The Jacksonville Jaguars are facing a two-year diaspora from their home turf at TIAA Bank Field as the structure is scheduled to undergo a major facelift — not unlike the one that the venue experienced back in the mid-1990s.
While the effects of the instruction work ripple beyond the boundaries of Duval County all the way to Gainesville, Florida, and Athens, Georgia, given that the improvements will force UF and UGA to play their traditionally neutral site rivalry game somewhere else, those waves could also provide a financial windfall for the Sunshine State’s flagship school.
According to multiple recent reports, the Jax franchise has reached out to Florida’s athletic director Scott Stricklin about the possibility of hosting Jags games in the Swamp. Of course, there are plenty of other options on the table as well, but at very least, the offer appears to be intriguing.
“The Jaguars have shared their exciting vision for their stadium renovations with us and also expressed interest in having future conversations about where they would play games during the renovation,” Stricklin said. “It would be worth exploring hosting games in The Swamp. There are a lot of Jags fans in Gainesville given the close proximity to Jacksonville.”
Other stadiums under consideration are Camping World Stadium and FBC Mortgage Stadium (a.k.a the “Bounce House”) in Orlando, as well as Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee and – in what appears to be a bit of a long-shot — Wembley Stadium in London, England.
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