Mark Lamping wanted to make clear that Jaguars mentioning lease extension is not a threat to leaveGetty Images
Jaguars President Mark Lamping said that any potential extension of the team's current lease with the city of Jacksonville beyond '30 "would have to clear several NFL hurdles, including a major renovation of TIAA Bank Field," according to a front-page piece by Gene Frenette of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. Lamping added that a "more vibrant downtown through the Lot J development next to TIAA Bank Field -- currently being discussed and soon up for a vote by City Council -- also makes that approval more appealing." Lamping: "If you’re going to be making a long-term extension of a lease, there needs to be certainty that you’re going to have an NFL-quality stadium during the term of that extension. ... Going to the league now and trying to get a lease extension without a stadium solution is going to end up not where we want it to end up.” He noted that the intentions of Owner Shad Khan "should be judged on a track record of his investing in Jacksonville, 'not on what you think he’s going to do.'" Lamping explained that one of the reasons the Jaguars have been "reluctant to speak publicly until now about a lease extension is 'as soon as that word is mentioned, some people perceive it as a threat [to leave]. That’s not the case at all. So that’s why we tend to be really careful around any type of discussion on the lease and prefer that people judge Shad based on what he’s done'" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 11/24).
