(07-21-2023, 08:54 PM)TheDuke007 Wrote: I'm one who still believes Gainesville is the likely destination.  I think the Jaguars will want to go to Orlando due to the stadium and the potential opportunity to expand the fan base.  I think the mayor/city council will want to play at EverBank Stadium.  However, the Jaguars won't want to play there due to the additional cost and the fact that it will take 4 years instead of 2.  I think the two sides compromise on Gainesville.

I'm not as big on Daytona as some on here.  First, in terms of travel time, if we use EverBank Stadium as the starting point, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is not only less miles but also less drive time according to mapquest.  I know this doesn't factor traffic which probably moves the time advantage back to Daytona, but by how much?  Let's not forget that virtually everyone going to a game in Daytona will be going down I-95.  That's going to slow it down too.  There are multiple routes to Gainesville.  Yes, you theoretically could take back roads to Daytona, but going 92.5 miles via back roads?  That's going to take a bunch of time too.  It's over 18 miles farther away than Gainesville.

I also think some under-estimate what it would take to make Daytona even remotely ready.  It's a racetrack, not a football stadium.  My hunch is that there are many obstacles that we're not even considering.  At a minimum, it's going to take a lot of extra money.  All of this to get us a seating capacity that will be less than half the size of Gainesville?  I don't see it.  Also keep in mind that any renovations made to UF would be useful to them in the long term.  In Daytona, the renovations would either be torn down or largely sitting unused after our two years are up.  It makes more financial sense to go to Gainesville.  

I will also say that I heard the 1010xl interview.  Yes, the guy from Daytona was a good salesman, but let's not forget, he was a salesman.  He was largely given free permission to talk without any interruption and wasn't mentioning any of the negatives.  The part about post season was in response to a question when 1010xl finally got to ask a couple of questions at the very end.  Saying he "can't answer that" regarding playing post season games was clearly a politician's response.  He didn't want the bad press of the honest answer, but the answer was clear as day.  Because of timing, post season games would not be played in Daytona.  We would need to find somewhere else.  

My takeaway is that I see the best case scenario for post season under the Daytona scenario would be Orlando which is bad enough to start because of the distance, but is their stadium even "NFL ready" without any renovations?  It would be hard to make a deal for renovations in advance without any guarantee that we will have a home playoff game.  I suspect if we choose Daytona as our temporary stadium, we will be playing any "home" playoff games in Tampa or Atlanta.  I think that sucks.

The Jaguars recently released a document with answers to common questions that they have received.  When talking about temporary homes, it refers to Gainesville and Orlando as "nearly NFL ready" stadiums while the Baseball Grounds, UNF and Daytona Speedway as merely potential "temporary alternatives".  I know it isn't ideal and there will be traffic and travel time concerns, but the bottom line is that Gainesville is the closest football stadium that even remotely resembles NFL standards.  I think it is clearly the favorite to be our temporary location.

Gainesville is pretty much off the table. UF has their own effort and timeline for starting a stadium renovation on Ben Hill Griffin. I don't think they want to wait for the Jaguars to make their move. 

Florida Gators take key step in $400 million renovation to The Swamp (tampabay.com)

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(07-21-2023, 10:46 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(07-18-2023, 07:05 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: I just heard excerpts of an interview with the president of Daytona Raceway and he is pushing hard for the Jags to play there. He listed the facilities on property, including a well-equipped hospital. He says with the permanent structures and the addition of temporary structures, hosting the Jaguars is achievable. The only sticking point is postseason play. He says he doesn’t know the answer to that and needs to discuss options with the team. Daytona is obligated for racing during that time so there is no wiggle room.

If the Jags go this route then they will lose home field advantage in the postseason. Unfortunately, there are no perfect solutions at this point. But if it’s for only two seasons to get an updated stadium, then so be it.

That's completely fixable.  Postseason games if they happen flex to camping world stadium.  Win win win.  Camping world is close to the level of Raymond James stadium.  It has escalators. All seats have backs.

Fan accommodations are not the issue. If the Jaguars play all of their home games in Daytona (or wherever) and then have to flex to another field for playoff games, they lose home field advantage. Yes, most of the fans will be there, but the familiarity will not.

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