Electric atmosphere: Getting a first look at the Jaguars completed Miller Electric Center
This is the first in a series on the impact of the Jacksonville Jaguars' Miller Electric Center.
The Jacksonville Jaguars will eventually have a state-of-the-art stadium, albeit years down the road. When and how much it will cost are issues still being determined.
In the meantime, the team does have a new day-to-day home and workplace to show off to the city.
The $120 million Miller Electric Center formally opened Tuesday with a ribbon cutting and media tour. The organization has been moving into the 18-acre office and practice facility in stages during the summer and the first training camp practices will begin on two outdoor fields, with as many as 2,090 fans in attendance, on July 26.
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It will be the first time since 2019 that fans have been able to watch multiple training camp practices. They will enjoy seatback chairs (all covered by a roof), cooling fans and brick-and-mortar restrooms and concession stands.
"I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present," said Jaguars owner Shad Khan, who turned 73 years old Tuesday. "Our community, city leadership, the football team and Miller Electric ... everyone had the same vision, the belief that we can do amazing things in Jacksonville."
Mayor Donna Deegan also touched on the cooperative venture, in which the Jaguars and the city split the cost evenly. But she said it's not all about dollars and cents and who pays how much.
"The partnership between Jacksonville and the Jaguars goes so much deeper than financial support," she said. "It's our shared vision for a united community and a thriving downtown that lifts up the surrounding neighborhoods."
Both also touched on the next step in the history of the Jaguars and the city of Jacksonville: the stadium and the surrounding development.
"The best of the best, the gold standard for a long time to come," Khan said of the performance center. "And yet, the best is still to come. Jacksonville is rising
Jaguars players have a workplace and home
The city owns the Miller Center and leases it to the Jaguars. Construction began Jan. 10, 2022, with Haskell as the construction manager. ROSSETTI of Detroit was the architect. At the peak of construction, more than 120 workers were on site and eventually, they put in 225,000 hours.
Miller Electric, which has operated in Jacksonville since 1928, signed a 10-year naming rights deal for an undisclosed amount.
But beyond the $120 million price tag is the intangible value of the center moving forward.
With enhanced practice, training and treatment facilities, including two 4.1-acre outdoor fields, an indoor practice field that is 96,113 square feet (about the area of a Manhattan city block), the Jaguars now take a huge step forward in giving the team all the resources it needs to accomplish the first goal of every coaching staff — get better every day.
Consider that coach Doug Pederson turned the team around from 3-14 in 2021 to the AFC South championship after practicing on one field at EverBank Stadium during OTAs, minicamp and during the regular season, conducting his first training camp at the Episcopal School’s Knight Campus fields (with the entire team and support staff taking buses to practice) and having a strength and conditioning area so small that some of the workouts had to take place outside.
What are the possibilities now, with a training facility second to none in the NFL?
“I just I think having our own space … our own building, you know, a place that the guys can really call home … those things make a difference,” Pederson said. “It makes it easier when you get just step right on two beautiful practice fields, you’ve got a great indoor facility over there and you can get a lot more work done.”
General manager Trent Baalke said the quality of players and coaches still matters more than where they’re practicing and playing. But he didn’t deny the value of more practice space, more workout equipment, more meeting rooms and a sense of pride in a workspace.
“I think it helps us serve the players at a higher level,” he said. “The team is based on people. You can have all the new buildings you want, but it's not going to start going to change the people. I'm just a firm believer in people, not buildings. But it’s a better working environment and it’s going magnify the ability of the people in there to win.”
Pederson said he also hopes that once the players see the weight room, treatment areas and the space available for individual workouts, they will spend more of their offseason in Jacksonville — which enhances team unity.
“Once the season ends, they don’t have to go other places,” he said. “We’re still in Jacksonville, Florida, the weather’s good in February, March and April and the guys [may] want to stay here and use the building.”
An artsy side
The Miller Center isn't all about football.
The Jaguars and the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville worked together to bring public art to the center, with more than 150 artists from around the world submitting their works. They represented 25 states and nine countries, with the art funded 100 percent by the Jaguars.
The Jacksonville artist represented is Aisling Millar McDonald, who built a 16-foot tall steel structure that is powder-coated and represents a community coming together. It is located outside the team entry lobby.
Murals by Timothy R. Smith of California and Arlin Graff of Ohio add their touch to the outside of the building.
Also on display is a Hoy es Hoy sculpture by Mexican artist Javier Marin, which was donated by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority. It had been on display at the Jacksonville International Airport.
New facility should help team image
The completion of the building also should correct an embarrassing ranking of 28th among the 32 NFL teams by the NFL Players Association last year for player working conditions and amenities.
The survey, while giving the Jaguars training staff and strength and conditioning staff "A" grades, gave food service and nutrition, the weight room, training room and locker room grades of "D."
The survey of 1,300 NFL players, released at the NFL Combine in March, was taken before the 2022 season began. Among the most disturbing aspect of the survey regarding the Jaguars was the presence of rats in the locker room and laundry hampers.
Last season, inspectors from the Florida Division of Hotels and Restaurants cited stadium concession areas for rat droppings and two dead rodents.
The team's new home is now among the best.
"It's a privilege to work in a place like this," said offensive tackle Walker Little.
"Top-notch ... pristine," said offensive guard Tyler Shatley.
Jeff Ferguson, the Jaguars vice president of Player Health and Performance who spent 13 years with the San Francisco 49ers, didn't hold back when asked about the finished product and what it means to the players.
"I've been doing this awhile and this is by far the best facility I've ever been in," he said. "Our focus has been player-centric and the flow, coupled with the technology and equipment will help us improve our performance."
Who gets the credit?
When the Jaguars hired Urban Meyer as coach in January of 2021, he was vocal about the need for a performance center. Before he coached his first game, the city council unanimously approved the 50-50 split for the cost — which never increased from the initial price tag.
Meyer said shortly after he was hired that a performance center would be part of his "culture of excellence."
When Meyer was fired with a 2-11 record and four games to go in the 2021 season, the project was already full steam ahead. One of the running jokes in town has been that Meyer left one positive legacy in his otherwise disastrous tenure -- his push for the performance center.
However, every Jaguars coach has lobbied for some kind of enhanced practice facility or performer center since the old practice fields were built under Tom Coughlin and Baalke said it was a matter of time before the team arrived at this point.
"This is something that’s been lobbied for a while here," he said. "To credit one person ... I would say no."
Pederson said the past isn't important: it's how the Miller Center will affect the future.
"When we walk in this thing every single day, it brings pride, it brings joy, it brings fulfillment," he said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "I understand our job is not finished. It's just begun. What we started is only going to continue and get better."
Up next: How the Miller Center will help player performance.
By the numbers: Jaguars Miller Electric Center
1: The street number of the facility, on Performance Place
3: Total football fields, two outdoor and one indoor
8: 8K Solutions cameras on the fields to video practice
9: Overhead fans for circulation in the grandstand
12: Treatment tables in the training room
14: Jaguard-branded weight racks
18: In acres, the size of the entire facility site
23 feet wide by 13 feet high: Video screen in the main team meeting room.
64: Irrigation heads on the two outdoor practice fields
71: Clearance, in feet, for the indoor practice field
153: Cushioned reclining chairs in the largest team meeting room
2,090: Seating capacity in the practice field grandstand
5,000: Square footage of the dining area
11,330: Total square footage of the weight room, 4,460 more than the stadium weight room
25,563: Square footage of the fan amenity area
124,767: Square footage for the entire Miller Electric building
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Miller Electric Center formally unveiled in time for Jaguars camp
