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Daytona Speedway out of the running as Jacksonville Jaguars' temporary home. Here's why.

clayton park, daytona beach news-journal
·4 min read

DAYTONA BEACH ― It's official: Daytona International Speedway is out of the running to become a temporary home for the Jacksonville Jaguars when the NFL team renovates its stadium in 2027.

"Once our need for a temporary stadium changed from two seasons to one, we chose to focus exclusively on existing NFL-ready stadiums," said Jaguars spokeswoman Lyndsay Rossman in an email to The Daytona Beach News-Journal on Tuesday morning. "The Daytona (International) Speedway represented a very intriguing option for the Jaguars had we been looking for a temporary home for two seasons during the construction."

The grass "ball field" on the infield at Daytona International Speedway can be seen during the NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 race on Aug. 24, 2023. The Jacksonville Jaguars was considering the Speedway as a possible temporary home when it renovates its stadium in 2027. The NFL team finally secured funding for the project in May 2024, but appears to have narrowed its search for a temporary home to Orlando and Gainesville.

Decision surprised Speedway president

Speedway President Frank Kelleher said he learned about the Jaguars' decision after reading an Associated Press report on the NFL team securing the $1.4 billion funding deal with the city of Jacksonville for its "Stadium of the Future" project.

Under the deal, which still needs to be officially approved by the Jacksonville City Council, the city would provide $775 million or 55% of the funding for the project to makeover EverBank Stadium.

"I've not been called by the Jags," he said in a phone interview on Friday, two days after the NFL team announced the funding deal for its stadium makeover project. "We have not been told one way or the other (about the Speedway being ruled out).

"I read the same article as you did," he told The News-Journal.

The AP report stated that the Speedway had been considered as a possible temporary home for the Jags, but was ruled out, reducing the field of potential venues to just two: Camping World Stadium in Orlando and the University of Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville. The AP report did not name the source in stating that the Speedway had been ruled out.

The official announcement on the NFL team's website regarding the Stadium of the Future deal and its need for a temporary home in 2027 made no mention of the Speedway. It simply stated that Orlando and Gainesville were determined as "the sites that best provide facility needs and support during the proposed construction period."

This is a rendering of the Jacksonville Jaguars' "Stadium of the Future" project. The $1.5 billion makeover of EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville will require the NFL team to play home games during the 2027 season at either Camping World Stadium in Orlando or the University of Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville. Daytona International Speedway was also considered as an "intriguing" option, but was ruled out once the Jags decided it would need only need a temporary home for one season, as opposed to two, said Jags spokeswoman Lyndsay Rossman.

Kelleher: Jags' interest in the Speedway was genuine

Kelleher said he has no doubt that the Jags' interest in the Speedway possibly becoming the team's temporary home during the stadium construction project was real.

"From our visits up there (to meet with Jags officials in Jacksonville) to the follow-up meetings and discussions we had with them, their interest was absolutely genuine," he said. "But they weren't in a position to decide where to temporarily play until they had that (funding) agreement in place with the city (of Jacksonville)."

Frank Kelleher, president of Daytona International Speedway, is pictured on Dec. 5, 2023. The Speedway was considered as a possible temporary home for the Jacksonville Jaguars when its stadium gets renovated in 2027, but the NFL team's recent announcement about securing funding for the project from the City of Jacksonville excluded Daytona from its list of potential sites, which appears narrowed to Gainesville and Orlando.

Decision was made after gauging fans' preferences

Rossman said the decision to do the construction for the stadium makeover project in a way that would only require the team to play at a temporary location for a single season instead of two as originally planned was made in response to feedback received from fans.

"One of the biggest takeaways from the Jaguars' community huddles last summer was that fans preferred to minimize the number of games played away from Jacksonville," Rossman said. "It was a goal for both the Jaguars and the city of Jacksonville and part of the negotiations."

Kelleher said he can't fault the Jags in deciding to stick with traditional football stadiums in their search for a temporary home once it became clear the team would only need a temporary home for one season.

"If you're the Jags, it makes sense to look at a brick-and-mortar football stadium," he said.

"I'm personally thrilled for them (the Jags)," said Kelleher of the funding finally being secured for the Stadium of the Future project. "I think it's wonderful for all Florida sports fans."

Speedway has hosted football games before

The Speedway's infield includes a large grass field on the other side of the start/finish line from the grandstands that NASCAR officials have long referred to as "the ball field."

The Speedway hosted football games before, both in 1959, the year the motorsports track opened, when it hosted home games for Daytona Beach's Father Lopez Catholic High School, as well as in the mid-1970s when it hosted several home games for Bethune-Cookman College (now University).

Kelleher said the Speedway's ball field could have easily accommodated home games for the Jags by installing temporary grandstands on both ends of where the games would be played as well as along Pit Road.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona won't have Jaguars at Speedway for home games. Here's why.