Encouraged by theJacksonville Jaguars’ 4-2 start and the arrival of optimum weather conditions, team president Mark Lamping made a confident prediction about fan interest for the remaining four home games.
“I think the rest of the season is going to be exactly what we expected coming in — (a) packed house,” Lamping said during an interview with Jacksonville reporters on Oct. 17 in London.
The Jaguars’ Week 1 win over the Cleveland Browns was played in oppressive heat — 89 degrees to start, peaking at 92 at 3:15 p.m with 66% humidity with a max feels like of 105 — and drew an announced 41,156 fans.
“Our (Week 1 games) just don’t respond; it’s incredibly hot and we had the same situation (as previous years) with the number of heat-related medical
transports,” Lamping said.
Two weeks later, against the New England Patriots, better conditions (80 degrees/38% humidity) led to the Jaguars selling standing room tickets in the days approaching the game. The announced crowd was 42,156.
A long-range forecast has the temperature in the mid-to-high 70s when the Jaguars host the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 1. The three other home games are against the Tennessee Titans (Nov. 29, 4:05 p.m.), Pittsburgh Steelers (Dec. 14, 8:15 p.m.) and Washington Commanders (Jan. 2 or 3, time to be announced).
“I’m not worried about ticket sales for the rest of the year,” Lamping said.
Lamping addressed other business-related topics while the Jaguars were in London:
Sales center feedback positive
In September, the Jaguars opened Stadium of the Future Sales Center, which allows account holders to visit (by appointment only) and can envision what their new seats will look like and be briefed on amenities.
The goal is to have current 100-200 level season ticket holders begin their visits next year and wrapping up with 400 level account holders in fall 2027.
Lamping the Jaguars are averaging 10-12 appointments per day.
“We started with the most expensive premium tickets that are limited in quantity and we’re working our way through that,” he said. “The past week was a sort of big turning point because we are now just starting our season ticket holder appointments for customers who have had club seats in the past. That’s a big chunk of people. We’re still nowhere near talking to (general seating) customers yet.”
Lamping said the conversion rate for customers putting down a deposit for the new stadium is “well in excess of 90%.”
Fans who currently aren’t season ticket holders are able to put down a deposit to get on the list for premium or general tickets.
Lamping setting ticket prices is a “balance,” to make sure they maximize premium seat revenues, but also not pricing out general reserved seating fans.
“We have to make sure that our product is economically accessible to all potential NFL fans so that means you need to have the right balance of tickets,” Lamping said. “At the same time, you want to make sure that when you have a percentage of your customer base that is not price sensitive but value focused, we have to make sure we have a real premium product for them.
“We are increasing our premium seats from 12,000 to 20,000, but it’s been a long time since the Jaguars sold every seat as a season ticket. There are plenty of season tickets available. The entire upper deck (will still be) 100% general (reserved) seating. We’ve actually added a little capacity to the upper deck.”
Jaguars talking to potential naming rights partners
The Jaguars’ stadium naming rights agreement with EverBank runs through 2027.
“We’re in discussions with (EverBank) and other potential naming rights partners,” Lamping said. “We feel very good about how those discussions are going.”
Since signing their first naming rights deal in 1997 with Alltel (until 2006), the Jaguars have made deals with EverBank (2010-17 and 2023-present) and TIAA Bank (2018-22).
At the high end are the Los Angeles Rams/Chargers for a reported $31.25 million annually by SoFi, followed by the Las Vegas Raiders ($25 million by Allegiant) Dallas Cowboys ($17-19 million by AT&T) and San Francisco 49ers ($17 million by Levi’s).
Event booking talks underway
Lamping said the Jaguars are already having meetings about securing events in the renovated stadium, but the lid-lifter will be a preseason game.
“Ideally, you’d want to have some test events to get the place working, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case,” he said. “We’re not targeted to complete the facility until the end of July (2028). It’s a very tight schedule and let’s make sure we remind ourselves why the schedule is tight — because we’re playing in Jacksonville this year. The original plan was to be gone for two years and then after a lot of discussions, the right result, to everyone’s satisfaction was to play in Jacksonville this year and that came with some trade-offs and that pushed the completion date out instead of being done in probably April or May (2028).”
Lamping said the Navy-Notre Dame and Army-Navy football games are on the Jaguars’ radar to bid to host.
Navy-Notre Dame played in Jacksonville in 2016 (27-24 Navy win) and the series has been moved around to San Diego, the Washington D.C., and New York areas, and twice to Dublin, Ireland.
The only time Army-Navy was played outside the mid-Atlantic/northeast corridor was in 1983 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif, and Lamping acknowledged hosting the game is “very complicated.” The academies have a combined 5,000 students.
“You need to bring the entirety of (both academies) and you would have to fly them in for the game, but obviously, (hosting Army-Navy) would be a big statement,” Lamping said.
A massive revenue generator for the Jaguars and the city will be securing marquee concerts. On Sept. 29, the Jaguars hired Zane Collins as senior vice president for live entertainment. He worked in the Jacksonville market from 2014-21 before joining the NHL’s Florida Panthers.
“He’s very prominent in terms of booking music acts,” Lamping said. “We’ve been in front of agents as recently as last week. It’s a big priority because it’s important for the city. Profits from those events go back into the stadium as away to make sure that the stadium continues to be operated very efficiently.”
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 expect 'packed house' for four remaining 2026 home games
