Miller Electric Center Opening: "Everyone had the same vision…"

Jul 18, 2023 at 03:42 PM

JACKSONVILLE – This was a good day, a day of hope for the present and the future.

Shad Khan smiled widely Tuesday – his birthday – at the grand opening for the Miller Electric Center, the state-of-the-art facility in downtown Jacksonville that will serve as the Jaguars' football operations facilities and as a first step in a bigger vision.

"I couldn't ask for a better present, let me tell you that," Khan said.

Khan, the Jaguars' owner, spoke early Tuesday morning in front of the MEC. Among those sharing the podium with Khan at the $120 million, 125,000-square-foot center's opening: Donna Deegan, who was sworn in as Jacksonville's Mayor on July 1.

Jaguars President Mark Lamping introduced Deegan at what he said "will certainly be the first of many downtown ribbon cuttings and dedications that will happen over the next eight years." Deegan called Tuesday "a significant day" and a "milestone for the team and for our city."

"I want to thank Mr. Khan and Mr. Lamping," she said. "They have been so wonderful to deal with. When I think about the relationship between the Jaguars and Jacksonville, the word that comes to mind to be his partnership, it really does.

"What makes this particularly gratifying is the vision certainly wasn't mine alone," Khan said. "Our community city leadership, football team, Miller Electric … everyone had the same vision, a vision and belief that we can do amazing things in Jacksonville.

"Together, we made it a reality. We made it happen."

A public-private partnership between the Jaguars and the City of Jacksonville, the MEC includes locker rooms, training and medical facilities, office space and a draft room. It also features two full-size grass practice fields and one indoor field, along with shaded public viewing stands, concession areas and a team store.

Jaguars 2023 Training Camp will begin Wednesday, July 26.

Khan also called the MEC "the best of the best, the gold standard for a long time to come," adding that "the best is still to come."

"Jacksonville is rising," he said. "Our football team has great promise, and downtown Jacksonville is beginning to fulfill its potential. The Miller Electric Center is emblematic of all this and more. This makes it absolutely a great day for Jacksonville."

Also on the podium cutting the ceremonial ribbon Tuesday: Lamping, Jacksonville City Council President Ron Salem, Jaguars General Manager Trent Baalke, Miller Electric Company Chief Executive Officer Henry Brown, Haskell President and Chief Executive Officer James O'Leary and Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson.

"All I have to say is, 'Wow,''' Pederson, who will enter his second season as head coach in 2023. "We stood over here in this parking lot about 18 months ago when we broke ground on this place. The vision then obviously is the vision you see behind us. The dream has come true.

"Our job is not finished. It's just begun. What we started last year as a football team is only going to continue and get better. I can't wait to see our players this Friday and next Tuesday when they report to walk into this building. Some have already seen it. Just to see the smile on their faces, to have a beautiful practice field out here to host training camp and many other events …

"I'm just so excited for that as the football coach here."

"It brought us here today to open this state-of-the-art facility. The partnership between Jacksonville and the Jaguars goes so much deeper than financial support. It's our shared vision for a united community and a thriving downtown that lifts up the surrounding neighborhoods. The Jacksonville Renaissance is underway."

"I am so glad to see the Jaguars playing such a big part of it."

Deegan, a lifelong Jacksonville resident, worked as a news anchor for WTLV-12 Jacksonville when the Jaguars were awarded an expansion franchise in 1993. She spoke on Tuesday of being on the news set the night the team was awarded, also speaking of the Jaguars' 2022 AFC South title and of their subsequent AFC Divisional Playoff victory.

"This team has the power to bring us all together, and indeed it does," she said. "The Jaguars also remind us that we are a can-do city when we're united and we're working alongside of each other to do big things. I look forward to our shared future, and I know that no matter what it holds, we're going to all take it a play at a time, and we're going to get it done."

Lamping called the MEC the "first step to the Stadium of the Future," the designs for which the Jaguars introduced in June. Kahn called the MEC "another example of vision becoming reality in Jacksonville."