Jacksonville is prioritizing home-field advantage over international expansion, shielding their high-stakes rivalry against Pittsburgh from London's schedule despite stadium renovations and a significantly reduced seating capacity.
London is the Jacksonville Jaguars' home away from home, but they would rather play the Pittsburgh Steelers at EverBank Stadium even at its reduced capacity.
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Jaguars would prefer playing the Steelers at home. Each team can protect one home game from selection for international play, and Jacksonville chose the Pittsburgh game.
The team will also have an additional game to protect, as they will have another match in London due to major renovations to their home stadium. These changes will decrease fan capacity from the typical 67,000 to roughly 43,500.
Pittsburgh and Jacksonville have an interesting rivalry despite being in different divisions. The two have matched up 28 times, and the Jaguars hold bragging rights with 15 wins.
They met in Week 1 of the preseason last year, but that game doesn't count toward their official record. Their last regular-season meeting was on October 29, 2023, and Jacksonville defeated Pittsburgh, 20-10, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence leading the way.
Lawrence threw for 242 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Edges Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker totaled for three sacks, and safeties Antonio Johnson and Andrew Wingard each intercepted Mitch Trubisky.
The Jaguars locked down the Steelers matchup as one game they want to play at home, and they have one more decision ahead of them. Jacksonville could opt to protect one of these seven other home games against the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders and the New England Patriots.
Protecting a divisional game could give Jacksonville a home-field advantage in an important game for standings purposes.
The Texans, Titans and Colts are the other teams in the AFC South. Protecting the Texans' game could be the decision the Jaguars make.
Tennessee is coming off a 3-14 season, and although Indianapolis started hot with a 7-1 record, they ended the season cold by finishing 1-8.
Houston could be the most difficult matchup for Jacksonville, as they finished second in the division with a 12-4 record. They recently signed defensive end Will Anderson Jr. to a record-setting three-year, $150 million contract extension.
Anderson Jr. becomes the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history and headlines a dominant Texans defense. Any extra advantage for the Jaguars could benefit them in a high-leverage division game.
Jaguars team president Mark Lamping said the team is prioritizing protecting home games that fans would love to see and opponents the coaching staff would like to play at EverBank.
"I think we will be guided by protecting -- and we can protect two games -- that we will assess which of those games would be best received by our fans to be played here," Lamping said on February 25.
Jacksonville has played the most games in London since its inception in 2007. They have played 13 games in England's capital -- 10 at Wembley Stadium and three at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Jaguars have traveled to London annually, barring the 2020 season, and are adding two more matchups to their international game history.
However, Jacksonville is protecting an interesting rivalry matchup for its fans at EverBank and will choose one more game they want to play in front of its home fans.
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