Mandarin town hall on stadium deal features applause and just one speaker opposing it

David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
·4 min read

Town halls in Mandarin can turn up the political heat when residents are up in arms about City Hall, but at a "community huddle" Wednesday on Mayor Donna Deegan's proposed stadium renovation deal with the Jaguars, the response was marked mainly by applause as residents had their first chance to question her directly about the agreement.

The most pointed question came from George Carroll when he pressed Deegan on why the city won't put the choice on the ballot for voters to decide whether they support or reject the proposed deal.

"Why are we fearing the referendum question?" Carroll said.

"It's not fearing to me," Deegan said. "This is my job. When you elect me to lead the city, to me it is my job to give you my vision and to do what I think is best for the city of Jacksonville. It's the same with City Council."

She said when she ran for mayor last year, she repeatedly staked out her position that if elected, she would seek to strike a fair deal with the Jaguars for a stadium renovation and lease agreement to keep the team playing in Jacksonville.

Southside resident George Carroll asked Mayor Deegan about the possibility of having a citizens referendum on the proposed stadium deal during Wednesday evenings community presentation. About 250 people gathered in the auditorium at Mandarin High School Wednesday evening, May 15, 2024 to hear Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan, Jaguars President Mark Lamping, and the city's lead negotiator Mike Weinstein as they hosted the first of the planned town hall meetings with residents about the proposed deal between the city and the Jaguars to renovate the stadium.

"If we start putting every leadership decision to referendum, we're not going to get a whole lot done in the city, I can tell you that," Deegan said.

About 250 people turned out at Mandarin High School for the 90-minute session Wednesday in the school auditorium. Deegan will be joined again by Jaguars President Mark Lamping and lead city negotiator Mike Weinstein for a similar session at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Legends Center in northwest Jacksonville.

A University of North Florida poll released last September after the Jaguars released their original proposal showed Jacksonville residents split in their own minds on whether they support taxpayer spending on renovating the stadium. At that time of that poll, the Jaguars were proposing a $2 billion deal that would have split the cost 50-50 for a stadium overhaul and an entertainment district next to it.

The UNF poll found just 6% of respondents favored that proposal but when asked if they would support spending the $1 billion if meant the difference between the Jaguars staying or moving to another city, support rose to 46%.

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The deal proposed Tuesday by Deegan and the Jaguars totals $1.4 billion for stadium work with the city responsible for $775 million of the expense, or 55%. The difference from the Jaguars original proposal is the current deal does not include constructing an entertainment district.

Deegan said she remains interested in creating an entertainment district for the sports complex.

On whether the renovated stadium would enable Jacksonville to host the Super Bowl again as it did in 2005, Deegan said the city needs more hotel rooms.

"This stadium will be Super Bowl ready," Lamping said. "We just need to get the city Super Bowl ready."

Lamping gave the shortest answer of the evening when asked if the deal will involve requiring fans to buy personal seat licenses for the right to purchase season tickets. Some NFL owners have used the sale of personal seat licenses as a way to help pay their portion of stadium construction costs.

"No," Lamping said.

That was enough to get a round of applause from the crowd.

City Council member Michael Boylan, who represents Mandarin, said he was impressed by the variety and intricacy of the questions posed by residents. He said he was somewhat surprised he didn't hear more opposition to the deal. He said the audience was a relatively small sample of residents but attendees at such meetings in Mandarin aren't shy about voicing opposition.

"No one knows that better than I do," Boylan said with smile. "I'm sure there were some who are not supportive of this in general, but that was far outweighed by the people who are taking the time to take a look at this.

He said he'll still in the undecided camp.

"Trust me, I've not made a commitment to support this or not," Bolyan said. "I want to see the term sheets. I want to see the details."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville mayor and Jaguars hit road on selling stadium deal