According to my research, Gen Xers and Boomers in the Orlando area tend to be Miami Dolphins fans.
They prefer their team mascot be under the sea.
Millennials and Gen Zers tend to lean toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, meaning it’s a pirate’s life for them.
These two allegiances make sense. The Dolphins were the best team in the state prior to Y2K, having won two Super Bowls in the 1970s while also enjoying a nearly two-decade run of success with Dan Marino starting in 1983. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers have been the best in the state since, winning two Super Bowls since the turn of the century.
Absent from Orlando fandom seems to be the Jacksonville Jaguars, overshadowed much the same way Cinderella was by her wicked stepsisters.
Well, don’t worry,
you small but mighty contingent of Jaguars fans hidden away in Orlando, 2027 will be a great big beautiful tomorrow that will have you Soarin’.
The Jaguars will be vacationing at Camping World Stadium while their home of EverBank Stadium gets a $1.5 billion makeover.
The renovation has begun in Jacksonville and will cause the Jags to have limited home capacity in their six home games in 2026. They play an additional two “home” games in London.
It would be magical for Orlando to be prepared before its Northeast Florida guests arrive.
The bandwagon currently has 999 happy haunts. There’s always room for a thousand. Any volunteers?
The Jaguars are about to make history, O-Town! Be a part of it.
Continued research taught me Orlando has never hosted a regular season NFL game. It’s had preseason games and Pro Bowls, but nothing that counted in the record books.
It’s highly doubtful Orlando will ever get an NFL team. The Jaguars’ stadium renovation secures them on the First Coast for three decades; the Dolphins would never relocate to Central Florida, they’d rather relocate to Davey Jones’ locker; and the Bucs are on the cusp of a large stadium renovation deal that will keep them in the Bay area for decades to come.
I wouldn’t expect a fourth team to come to Orlando via expansion or relocation. I’m sure the other 27 states that don’t have an NFL franchise would fight that from happening.
So, this is your chance. Show the league what you’ve got, Orlando.
Dead men tell no tales … but you can.
So, please hold on to the handrails and stay clear of the doors, and head on over to Camping World Stadium in 2027.
Could Orlando be the home city to a Super Bowl champion?
It might sound like something out of Never, Never Land, but imagine this: You go to all the home games next year in Orlando, and the season culminates with the Jaguars franchise’s first Super Bowl title.
Trevor Lawrence would get to say, “I’m going to Disney World,” and he wouldn’t even have to travel that far.
How crazy would that be?
In 32 seasons in Jacksonville, the Jags couldn’t make it to football’s biggest spectacle (assuming they don’t make it this year), but in just one year, situated just 24 miles from the most magical place on Earth, they reach the top of space mountain.
You’d be able to say, "Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, the Jaguars sailed through the universe of time..."
OK, maybe that’s a stretch.
But listen up: Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow.
Regardless of how the 2027 season goes, Orlandoans shouldn’t abandon the Jaguars when they return to Jacksonville in 2028.
They have to go home. It’s part of the circle of life.
But come visit them — Jacksonville’s really been fixed up nicely — and continue your fandom for generations to come.
If you look on a map, Jacksonville is almost a straight line of longitude north of Orlando.
With just 142 miles separating Camping World Stadium from EverBank Stadium, it’s just over a two-hour drive, or roughly a five-hour ride on the monorail.
So, hold on to your hats and glasses, 'cause 2027 is going to be the wildest ride in the wilderness!
Walters is the Sports Editor for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville and FLORIDA TODAY in Melbourne. He’s also apparently a little too well versed in Disney culture. Contact him at twalters@floridatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars in Orlando will mean a whole new world ... of fans
