JACKSONVILLE – Mark Lamping likes what he's hearing.
And although the Jaguars' president knows offseason talk is just that – offseason talk – it's still cool when it's the right kind of talk.
Lamping, entering his fifth season as the Jaguars' president, joined Jaguars.com LIVE with J.P. Shadrick, Brian Sexton and John Oehser Wednesday from the 2016 Jaguars Foundation Golf Tournament at Jacksonville Golf and Country Club. Among the topics Lamping discussed: The excitement around the team both locally and nationally.
"I think people are excited," Lamping said. "About a year ago, I made the comment, 'Isn't it great that people aren't constantly talking about the Jaguars in connection to which NFL team is going to go to Los Angeles?' That was a wonderful thing.
"Our fans have so over-delivered, but the national perception of this market and our fan base is nowhere near accurate. You don't win anything in the offseason, but it's been wonderful to hear the national pundits talk really positively about what's happening in Jacksonville."
Lamping also on Wednesday discussed the latest major renovations to Everbank Field, saying the US Assure Clubs – a reimagining and renovation of EverBank's club seats scheduled to be completed by August – remain on time and on budget.
"That's one thing that doesn't change," Lamping said. "It will be on time and on budget."
Lamping said the focus in the club renovations was to increase the value of the seats, with 1,400 very good seats being removed from each side of the stadium.
"Not a lot of teams would be in a position to do that, but what we've done is we've created this wonderful area at midfield where I think our club-seat holders are really going to enjoy the experience," Lamping said. "I'm sure a lot of people are going to be talking about it around the league."
The club renovations are the latest in a series of upgrades, with the Jaguars renovating the team's locker rooms in 2012 and the training facility 2013. The team and the city installed state-of-the-art video boards and a renovated north end-zone plaza featuring two swimming pools in 2014.
"The best stadiums, no matter what their ages are, are the ones that evolve – and that fans have something to look forward to each and every year," Lamping said. "We're trying to apply that same standard here, that when fans show up each year there is going to be something new and different for them to experience every year.
"Quite honestly we have to do that because it's so easy to sit at home and watch games on television."
Lamping said design work is complete and work has started on the 5,500-seat Amphitheatre/flex field project that will be built adjacent to EverBank's South End Zone.
"We haven't done the ceremonial groundbreaking yet, and the only reason we haven't done that is sometimes it's difficult to get schedules coordinated between very busy people such as [Jaguars Owner] Shad Khan and the mayor of Jacksonville [Lenny Curry],'' Lamping said. "Work has started. It's not a lot that people will be able to see, but the renovation at field level in the south end zone is really part of the Amphitheatre project and that's almost complete."
