HOK makeover to Jaguars home TIAA Bank Field

Article posted by Coliseum, January 12^th, 2023

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Major renovations at the TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida (US) are moving toward becoming a reality.

‘News4JAX’ stated that the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) have selected the global design firm HOK as their consultant for the project to redevelop their above residence.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, US. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference South division. The team plays its home games at the TIAA Bank Field.

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The 67,164-capacity TIAA Bank Field is an American football stadium located in Jacksonville, Florida, US, that primarily serves as the home facility of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League and the headquarters of the professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling.

St. Louis, Missouri (US)-based HOK is a global design, architecture, engineering, and planning firm. The design studio’s 1,600 people collaborate across a network of 26 offices on three continents. HOK designs buildings and spaces that respond to the needs of people and the environment.

Carlos de La Barrera, Senior Associate, HOK, UK, is a Member of Coliseum – Global Sports Venue Alliance.

‘News4JAX’ further stated that on January 5^th, the Jaguars published similar information in a post on the 1stDownTownJacksonville site. Among the information released, the team said, “HOK’s initial concepts of the new home for the Jaguars and other world-class entertainment events embraced adaptive reuse and prioritized various features our fans and stakeholders requested, namely shade over all seats, improved airflow, wider concourses, unique fan amenities, flexible capacity, and rain protection to help attract other major non-football events to Jacksonville.”

Said Mark Lamping, Jaguars President, “While much work remains to be done, we are pleased to have completed one more step in what remains a long but manageable journey.”

The post added, “When we have a more definitive renovation plan, construction timelines and cost estimates can be determined. At that point, we will be better positioned to begin a productive dialog about a partnership structure among the Jaguars and the City of Jacksonville. Consistent with the NFL rules and regulations, any Jaguars stadium lease extension will require the approval of the National Football League and 75 percent of its teams.”

Sources stated that the preliminary concepts include a shade roof covering the seating bowl and downsizing from about 67,000 to roughly 57,500-60,000 fixed seats, but no contract has been signed till date.

HOK is the same firm behind the renovations at the NFL teams Miami Dolphins home venue – the 65,326-capacity Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida – and the new Atlanta Falcons home ground – the 71,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. HOK was competing against seven other firms.

Added Lamping, “We thought they did an exceptional job of understanding this building as it currently exists and addressing the many issues in a very creative way. Everybody looked at the roof a little differently. All the submissions were really strong, but we felt HOK was a little bit better.”

HOK stated that it has been selected as the architect for the project, but “could not provide additional details on the design at this time”.

A roof is something 81 percent of fans told the team they desperately wanted in a survey last year.

Referring to the survey, Lamping further added, “Our fans want to see shade on the seats. Not surprising, they’d like it to be easier to get around the stadium in terms of the vertical transportation to get from level to level.”

Lamping said it’s still not clear how much the project will cost.

In August 2022, he said the plans for a renovation were moving along after years of planning. However, the Jaguars said it would not be addressing stadium renovations at this time.

Lamping has said the plan is to form a public-private partnership to finance the upgrades. Some estimates put a stadium makeover at between $600 and $800 million, but that could change.

Major renovations for TIAA Bank Field aren’t exactly a new topic. The stadium has undergone improvements over the years, including the addition of upgraded club seats and videoboards, adding pools and updating the South End Zone. Flex Field and Daily’s Place were also added.

But to keep the team in Jacksonville long term – the lease agreement between the team and the City expires in 2030 – significant improvements to the TIAA Bank Field need to happen. And 75 percent of NFL owners (24 of 32) need to approve those changes before any lease agreement occurs.

New York (US)-based the National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference.

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