Speedway president meeting with Jaguars officials this week to discuss hosting home games
DAYTONA BEACH − The president of the Daytona International Speedway meets this week with Jacksonville Jaguars officials to discuss the possibility of the racing complex hosting the team's home games during a potential two-year stadium reconstruction.
"The meeting is scheduled and will be in Jacksonville," said track president Frank Kelleher. He declined to say what day it will take place or who else will be in the meetings. "I can tell you that I will be there."
Kelleher spoke to the News-Journal on Saturday about the potential for such a deal as well as some of the challenges it presents.
"This opportunity is something the France family (which owns NASCAR) and the entire Daytona International Speedway staff is excited to explore," he said. "But we need to first sit down with them (the Jaguars) and understand what their needs are."
How Speedway compares with the other venues
Kelleher spoke with The News-Journal after a national sports industry trade journal, VenuesNow.com, in a Friday article quoted Jaguars team president Mark Lamping as saying that the NFL team is considering the Speedway as one of several potential venues to serve as its temporary home during the two years it is expected to take to complete a proposed $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion makeover of the TIAA Bank Field stadium in Jacksonville.
Other venues under consideration include the University of Florida's 88,548-seat Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, the 60,219-seat Camping World Stadium in Orlando, the 11,000-seat City of Jacksonville-owned 121 Financial Ballpark (home of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp Minor League Baseball team), and the University of North Florida's 12,000-seat multi-purpose Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville.
While the two Jacksonville venues are the closest, retrofitting either would likely cost at least $125 million, according to the publication.
Daytona International Speedway could offer a less costly alternative.
One of the reasons why NASCAR completed its $400 million "Daytona Rising" makeover of Daytona International Speedway in 2016 was to host "major non-motorsports sporting events," said Kelleher. "We demonstrated that we could do that last summer when we hosted the Daytona Soccer Fest (the international professional soccer competition held July 2nd and 3rd, 2022)."
The year after NASCAR announced its Daytona Rising project, the Speedway's then-president Joie Chitwood attended a practice with the Jacksonville Jaguars where he mused in an interview with reporters about the motorsports, track someday hosting football games.
The motorsports track already has a 'football field'
Forbes magazine raised that possibility again in a 2019 article that recalled Chitwood's visit with the Jaguars. The article also noted how the 60-yard-wide crescent-shaped strip of grass between pit road and the Speedway's start-finish line was already referred to by NASCAR officials as "the ball field."
That's exactly where the Speedway could temporarily host home games for the Jaguars, said Kelleher.
"If you think where the start-finish line is, imagine it as the 50-yard line," he said.
For Soccer Fest, turf was laid on a portion of pit road to create a wider playing field.
While the mile-long grandstands at the Speedway can accommodate up to 101,500 spectators, Kelleher acknowledged not all those seats would be suitable for watching a football game.
"The number of grandstand seats with good visibility would probably be more in the 45,000 to 50,000 range," he said.
But that's not counting the several VIP suites the Speedway already offers. Or the possibility of erecting temporary seating on the other side of the "football field" where Victory Lane is located.
The Jaguars in 2022 had an average attendance of 66,459 fans at its home games, according to ESPN.
Another plus for the Speedway is the fact that its grandstands already have plenty of food venues, restrooms, and other amenities as well as ample parking.
In addition to cost considerations, Kelleher said the Speedway would also need to consider how to fit NFL games into its schedule. The motorsports stadium hosts a variety of events throughout the year, including the recent four-day Welcome to Rockville heavy metal music festival that drew 170,000 people.
Of course, there are also the races to consider including the Daytona 500 in February, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in late August, and the Rolex 24 in late January.
"If the stars align where we could host one (Jaguars) game or multiple games, we would be very proud," said Kelleher.
NFL games in Daytona would be 'incredibly impactful'
Nancy Keefer, CEO of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, said having the Speedway host Jaguar home games "would be incredibly impactful to the community. Businesses in the area would benefit greatly," she said.
NASCAR owns the One Daytona entertainment/retail complex across the street from the Speedway. The mixed-use development was built a few years ago specifically to complement the Speedway by providing both visiting race fans and tourists as well as locals with things to do when they aren't at the track.
In addition to restaurants, stores, and the CMX Daytona Luxury12 movie theater, the complex is also home to two hotels.
Lamping, the Jaguars team president, described the Speedway as "an interesting solution, but (one that) would also require significant investment in terms of infrastructure. It can accommodate a big crowd, it would be a little wonky, but it's worth considering. After the (Daytona Rising) renovations, it's nice."
The Jaguars decided to pursue a makeover of its existing stadium as opposed to building a new one elsewhere after conducting a three-year-long study of its options. One of the two general contractors that assisted the NFL team with its study was Barton Malow, the general contractor for the Speedway's "Daytona Rising" project as well as the new 11-story headquarters for Brown & Brown Insurance in downtown Daytona Beach.
Renovation of TIAA Bank Field could begin as soon as the end of the Jaguars' 2025 season.
LOOKING BACK: 2 years later, Speedway waiting on full impact of $400M makeover
Local recalls playing football at the Speedway in the '70s
Lynn Thompson, who retired two years ago as vice president of athletics at Daytona Beach's Bethune-Cookman University, said on Saturday that he "absolutely" believes the Speedway could host football games.
Thompson said he personally knows both Kelleher and Lamping through his involvement with the Florida Sports Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes sports events throughout the state.
"I think it would be great," he said of the idea of the Speedway hosting NFL games. "NASCAR and the Speedway are the world's best at putting on world-class events. If anybody could do it, it would be Frank Kelleher and his team."
Thompson also speaks as someone who actually played football games at the Speedway.
"The reason they call it the 'football field' is because we played there in the '70s," said the former B-CU Wildcats star.
The Speedway hosted home football games for Bethune-Cookman, not once but four times in the mid-1970s.
Thompson attended all four. The first time was when he was still a student at Mainland High School. As a spectator, he watched the then-Bethune-Cookman College Wildcats defeat the Florida A&M University Rattlers 6-0 on Nov. 23, 1974. It was the fourth-ever football game played at the "World Center of Racing." Daytona Beach's Father Lopez Catholic High School played three home games at the Speedway in the fall of 1959, just a few months after the motorsports track opened.
Thompson attended Bethune's next three games at the Speedway in 1975 as a player when he became a freshman punter and part-time quarterback for the Wildcats.
The showdown between the Wildcats and Mississippi Valley State University's Delta Devils on Sept. 20, 1975 was the first college game Thompson ever played. As a punter, he made four punts averaging 60 yards, and was credited with being one of the keys to the team's 21-6 victory.
Bethune-Cookman played at the Speedway games on the grass field next to the start-finish line for the Speedway's race track, he recalled.
ONE MAN'S VIEW: Daytona Speedway as temporary home to Jags? It'd be great, but come on, it ain't happening
"It was one of the greatest moments of my life," recalled Thompson who later was signed to play professionally as a punter for the Green Bay Packers but wound up getting injured and never played for the NFL team.
Thompson said he would love to see more football games at the Speedway.
"I think it would be a tremendous shot in the arm for our community," he said. "I'm in support of it."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Speedway could host Jaguars NFL games 'if stars align'
