Moving to Jacksonville as a pro athlete, coach or team staffer

Pro sports moves come with little warning. A trade, a waiver claim or a new contract can give you weeks to find a place, and the season keeps going while you look. I'm a REALTOR®, not a tax advisor or attorney, so use this as background and confirm the details with your own professionals.

Where the Jaguars train and play

The Jaguars' football home base is the Miller Electric Center at 1 Performance Place, Jacksonville, FL 32202. The team describes it as a 125,000 square foot sports performance center completed in 2023, owned by the City of Jacksonville and maintained by the Jaguars, with locker rooms, training and recovery areas, medical facilities, a weight room, player dining and offices (Jacksonville Jaguars). It's a two story building with one indoor and two outdoor practice fields (Jacksonville Jaguars), and it's where the team held 2026 training camp (NFL.com).

Game days are in flux. EverBank Stadium is being rebuilt as what the team calls the Stadium of the Future. Construction began in February 2025 and is scheduled to finish in August 2028 (Jacksonville Jaguars). Here's the timeline as of October 2026:

The 2026 capacity figure includes 1,260 standing room tickets, and the London games are at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley Stadium (Jacksonville Jaguars). Camping World Stadium is about 143 road miles from EverBank Stadium, measured with OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM). The team's March 31, 2026 announcement about Orlando talks about home games and doesn't address where the team will practice that year (Jacksonville Jaguars). If you're signing for 2027, ask the club about the weekly routine before you choose a home or a lease length.

Other pro teams in Jacksonville

• Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. The Triple A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, in the International League, plays at VyStar Ballpark. The 2026 regular season opened at home on March 27 and ended on the road September 20, with 75 of 150 games at home (MiLB).
• Jacksonville Icemen. The Icemen play in the ECHL at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, which seats 15,000, and have a multiyear affiliation with the NHL's Minnesota Wild starting with the 2026 to 2027 season (NHL.com).

Those seasons fall at different times of year than football, but the lease and tax questions below are the same.

The NFL calendar and when to plan a move to Jacksonville

The league publishes its key dates each year. These come from the NFL's 2026 to 2027 calendar (NFL.com), except where noted:

The league's rules tie the veteran report date to the opener: for a club whose first regular season game is on a Thursday or Sunday, veterans other than quarterbacks and injured players report 47 days before it, and clubs may open camp for rookies seven days before the veteran date (NFL.com). OTAs and minicamp fall inside the spring offseason program, and each club sets its own dates, so ask your team for the schedule.

So there are three natural windows: free agents signing in March have the spring, draft picks have early May until camp, and anyone traded or claimed in season needs a furnished rental fast and can shop longer term after the season.

Short lease or buy on a one or two season contract

On a one year deal, I'd lean toward renting. For two seasons or more, buying can make sense, but only if the numbers work after closing costs on both ends. Run them with my closing cost tool and monthly cost tool, and look at what sellers pay when you leave.

A few Florida rules that matter for renters:

• Six months is a tax line. Florida taxes rentals of living quarters at 6 percent, but a bona fide written agreement for continuous residence longer than 6 months isn't a taxable privilege under that section (Florida Statutes s. 212.03). Counties can also levy a tourist development tax on stays of 6 months or less (s. 125.0104).
• Ask for an early termination clause. Florida leases can include an early termination fee of no more than 2 months' rent with no more than 60 days' notice, if both sides agree to it when the lease is signed (s. 83.595). Rosters change, so I'd want this in writing.
• Know the deposit rules. If a landlord isn't making a claim on your deposit, it's due back within 15 days after the lease ends; if they are, they have 30 days to send written notice of the claim (s. 83.49).

If you buy and make the home your permanent residence, Florida's homestead exemption takes $25,000 off the assessed value for all taxes for a person who holds title on January 1 (s. 196.031), and the application is due by March 1 (s. 196.011). A property tax amendment is on the November 3, 2026 ballot that would change homestead rules (Duval County Property Appraiser), so check current terms when you close. If you'll keep the house after you leave, read my page for investors too.

No state income tax in Florida, and what that doesn't cover

The Florida Department of Revenue says plainly that Florida does not impose a personal income tax, so there's no state return to file (Florida Department of Revenue). That's real, but it isn't the whole picture for athletes.

States you play in can tax the pay you earn there. Michigan's Treasury, for example, taxes nonresident professional athletes on a duty days basis: the share of pay taxed there is based on days worked in Michigan compared with total duty days, which run from the start of official preseason training through the last game, including playoffs (Michigan Department of Treasury). Other states set their own rules. Residency gets complicated if you keep a home somewhere else, so talk to a tax advisor who works with athletes before you count on any savings.

Public records, LLCs and trusts

Florida's public records policy is broad: state, county and municipal records are open for inspection by any person (Florida Statutes s. 119.01). In practice, the Duval County Property Appraiser's search lets anyone look up property by owner name or address (Duval County Property Appraiser), and St. Johns County has its own property records search. Plan on your name and a home you own being searchable.

Some buyers ask about taking title through an LLC or a trust. That choice has legal, tax, lending and insurance consequences, and it can affect the homestead exemption, which the statute ties to a person holding legal or beneficial title who makes the home a permanent residence (s. 196.031). That's a conversation for a Florida real estate attorney and your tax advisor, not me.

Two federal updates as of October 2026:

• Beneficial ownership reporting. FinCEN issued a final rule on August 11, 2026, effective August 14, 2026, under which U.S. companies are exempt from Corporate Transparency Act beneficial ownership reporting; only certain foreign companies registered to do business here must report (FinCEN).
• Residential real estate reporting. On March 19, 2026, a federal court vacated FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Rule. FinCEN has appealed, and while the order stands, reporting persons aren't required to file those reports (FinCEN). Ask your attorney and title company what applies at your closing.

What to look for in a home when you train and travel

The Miller Electric Center sits on 18 acres northwest of the stadium (Jax Daily Record), so these are approximate road miles from EverBank Stadium, measured with OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM). These are miles, not drive times.

Then the house itself:

• Space to train and recover. Garage ceiling height and floor space for equipment, a room that can hold a cold plunge, and electrical capacity for it. A pool is a big commitment here, so read my pool guide first.
• A home that handles long absences. Football season runs into hurricane season, which NOAA puts at June 1 to November 30 (NOAA). Line up someone to check the house while you travel, and read my flood insurance guide.
• Gates, if you want them. Some communities have gated entrances, such as Deerwood on the Southside, Coastal Oaks in Nocatee and several golf communities in Ponte Vedra Beach. A gate comes with HOA rules and costs, so read the rules on guests, contractors and leasing.

You can browse current homes for sale or start with my relocation services page.

I'm not affiliated with the Jaguars or the NFL, and this guide uses public information.