JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After months of anticipation, crews on Friday placed some of the finishing touches on the Jacksonville Jaguars' new Flex Field.
The new practice field, which is almost 100 percent complete, was expected to be finished in July, just a few weeks after the adjoining amphitheater opened in late May. The Daily's Place entertainment facilities are connected to EverBank Field downtown.
Jaguars President Mark Lamping said crews ran into a few complications, which pushed back the completion date.
"We hoped to have it done earlier, no question about that. The idea was to have it 100 percent complete by the time the team came back," Lamping said. "We had a lot of rain at one one point. There were some areas in the roof that weren't completely airtight. That got water down in the field and we had to wait for it to dry."
Fans waiting to get into the gates to see the Jaguars' scrimmage Friday night were excited to get a glimpse of the Flex Field's exterior.
News4Jax also got a sneak peek inside the Flex Field, where markings were being sewn into the turf exterior. Crews were expected to complete that by Saturday night, and will then place small rubber pellets throughout the field, which will add more cushioning to the turf.
On Friday, crews could also be seen putting up wall pads around the inner walls. Five cameras were also being installed throughout the facility to allow tapings of practices.
PHOTOS: First look inside at Jaguars' new Flex Field
The 94,000-square-foot facility with 88,000 square feet of turf is 98 percent sealed from the outside and will never reach a temperature above 75 degrees.
Lamping said the almost fully-enclosed and custom-designed practice field is in a class of its own.
"It shares a wall with the music venue. Most of these facilities are similar to what you’d see like at University of Florida, the new one they just built. In many respects those are pre-engineered buildings, a lot of people call them butler buildings," Lamping said. "That’s not what we did here"
Jaguars owner Shad Khan built a facility that's the only one of its kind in the NFL right now. The Flex Field has three huge fans, 800 tons of cooling capacity and 146 LED sports lights overhead. The facility is surrounded by 45,000 square feet of wall fabric.
When asked about fans having access to the Flex Field, Lamping said, the field is first and foremost a place where Jaguars players perfect their skills in preparation to win.
"We certainly expect there will be a lot of opportunities to do things in here. But we want the football guys to decide exactly how they want to deploy it. Our expectation is we will have some activities here on game days because the team won't be using it on game days," he said. "We want it to be seen clearly as the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, just as you see out on the practice field. Again, we really want the football guys to really drive that process."
Lamping said the addition of the Flex Field will only help the Jaguars overperform when it comes to ticket sales and give fans something to look forward to.
A few minor touch-ups will be completed when the Jaguars return from their Thursday night NFL preseason game against the New England Patriots.