The Jacksonville Jaguars are set to play two home games in London in the 2026 regular season, a move that fits into the team’s broader plans for its “Stadium of the Future,” President Mark Lamping said at a Feb. 25 news conference.
Speaking to the media while sparks flew from stadium construction steps away, Lamping said the Jaguars asked the NFL to move one of the Jaguars’ games in London, scheduled in 2030, to 2026. One London game was already on the 2026 schedule.
That leaves two preseason games and six regular season games in 2026 at EverBank Stadium, which is undergoing a $1.4 billion renovation and will operate at reduced capacity in the upcoming season.
The extra game in England will allow the Jaguars to potentially catch up on construction work not completed during this offseason, or to move ahead on work ahead of the 2027 season, Lamping said.
The Jaguars’ two London games in 2026 will take place in back-to-back weeks – one as the Jaguars’ yearly game in London, and one to meet a separate league requirement that teams play one international game every four years. The Jaguars’ annual London game does not count toward that NFL requirement.
By freeing up two weeks of the calendar without home games, Lamping said, construction could resume at EverBank Stadium during the regular season. If the Jaguars can bookend those games with a bye week or a road game, that will give the organization extra time to work on the stadium.
The 2026-27 NFL schedule is expected to be released in mid-May.
“Many fans want every single game to be played here in Jacksonville. We understand that,” Lamping said. “But in this particular case, trading a game in a stadium under construction with reduced capacity and getting a game back in our brand new stadium, we think that makes sense for all involved.”
The Jaguars have not agreed to play their annual London game in 2027, but they have scheduled their NFL-required game in England that year.
Lamping said the Jaguars were leaving the door open to playing two London games in 2027.
“There’s a lot that’s going to be changing here locally. And I think you can expect us to take a close look at what our London strategy is moving forward,” Lamping said.
“Not to suggest that, you know, we’re going to stop playing a game in London, but it is something that we will look very, very, very closely at.”
Cost overruns still expected
Ahead of the regular season opener for the 2025 season, the Jaguars opened the first of four grand staircases for the new stadium. On Feb. 25, construction was underway on the second grand staircase and the concourse extension that would connect the two.
That concourse extension, which juts from the existing structure to provide more walking space for fans in the stadium, is set to wrap around the full stadium.
Work is also underway on the first steps to install the stadium’s roof. Seventy-five steel beams, connected to underground concrete, had been installed around the stadium. Those beams, which Lamping said will be completed by August, will help support the roof.
Roof installation will begin in the first half of 2027, Lamping said.
As Lamping said in a December interview with the Daily Record, cost overruns are expected for the stadium, though the exact figure is difficult to nail down.
“Our cost projections literally change in real time. (If) I gave you a number today, it’d be outdated a half hour from now,” Lamping said. “We will be over $1.4 billion.”
Under legislation approved by Council in June 2024, the city is contributing $775 million in public funding for the project with the Jaguars providing $625 million.
City Chief Administrative Officer Mike Weinstein told members of the City Council in December 2025 that under the deal between the city and team to fund the stadium renovations, the Jaguars would be responsible for all cost overruns not brought on by city delays.
Ticket demand expected to outstrip supply
With capacity reduced to 42,507 for the Jaguars season, a drop of 27,637 seats, Lamping expected demand for Jaguars’ tickets to outstrip supply. Lamping said the organization is seeing high interest in season tickets.
“Our hope is that most of our seats will be occupied by our season ticket holders,” Lamping said.
“Those are our real core fans, and we’re going to rely on them for a long time.”
The Jaguars have removed seats in the eastern upper deck and plan to remove seats in the western upper deck. The team also removed seats behind the north end zone, though it expects to install temporary seating for future Florida-Georgia games, which are scheduled to restart play in Jacksonville in 2028 when the stadium renovations are completed.
The Jaguars averaged 64,445 fans for their 2025 regular season games, according to ESPN. For the Jaguars’ playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, the team recorded 70,250 fans in attendance.
“I don’t think anything showed what this market is capable of more than our playoff game against Buffalo this year,” Lamping said.
“Unlike a lot of times when the Bills roll in here, it was still dominated by Jaguars fans, and they were loud.”
With a potential for high demand and lower supply, Lamping said, fans should not be surprised to see higher ticket prices.
“If there are tickets that aren’t sold by our season ticket holders, to try to deal with the revenue impact we’re facing, we will probably be pretty aggressive on the secondary market in managing to have the price of the ticket reflect the value based on the demand,” Lamping said.
“If we have unbelievable demand for tickets, I don’t think that it should be a surprise to think that that’s going to be reflected on pricing on the secondary market.”