A four-week stretch of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 2026 regular season schedule, announced May 14, could aid the franchise in construction on its “Stadium of the Future.”
The Jaguars play at Cincinnati on Oct. 4, followed by two games in London and a bye week, which could allow the team to to catch up or get ahead of schedule on construction efforts. The team is out of town between Sept. 27 and Nov. 1 games against New England and Indianapolis, respectively.
“Given our desire to play in Jacksonville this year for our fans and the ongoing Stadium of the Future construction over the next two years, we are appreciative of the NFL’s efforts to grant our request to create four-week window,” the Jaguars wrote in a statement. “As previously mentioned, this nearly month-long window creates the opportunity to keep the project moving.”
Speaking in late February, Jaguars President Mark Lamping announced the London games would take place in back-to-back weeks, facilitating uninterrupted time for construction work. The Jaguars, he said, were still pushing for time away from the stadium on the bookends of those London games.
One of the two games in England will count 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.
“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.”
However, the extra work on the stadium won’t mean the Jaguars will play games in Jacksonville in 2027. The team is slated to spend that season in Orlando due to stadium construction. The team will play at Everbank Stadium with limited capacity in the 2026-27 season.
“That window is more of creating a backup, in the event you don’t get all the work we need to get done by the start of the season,” Lamping said. “It’ll also allow us to get ahead on some stuff, but not so much that it would change in any drastic way the availability of the stadium.”
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 we’re going to stop playing a game in London, but it is something that we will look very, very, very closely at.”
In February, the city of Jacksonville issued a permit for $696.5 million of work on the largest portion of the stadium renovation. That permit was for a construction bid package involving eight levels and 652,735 square feet. At the time, city records showed that permits totaling almost $640.14 million had previously been issued since Dec. 10, 2024, when the foundation for the stadium was approved.
Plans call for the reconstructed stadium to include a partial roof cover, expanded and elevated concourses, a park-like entrance, corner openings to improve airflow and a reflective outer coating designed to reduce interior heat.
Jacksonville City Council finalized a $1.45 billion package of legislation June 25, 2024, to modernize the stadium and keep the Jaguars in Jacksonville for 30 years. That legislation, Ordinance 2024-0904, included $775 million in public funding for the stadium’s makeover and $56 million for riverfront parks and a stadium-adjacent flex field.