The Jacksonville Jaguars announced a significant milestone Monday.
For the first time since 2005, the team will sell tickets across the entirety of EverBank Field.
The move will result in an additional 3,501 lower-priced seats for fans.
“Given the strength of our home schedule and the enthusiasm from the community, we will move forward without the tarps in 2018,” said Jaguars President Mark Lamping..
Lamping said removing the tarps has been a goal of Jaguars owner Shad Khan since he bought the team in 2012.
“We always felt that tarps were a little bit of a magnet for for criticism outside the market and we’ve always believed the Jaguar fans were unfairly maligned for many years regarding their support of the Jaguars,” Lamping said.
The new EverBank Field seating capacity for 2018 Jaguars games will be 67,932, according to Jaguars spokeswoman Amanda Holt. Holt said the final number could fluctuate slightly.
Season tickets in the newly opened areas will go for $45 per game.
Fans will also see a significant price hike this year. Season ticket prices in 2018 will increase by an average of 10.9 percent, according to the Jaguars, although the increase varies depending on the seating location.
Even with the price hike, the team projects that the Jaguars’ 2018 average ticket price will still rank in the bottom eight of all 32 NFL teams.
On the flip side, the team will be lowering concession prices on many items. Hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn, nachos, bottled soda and fountain drinks will cost $5 throughout the stadium.
Perhaps the biggest change fans will notice will be the uniforms and helmets. A new design will be unveiled sometime after April 1. Lamping couldn't go into details about the new uniforms yet but did say that the current color scheme will be retained,
The Jaguars are kicking off their 2018 season ticket campaign Monday. Existing season ticket holders will have until March 9 to renew. After that, their seats will be released and made available for existing member relocation. The team expects the relocation process to be complete by March 30.
More information is available on the Jaguars website.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
