During the Jaguars’ State of the Franchise presentation on Friday, "impressive renderings of the recently-underway stadium renovation" were unveiled, and the team hopes it will "convince more fans to buy pricier club-seat tickets," according to Ryan O'Halloran of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. Jaguars President Mark Lamping said that the overall average ticket price will go up 3.6% this year, while 5% of the seats "will decrease in average price" and 10% "will have no change." Another 46% of general bowl seats "will have an undisclosed increase, but fans who renew their seats by Feb. 29 will pay the same price as last year." The club area, which comprises 15% of seats, "will have a lower increase (10%) if they renew by Feb. 29." Lamping and team Owner Shahid Khan "painted an optimistic picture about the Jaguars’ off-the-field efforts." A "major step" was the regular-season home game in London in '15 that represented 12.4% of the Jaguars’ local revenue, "which was 26th in the league." Lamping said, "We’ve turned the corner; the strategy is working." Through the improved stadium experience and full-court press marketing effort, the Jaguars "have more fans in the Jacksonville area." The Jaguars reported that 67.4% of the area population "called themselves NFL fans"-- up from 52.2% in '13 -- and from that 67.4% of the area population, 40.4% "call the Jaguars their favorite team." A year ago during this event, Khan "introduced a dazzling proposal to overhaul The Shipyard district just down the road from the stadium." But discussions with the city "didn’t progress fast enough" and he "moved on to the current stadium upgrade project." Khan did not "extinguish the idea of eventually developing The Shipyards, but it’s no longer a top priority" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/30).
ARTIST RENDERED: ESPN.com's Michael DiRocco noted the Jaguars on Friday "unveiled artist renderings of the indoor practice facility and 5,000-seat amphitheater that are scheduled to break ground" in '16. Khan said that while it "wouldn't be enough to pursue a Super Bowl, it would make the stadium an attractive place to host" the NFL Draft. The amphitheater, which is part of a $90M improvement project at and around EverBank Field (it also includes an indoor practice facility and club seat renovations), "will have 5,500 fixed seats with additional room for temporary seating." It will be "located just outside the south end zone under a roof that also covers the indoor practice facility." Khan is "splitting half of the project's cost with the city." Lamping said that there is not a "projected completion date for the amphitheater and indoor practice facility, but the hope is it will be finished by the end" of '16. That could "allow the Jaguars to pitch the idea" of the '17 draft coming to Jacksonville (ESPN.com, 1/29).
QUICK TURNOVER: The FLORIDA TIMES-UNION's O'Halloran noted Notre Dame-Navy will be played Nov. 5 at EverBank Field. Lamping said that it was his understanding that temporary seating from Georgia-Florida the week before would "remain in place" for Notre Dame-Navy. But O'Halloran noted that would "make it impossible for the Jaguars to play at home Nov. 6 and mean they would play one home game from Weeks 4-10, a bad scenario for a team in a win-or-everybody-gets-turfed year." Lamping said, "What we’ve told the city, if we play at home the next day [after Notre Dame-Navy], those seats need to be out" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/31).
