The Jacksonville Jaguars will soon renovate TIAA Bank Field. Said renovations are expected to start in 2025 and could displace the NFL team for a season or two.
A lot of possibilities have come up as potential temporary gigs, including Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the home of the Florida Gators. Orlando’s Camping World Stadium is also a possibility.
However, another venue has come up in conversations recently. Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. We’re not kidding.
“Daytona International Speedway is a world-renowned sports and entertainment venue and hosts a full schedule of events each year. As good neighbors in the Florida sports community, DIS will be speaking with the Jacksonville Jaguars to see if we can assist them with their potential upcoming facility needs around our scheduled events.”
Daytona president Frank Kelleher said recently, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
As crazy as this might seem, Daytona could actually be restructured to house an NFL team. The current site of the Daytona 500, this venue holds north of 101,000 people. Even with a restructure of the grounds, 70,000-plus fans could fill the site as a temporary home for the Jaguars. The NFL team also doesn’t seem to be too opposed to this idea.
“They have had football down there,” Jacksonville Jaguars president Mark Lamping told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer recently. “The University of Tennessee played at Bristol [Motor Speedway]. And keep in mind, that facility is probably the closest of those three facilities to Jacksonville. From where I live, it’s 60 miles down to Daytona. And they’re used to handling crowds of over 100,000. So the traffic and the parking and all of that, they handle in a major way twice a year with their two NASCAR races. So they’re going to be interesting.”
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Could the Daytona International Speedway house the Jacksonville Jaguars?
Logistically, it could make a lot of sense for both sides. The Jaguars plan to gut TIAA Bank Stadium and replace it with a “new venue” for between $1.3 and $1.4 billion. The project will require public funding, something that has been somewhat of an issue in North Florida.
However, Lamping is confident that something will get done in time for the Jaguars to start renovations in 2025.
In addition to the home of the Florida Gators and Orlando’s Camping World Stadium, Hodges Stadium is being considered. It houses North Florida within the Jacksonville city limits. Unfortunately, current capacity at the venue is just 9,400. That would create some issues.
Outside of those three options, Daytona could make the most sense. As noted above, it is accustomed to housing north of 100,000 racing fans. Parking and transportation wouldn’t be an issue, either.
It’s certainly an idea that comes out of left field. But it could make sense.