LONDON — Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan needed only three words to describe his level of satisfaction with his team's on-field product.
“I feel great,” he said before the Jaguars’ 34-31 loss to the Houston Texans on Oct. 18 at Wembley Stadium.
Despite the loss, the Jaguars enter their Week 7 bye with a 4-2 record and two-game lead in the AFC South. Just as quickly, though, Khan, always mindful of the big picture, pivoted to the big picture of football, community and progress.
“You love stuff coming together as a football team, but I also love what’s happening in the city, which is the development and the promise of Jacksonville,” Khan said.
Top of mind is the $1.4 billion stadium renovation projectKhan sees during every trip to Jacksonville.
“It’s pretty cool,” Khan said.
Check that.
“Really, really cool,” he added.
The $1.4 billion project, scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2028, was one of many topics Khan covered before the Texans-Jaguars game with three Jacksonville reporters outside the team’s locker room.
Jaguars’ success on the field
The Texans denied the Jaguars their first 5-1 start since 1999, a team that reached the AFC Championship Game. But the Jaguars have matched last year’s positive start.
Keep winning and the Jaguars will win consecutive division tiles for the first time since 1998-99 and the fourth division crowd of Khan’s ownership tenure.
Khan should feel great because of the structure he set up after the Jaguars fired coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke in January 2025. Khan added a football chief in executive vice president Tony Boselli to work alongside coach Liam Coen and general manager James Gladstone. All three report directly to Khan.
“(I’ve) been there (2012-26) and I think we’ve matured as a team and as an organization,” Khan said.
Khan offered high praise for the football administration but pointed out — accurately — that some of the infrastructure was in place. The Jaguars have a high-end practice facility next to the stadium instead of working every day in the bowels of the stadium, where windows were a rumor. And they inherited several core players.
“That’s happened over time,” Khan said of the Jaguars’ foundation. “We’re blessed, obviously, to have Liam, James and Tony to be able to put it all together.”
Under Coen, the Jaguars are 17-6 in the regular season.
The presence of Boselli, Khan believes, has allowed Gladstone in particular to focus on building the team and not serving as a bridge between football and business.
“The old general manager’s role, it’s greatly expanded (in recent years),” Khan said. “Frankly, I don’t think one person can do the job (by themselves) anymore. General manager, head coach and (executive vice president) are three different jobs and Tony’s brilliant at doing all of the (administrative) things and he’s also a great bridge to the business side with his experience and having lived in the city. He’s Mr. Duval. And (that allows) James to obviously focus on the players, the talent, the draft and the rest of it.”
’Definitely’ one game in London next year
The Jaguars don’t have a contract with Wembley Stadium beyond this year, an agreement that has been separate from the NFL’s international game portfolio. Khan said the team will “definitely” play one game in London 2027. The Jaguars will play their United States-based home games in Orlando.
The loss to Houston was the Jaguars’ 16th game in London, including their 13th at Wembley.
“I do think we want to look at (the London strategy),” Khan said. “We’ve got a bunch of fans here and it’s been great for Jacksonville and the Jaguars. After (2027), we’re going to see what really works for the league and what works for us.”
The Jaguars “hosted” the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston during their two-weekend stay in London. The Eagles-Jaguars game at Tottenham Hotspur (a date the Jaguars offered to London so they won’t have to play a mandated international “home” game in 2030) was overwhelming pro-Philadelphia. And the Texans loss counts as a division home game.
“This is the first year that’s happened because the league changed the rules this year where the home team cannot (select) the opponent,” Khan said. “Before, that wasn’t the case.”
Texans-Jaguars was the third NFL game in as many weeks in London and in Week 4, the league slashed ticket prices to the Washington-Indianapolis game at Tottenham. Every seat wasn’t filled at Wembley for Texans-Jaguars and the crowd thinned out noticeably toward the end of the game, when the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped into the low 50s.
Why London still works for Jaguars
Since 2013, the Jaguars have played at least one game in London in every year except for 2020 (pandemic season). Khan and the Jaguars use the week to create business opportunities between London and Jacksonville.
“I think it’s worked really well,” Khan said. “It’s really put Jacksonville on the global map and I think we’ve had cross-business transactions. I think it’s been great for the city. We have an infomercial and putting London and Jacksonville in the same sentence is good.”
’Everything is cutting edge’
Khan has visited the Jaguars’ Stadium of the Future Sales Center where the team last month began hosting season ticket account holders.
“Everything is cutting edge,” Khan said. “I think what we’re looking for is, how do we convey or imagine the experience in the best way possible (for the fans)? It’s a commitment (to buy tickets) and we want people to support us so we have to present it in the best way.”
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night"), Thursdays (1:15 on "XL Primetime") and Fridays ("First Coast Football Friday" 4-7 p.m.).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars owner Shad Khan lauds team's form: 'I feel great'
