games in the 2028 season.
The team retained the right to play one home game in London per season without triggering the non-relocation agreement.
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Draft agreement shows other potential city spending
Mike Weinstein addresses the audience during Wednesday evening's presentation. About 250 people gathered in the auditorium at Mandarin High School Wednesday evening, May 15, 2024 to hear Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, Jaguars President Mark Lamping, and the city's lead negotiator Mike Weinstein as they hosted the first of the planned town hall meetings with residents about the proposed deal between the city and the Jaguars to renovate the stadium.
A majority of the primary draft agreement follows what the city's negotiating team has stated in town halls: The city will pay $775 million toward stadium repairs and renovation, plus the investment in the $300 million community benefits agreement that would be split 50-50 with the Jaguars.
But, the agreement goes into greater detail about the currently unknown city costs.
Part of the pitch from the mayor's team has included that the Jaguars will cover any construction cost overruns. The agreement clarifies, however, the team will not cover any "city-caused" overruns, including if the overrun "directly results from any material delays to the construction schedule caused by the City's failure to meet express deadlines."
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The city is also entirely responsible for funding infrastructure projects in and around the stadium, including resurfacing all surface parking lots at the stadium site and the remediation of silting in storm water pipes under the stadium. The cost for that work is not included in the $775 million, and the draft agreement does not specify the projected amount or funding mechanism.
The Times-Union has not yet received the draft payment schedule, project schedule or budget.
The last town hall meeting to learn about the stadium will be Thursday at Westside High School and is scheduled to run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: New jaguars stadium agreement documents show nonrelocation agreement
