Jacksonville’s long-running annual home date at Wembley Stadium could pause in 2028, when the Jaguars expect to celebrate the reopening of their renovated Jacksonville stadium with a full home schedule.
Jaguars president Mark Lamping said the club wants every 2028 home game to be played in Jacksonville as the $1.4 billion overhaul of EverBank Stadium is completed. The stadium is already under construction and is operating with reduced seating capacity this season.
Wembley run could stop for stadium reopening
- The Jaguars became one of the NFL’s earliest international regulars when they began hosting a yearly game at Wembley in 2013.
- Jacksonville will make its 16th London appearance on Sunday, facing the Houston Texans at Wembley.
- The club is expected to shift most of its home games to Orlando next season while work continues at EverBank Stadium.
- Jacksonville has the option to host as many as three home games in London next season, although Lamping described that possibility as remote. The arrangement was intended primarily for a scenario in which the team moved games to Gainesville.
- When the renovated stadium opens in 2028, the Jaguars hope to bring their entire home slate back to Jacksonville rather than send a designated home game to London.
“If there’s a natural year where you probably want to play every home game in Jacksonville, it would be the year you open a new stadium,” Lamping said.
International game still expected
The Jaguars’ Wembley games are separate from the NFL’s required international scheduling program. Jacksonville is slated to play one league-mandated game outside the United States next season, though its location has not been set.
Lamping said the Jaguars would prefer for that game to be in London, but the league will determine the site. “The league tells us where that game is going to be played,” he said.
Jacksonville’s annual Wembley arrangement was once a major part of the franchise’s international strategy, but the financial benefit of taking a home game overseas has declined. The impending stadium reopening now gives the Jaguars another reason to keep their 2028 schedule entirely in Jacksonville.
