Shad Khan may soon own the Jaguars' London home away from home.
Khan announced Thursday morning the Football Association (FA) board of directors in London had received his offer to purchase Wembley Stadium.
The Jaguars have played games for five years at Wembley Stadium and will play their October 28 game at Wembley against the Philadelphia Eagles.
In 2013 Khan also bought the Fulham Football (soccer) Club which plays at Craven Cottage in Fulham, London.
“Our commitment to the FA is we will own and operate Wembley with the care and respect it deserves, always being mindful that it is – and will continue to be – the home of England’s national teams as well as the ultimate destination for the world’s top entertainment and sports event, including Jaguars and NFL games,” Khan said in a statement.
Khan also reiterated his commitment to keeping the Jaguars in downtown Jacksonville.
“Today’s news changes none of what we envision for the long-term promise for the Jaguars here in Jax, and it changes nothing as to the goals we have for your downtown. If anything, today’s news is the embodiment of the ethos we adopted several years ago of being proud, bold and committed.”
Khan has publicly revealed the price of his bid. A CNN report indicated in was in the neighborhood of $1.4 billion. However, news outlets in London, such as the BBC and The Guardian are reporting varying numbers.
The Jaguars owner expounded on the importance of the ties between Jacksonville and London, “For the Jaguars, it would deliver another – and very significant – asset and local revenue source that would further strengthen our investment in London, which as everyone knows is crucial to the Jaguars’ continued sustainability in Jacksonville.”
Khan’s announcement comes one week after the Jaguars’ annual State of the Franchise in which he and his staff outlined plans to expand Jacksonville’s downtown sports complex to include an entertainment district.
“Today’s announcement is additional evidence that we are committed to create and enhance new revenue streams to boost the Jaguars, such as the incredibly successful Daily’s Place and the project we revealed last week with The Cordish Companies on the proposed development around EverBank Field,” said Khan.
WJCT Sports Analyst Cole Pepper said Thursday, the move to buy Wembley Stadium is a good one on Khan's part.
“One of the real concerns the Jaguars had was that somebody else might buy Wembley Stadium and then it could make it more difficult for them to continue playing games in London,” said Pepper.
Pepper said 11 percent of the Jaguars annual revenue comes from the games played in London each year.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
