EverBank Stadium Renovation has turned the Jacksonville Jaguars’ home schedule into a study in reduced inventory, temporary routing, and long-term venue planning. As of November 5, 2026, the $1.4 billion Stadium of the Future project remained scheduled for completion and full reopening in August 2028, according to the Jaguars’ project page. The central tension is clear: the franchise is trying to preserve a home-field base in Jacksonville during major construction while preparing for a season away from EverBank Stadium in 2027.
The project fits a familiar pattern in NFL venue work: teams are not only replacing seats or adding premium areas, but also rethinking circulation, shade, access, and how fans move through the building. For related context on how building changes can affect game-day habits, see our analysis of NFL stadium renovations and fan experience. Jacksonville’s case is sharper than many because the 2026 season has operated with a major capacity cut before the club shifts its home games to Orlando in 2027.
EverBank Stadium Renovation And The 2026 Squeeze
The 2026 capacity picture began with the former full-stadium baseline. Before construction reductions, EverBank Stadium held about 68,300. During the 2026 plan, the available capacity dropped to about 42,465 to 42,507, a figure that includes roughly 1,260 standing-room tickets. That is not a small adjustment around the edges. It changes how many season-ticket accounts can be accommodated, how many single-game tickets can reach the market, and how the team manages demand for games that still carry the emotional weight of being played in Jacksonville.
EverBank Stadium Renovation Capacity Math
The practical effect of EverBank Stadium Renovation in 2026 was that about 27,300 to 27,637 seats were offline. The largest single block came from the upper bowl, where 22,005 seats in the 400 level were removed from service. Other affected areas included corners of the 200 level, select North End Zone rows, parts of the lower South End Zone, and lower Club suites. The North End Zone spa deck and Sky Patio also were closed during the 2026 construction phase.
For a franchise, capacity is more than a crowd-size number. It shapes ticket allocation, fan mix, concession load, arrival timing, and the sound profile inside the building. With the upper bowl unavailable, the stadium’s center of gravity shifted lower, closer to the field but with fewer total seats. That can help keep the building visually tighter on broadcast shots, but it also means fewer fans can be part of home games in person during a year when the club still used Jacksonville as its stadium base.
What Stayed In Jacksonville
The 2026 plan kept the Jaguars at EverBank Stadium for eight home dates in Jacksonville: six regular-season games and two preseason games. The same plan included two regular-season home games in London, one at Wembley and one at Tottenham Hotspur. That split created a season unlike the standard home calendar, with Jacksonville hosting fewer regular-season games than the usual full home schedule while construction reduced the capacity for the dates that remained.
That arrangement matters historically because stadium projects often force teams to choose between continuity and speed. Jacksonville’s 2026 answer was a hybrid: keep games in the home city for one more reduced-capacity year, absorb temporary inconvenience, then vacate the building in 2027 so construction can continue without hosting NFL home games at EverBank Stadium.
Construction Scope And Game-Day Tradeoffs
Construction began in February 2025 after the 2024-25 NFL season, and by 2026 the work had moved well beyond advance preparation. The visible stadium changes during 2026 included permanent removal of upper bowl seating, in-bowl demolition connected to future corner lookout decks and field-level suite seating, steel trusses being installed around the exterior for the eventual canopy roof, concourse expansion, and work on Grand Staircases 1, 2, and 3.
Permit Scale And Building Footprint
The scale of the work was also reflected in public permitting. In March 2026, a major construction permit known as IFC #4 covered $696.5 million in work across eight levels and about 652,735 square feet of stadium space, as reported in the Jacksonville Daily Record permit report. That permit figure does not describe the whole project cost, but it shows how much of the construction program moved through one large approval.
For game operations, the size of that work explains why the fan experience in 2026 could not remain normal. Entrances, walking routes, and stadium paths changed. Some gates and ramps served different flows. Parking inventory remained similar to 2025, but the path from car to seat did not have the same feel for every fan. The issue was not only where fans sat; it was how they entered, moved, found services, and left the venue around active construction zones.
What The Finished Plan Promises
The finished Stadium of the Future plan calls for a base seating capacity of more than 63,000, expandable to roughly 70,000 or more through premium, suite, and standing-room configurations. Planned features include a transparent canopy, widened 360-degree concourses, scenic lookout decks, upgraded club and suite areas, and a nature park accessible on event and non-event days. Those design points help explain why 2026 required painful seat reductions: the construction sequence was not only preserving the old venue, but altering how the future building is meant to function.
For readers tracking venue investment across sports markets, the same network also publishes insights on Texas sports coverage, focusing on teams, facilities, and fan culture. Jacksonville’s project belongs in that broader discussion because it shows how stadium work can change a franchise’s calendar before the renovated venue ever reopens.
The 2027 Relocation And 2028 Target
The sharpest break in the plan comes in 2027. The Jaguars will not play home games at EverBank Stadium during that season because construction will continue. The team officially moved its 2027 home games to Camping World Stadium in Orlando. That decision removed the need to stage NFL home games inside the active construction site for that season, but it also created a temporary home-field issue that goes beyond miles on a map.
Orlando As The Temporary Home
Camping World Stadium gives the Jaguars a Florida venue for 2027, but it is not a like-for-like continuation of a Jacksonville home game. Fans who built habits around EverBank Stadium face different travel demands, different local routines, and a different stadium setting. The club’s home identity, normally tied to repeat use of the same building, will spend one season in a temporary location while the main stadium work proceeds toward the August 2028 target.
That one-year relocation also gives the 2026 reduced-capacity season a transitional role in franchise history. It was the last year before the club left EverBank Stadium for home games, and it showed how much of the old venue had already changed. The Jaguars were still in Jacksonville, but the building was already moving toward its next form.
The Jaguars’ EverBank Stadium Renovation Capacity Challenge
The central takeaway from EverBank Stadium Renovation is that the capacity challenge is not a side issue; it is the main competitive and cultural tension of the project before 2028. The Jaguars balanced six regular-season games and two preseason games in a reduced Jacksonville venue during 2026, sent two regular-season home games to London, and prepared for a full 2027 home-game relocation to Orlando.
In franchise-history terms, the project will be judged later by the finished building, but the construction years are part of the story. The removed seats, closed amenities, altered paths, and temporary home arrangements show the cost of rebuilding around an active NFL calendar. If the August 2028 reopening proceeds as scheduled, the Jaguars will return to a venue designed for larger concourses, shade, premium growth, and expanded event capacity. Until then, the record of this period is defined by a simple operational fact: Jacksonville kept its team in town for part of the construction process, but not without major limits on how many fans could be inside the stadium.