The Jacksonville Armada Football Club has been working towards building a stadium since 2019, but the project has faced numerous delays. The team initially planned to break ground in January 2024 and complete the stadium by 2025, but the completion date has been postponed twice, first to March 2026 and then to September 2026.
Stadium Plans and Delays
In 2019, former club owner Robert Palmer began talks with the city of Jacksonville to purchase Downtown land to build a soccer-specific stadium for the Armada. Palmer’s LLC, Jax Downtown Pro Real Estate, acquired 6.56 acres of land for one dollar on the condition that the Armada would build a stadium there. However, the project has been delayed due to various reasons, including Florida Department of Transportation roadwork on Albert Street.
In 2025, the Armada changed hands from Palmer to Chris Campione, who still intends to build a stadium. The team has not mentioned a completion date, but Campione has stated that the stadium will have 8,000 seats upon opening. The city has granted the Armada two delays in relation to the Florida Department of Transportation roadwork, and the current construction deadline is September 10, 2026.
Fans of the team, including the fan club Section 904, have expressed frustration over the lack of transparency and communication about the stadium’s progress. The team currently plays on the Edward Waters University campus, but the university canceled the Armada’s use of their fields in 2025 due to an unnamed ‘administrative facilities management challenge’.
If the Armada fails to complete the stadium by the deadline, they will either have to surrender the property or pay the city fair market value plus 33%, as outlined in the initial deal.
Original reporting: Jacksonville Today — read the source article.
