The Jaguars Are Home Again, and Getting Home Is Now the Hard Part

"Traffic and parking will be comparable to the 2025 season with a similar number of parking and lots available." That line is from the Jaguars' own Stadium of the Future FAQ, and the team's plan for the season builds on it. The stadium has about 27,000 fewer seats this season, and it keeps roughly the parking it had in 2025. The Jaguars come back to EverBank Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 1, to play the Colts at 1 p.m. It's their first home game since Sept. 27, after London games against the Eagles at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the Texans at Wembley, then a bye week.

If you haven't been downtown for a game this fall, here's what you need to know. Getting in is about as easy as it has been in years. Leaving is where your day can go wrong, and the reasons are mostly outside the stadium gates.

A Smaller Crowd Filling the Same Lots

The FAQ puts 2026 capacity at 42,465. That's after permanent seat removal plus some temporary seating, with 27,308 seats offline. Of those, 22,005 are in the 400 level, which is the entire upper bowl. The closures also cover the 200-level corners over the tunnels, some rows in the North End Zone, lower-level South End Zone seats, lower-level Club seats and the Terrace Suite. The North End Zone Spa Deck and the Sky Patio are closed as well. The team's other materials round a little differently. The Week 1 game day guide says 42,500, and a February release said 42,507. Call it about 42,500.

So about 27,000 fewer fans are heading into roughly the same parking supply. On the Jaguars' official parking page, the 2026 game-day lots are A, D, E, J, M, N, P, S, V, X, Z, Old Cypress and Met Park. The Week 1 guide says lots open four hours before kickoff, with "fewer ticket holders" using the same set of lots.

The team was still selling 2026 season parking passes for the Old Cypress lot as of the Week 1 guide. It sits east of the stadium at 1746 E Adams St, across Adams Street from the Tailgaters Lot. Arriving and parking has gotten easier this season.

Inside, Your Gate Decides Your Exit

Once you're inside, the renovation shows up mostly in how you get around. You can no longer walk all the way around the plaza level. The main concourse is now the 360-degree loop, and entry gates send you up to it. Grand Staircase One near Gate 1 opened in October 2025. Staircases near Gates 2 and 3 joined it this season. The team expects the Gate 4 staircase to open later this football season. Ramps 2 and 3 and the South End Zone escalators also connect to the main concourse.

The gate changes matter more than the stairs. Gate 2 and the West Club gate are now one entrance. Most tickets work at any gate, but the East Club gate is for Club or Suite ticket holders only. The Jaguars ask fans to check the recommended gate on each mobile ticket, game by game, because entry points can move as construction goes on. The same guide says to "exit at the gate closest to their transportation."

That instruction is the one to plan around. On a concourse that loops all the way around, it's easy to leave through whatever gate is closest to your seat. But this season the gate you pick decides which street you come out on, and the streets are where the slowdowns are.

The Real Bottleneck Is the Main Street Bridge

Starting Aug. 24, southbound Main Street Bridge traffic dropped to one lane, and the pedestrian walkway on that side closed, News4JAX reported. The changes are expected to last through Jan. 30, 2027. Northbound traffic still has two lanes. The work is part of Riverfront Plaza's second phase, which removes part of the bridge to build a permanent pedestrian and bike connection to the park on the former Jacksonville Landing site. People walking across are detoured toward Newnan Street, behind the Daniels Building, and back to the bridge.

The Jaguars flagged this for game days in the Week 1 guide. Postgame traffic is affected, and drivers heading west may be sent to the Acosta Bridge to get out faster. If you live in San Marco or anywhere south of the river, your usual route home has one lane this season. That's true for every remaining home game, since the closure runs past the end of the regular season.

Match Your Ride to Your Way Out

Your best choice depends on where you're headed after the game. Each option has its own drop-off spot and its own postgame routine.

The Farah & Farah shuttle stops running at kickoff and starts again when the game ends, then runs for one hour. If you leave early, nothing will be waiting at the pickup spot. Accessible shuttle requests go through the parking attendant in your lot.

JTA's Gameday Xpress is cashless. Passes are sold only in the MyJTA app, and JTA strongly recommends buying before game day. Prices are round trip, per person, with parking included. JTA runs continuous service from the Kings Avenue Parking Garage at 1201 Kings Ave, on the Southbank, for Jaguars home games. If you live south of the river, that helps. You can park on the Southbank side and skip driving back over the one-lane bridge.

For anyone coming from the beaches, the Beaches Lot at Wingate is at 278 Penman Road South in Jacksonville Beach. Every Gameday Xpress bus drops riders at JTA's service lot next to the East gates, and after the game you board again at that same drop-off spot. So JTA riders should leave through an east-side gate. Rideshare riders should leave on the west side. Pick your gate when you choose your ride, not when the game ends.

A Reason to Get Downtown Early

Fewer people in the same lots means you could cut it close on arrival this season. But there's a new reason to come early. Asado Life, a St. Augustine restaurant recently named to the Michelin Guide, opened an upscale-casual riverfront location at the Jacksonville Shipyards on the Northbank Riverwalk, across from EverBank Stadium, the Florida Times-Union reported. The menu is Argentinian-inspired, cooked over live fire.

The Jacksonville location opened in August near the Met Park Marina, about 12 years after co-owners Nick and Christie Carrera started their grill-building business. The Jax Daily Record quoted Nick Carrera describing business at the Northbank spot as "fantastic." The restaurant is at 5 Tower Court and serves lunch, dinner and a social hour Tuesday through Sunday, according to the same report. That means it's open for a Sunday kickoff, close enough to walk to the stadium, and you'll have eaten before you join the exit traffic.

You'll also see the construction from your seat. Steel trusses are going up around the outside of the stadium to support the canopy that will eventually cover and cool it. That work, along with the main concourse expansion, continues during the season. Construction started in February 2025, and the grand opening is set for August 2028.

The Rest of the Home Schedule

The official schedule has four regular-season games left at EverBank Stadium, and the bridge closure lasts through all of them.

The Nov. 29 game is the Sunday after Thanksgiving with a late-afternoon kickoff. The Steelers game is a Monday night, so the shuttle's one-hour postgame window and the one-lane bridge come into play late on a work night. Before each game, check the Jaguars app or that week's game day guide, since gates and lots can change as construction moves along.

Game days are one of the ways Jacksonville is changing right now, and they're part of what Meredith Rowe watches as the city reshapes its riverfront. If the stadium district or the neighborhoods around it are on your mind as you think about where you'll live next, let's talk over coffee. Schedule a Free Consultation and Meredith will walk you through it.