DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Jacksonville Jaguars are looking to make some major upgrades to their stadium soon, but may need a temporary home for their games while that work is being done. One potential venue the team is looking at is the Daytona International Speedway.
With room for over 100,000 people at the speedway, there would be plenty of space to host NFL fans. Speedway president Frank Kelleher said he’s ready to meet with the Jags in the coming weeks to talk about making it their temporary home.
“We made the outreach and said ‘Hey we would love to come up and sit down and understand a bit of what is on your horizon,’” he said.
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Just an hour and fifteen minutes South of TIAA Bank Field, Kelleher said Daytona Beach would be an easy commute for the Jags and their fans and could even draw in more fans.
“We would love to help grow economic impact and if this is something that’s so out there, unique and different, maybe we can help drive some additional people to Florida,” he said.
The team released conceptual plans for its “Stadium of the Future” last week and said it could be an almost $2 billion project.
The team president told the publication, VenuesNow, they hope to start renovations after the 2025 season, meaning the team would need a temporary place to host games in 2026 and 2027.
He said besides the speedway, other possible ideas are Camping World Stadium in Orlando and Ben Hill Griffin stadium in Gainesville.
“From a logistics and build standpoint, we have some talent and know how to pull off non motorsports events,” Kelleher said.
It would not be the first time football was played at the speedway – Bethune-Cookman’s team played four games there in the 70′s.
Kelleher said NASCAR has been working again to host more than just racing here for the last 10 years.
For the last three years, it’s hosted the Welcome to Rockville music festival and last year the infield transitioned into a soccer field.
“We were able to see that vision come to fruition with soccer fest and to work with our neighbors right down the road with the Orlando Pride,” Kelleher said.
He added NFL tailgates could be bumped up a notch with the speedway’s camping fields.
“The opportunity to potentially bring your camper, your RV, your tent and throw a multi-day tailgate before the game? I think that sounds pretty fun,” he said.
Right now, there is not a deadline set for when the team could make these decisions.
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