TAMPA, Fla. — In September 2021, Will Weatherford stood between inexperienced and gold balloons beneath a white cover and made the proclamation that might change the trajectory of South Florida soccer.
After enjoying their first 25 years throughout city on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ stadium, the Bulls have been prepared for their very own dwelling. Weatherford vowed an on-campus stadium — a constructing that has been mentioned longer than the varsity has existed — was lastly “going to happen.”
There was, South Florida’s board of trustees chairperson confessed later, a minor technicality: Weatherford had no precise plan.
No location in thoughts. No thought how a lot it could value. No proposal to pay for it. And no contingencies for no matter business headwinds have been brewing.
“Sometimes in life,” Weatherford mentioned, “you just have to speak things into existence.”
Like a $340 million stadium. Or, simply perhaps, a program’s return to main school soccer after being left behind.
USF directors say the 35,000-seat venue will rework the college and transcend fall Saturdays when it opens in 2027. But it surely’s additionally a nine-figure shot at relevance for a soccer program that has by no means gained a convention title or appeared in a significant bowl recreation.
Although some premier applications are reevaluating the amenities arms race as they put together to pay gamers immediately, the Bulls are charging forward with the most costly challenge in program historical past. The danger is that borrowing $200 million turns into an albatross across the neck of a middling mid-major program that continues to be a middling mid-major program whereas the game’s juggernauts consolidate much more energy.
The potential reward is a seat again on the desk for regardless of the subsequent stage of main school soccer is — earlier than it’s too late.
“We don’t just want to be in the game,” Weatherford mentioned. “We want to be competitive in the game and win.”
USF plans to open its new stadium in 2027. (Courtesy of USF Athletics)
A stadium 70 years within the making
The primary thought for a South Florida soccer stadium surfaced round 1957, three years earlier than the varsity’s firstclass. County commissioners mentioned zoning within the campus’ northwest nook, however college president John S. Allen didn’t need intercollegiate athletics interfering with teachers. In the present day, buildings for persevering with training and public well being stand the place the stadium might have been. There’s a Hooters simply down the road.
Merely fielding a soccer staff was a literal uphill problem. The college wanted a push from a Bucs legend, Corridor of Famer Lee Roy Selmon, to start out a Division I-AA program that debuted a dozen miles away at Tampa Bay’s NFL stadium in 1997. Gamers drilled on slanted fields till 2000 when Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium ready to host Tremendous Bowl XXXV. The NFL couldn’t let the Ravens observe on a slope, so the league helped repair it. Present athletic director Michael Kelly remembers how pleased directors have been; USF acquired a stage subject and saved a number of thousand {dollars}.
Stadium concepts popped up periodically over the a long time. Kelly wrote a few venue for a grad faculty project earlier than becoming a member of the Bulls. A park committee proposed a sports activities advanced on an island between Tampa and St. Petersburg. As Florida ready a bid to host the 2012 Summer time Olympics, officers mentioned an 85,000-seat facility that might be downsized afterward for USF.
The concepts by no means gained traction, whilst stadiums opened at comparable applications like UCF (2007), Houston (2014), Tulane (2014) and Colorado State (2017). In 1998, the Bulls’ athletic director advised the St. Petersburg Instances a brand new constructing “wouldn’t make any sense” as a result of it’d be too costly. Three weeks later, SMU broke floor on a 32,000-seat stadium that, adjusted for inflation, value a 3rd of USF’s proposal.
“I think everybody thought that you should (build one),” Kelly mentioned. “But the practical realities were, there was certainly no money and not high enough on the priority list of the university at the time to make that happen.”
The college’s priorities remained teachers: gaining state recognition as a preeminent faculty and becoming a member of the celebrated Affiliation of American Universities (AAU). Soccer amenities remained decrease regardless of the Bulls’ climb to the Huge East. USF introduced plans for a $22 million indoor observe facility — a sensible necessity in a wet area — beneath one coach (Charlie Sturdy), started constructing it beneath one other (Jeff Scott) and opened it beneath a 3rd (Alex Golesh).
The listing modified in 2021 when Weatherford made his proclamation beneath the white cover in the course of the groundbreaking ceremony for the indoor facility. The previous Florida statehouse speaker and Jacksonville College defensive finish questioned why USF didn’t have a stadium. He by no means acquired a very good cause. However he was in place to alter it.
South Florida’s president left a month earlier than Weatherford’s announcement, and Weatherford made it clear the successor would agree along with his imaginative and prescient. Trustees made stadium progress an goal for interim president Rhea Regulation and certainly one of their presidential objectives after she earned the full-time job.
“I wish we would have done it a long time ago …” Weatherford mentioned. “Just because you didn’t do it 30 years ago doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it today.”
Even when at the moment seems to be very completely different than it did three years in the past, a lot much less 30.
Should you construct it …
Although convention realignment has by no means been the stadium’s main promoting level, its specter has hovered within the background.
Weatherford made his proclamation because the Huge 12 was on the verge of enlargement; South Florida didn’t make the reduce. A trustee has requested in two board conferences whether or not a stadium would assist the Bulls get into the SEC.
When Weatherford sought closing financing approval from the state, he highlighted the Bulls’ 4 American Athletic Convention friends — Houston, Cincinnati, SMU and rival UCF — that earned spots within the Huge 12 or ACC.
“It’s no coincidence that every one of these universities also made a significant investment in their athletic facilities, either through a new stadium or making tremendous renovations to their existing one,” Weatherford mentioned in 2023.
Although it’s no coincidence, there’s no clear trigger and impact, both.
“I think it is what we would call a necessary but not sufficient condition,” mentioned Michael Leeds, an economics professor at Temple.
Leeds has studied the impression of on-campus stadiums, and he adopted Temple’s determination to remain on the Philadelphia Eagles’ venue as an alternative of constructing on campus. His takeaway: Although a mid-major program most likely does want an on-site stadium to maneuver into the Energy 4 …
“Building it,” Leeds mentioned, “does not make it happen.”
However not constructing it would assure it doesn’t occur.
Although amenities will not be the driving consider realignment, they matter. To be part of the Mountain West as a full member, Hawaii agreed to assist the state substitute the inoperative Aloha Stadium by 2032.
Services fall beneath “commitment to athletics success” — one of many rebuilding Pac-12’s 5 enlargement standards. If there have been any doubts in regards to the dedication Colorado State and San Diego State have proven as they transfer from the Mountain West, they’ll level to the mixed half a billion {dollars} they spent to construct stadiums.
Colorado State president Amy Parsons sees them as a part of a cycle. TV companions, sponsors and different colleges need to affiliate with aggressive applications that excite fan bases, play in main bowls or make the NCAA Event.
“And it starts with, does a school have the commitment to the program and value the program in order to compete at that level?” Parsons mentioned.
If a college is spending 9 figures on its stadium, the reply is a transparent sure. Particularly in opposition to these headwinds.
San Diego State opened 35,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium in 2022. (Orlando Ramirez / Imagn Photographs)
Skyrocketing stadium prices
When Weatherford began talking the Bulls’ stadium into existence, San Diego State was halfway by way of constructing its 35,000-seat, multipurpose stadium. Thanks partially to lower-than-expected rates of interest from the pandemic, Snapdragon Stadium’s closing worth earlier than opening in 2022 was $310 million.
If the Aztecs needed to construct it at the moment, athletic director John David Wicker mentioned, it could most likely value between $450 million and $500 million.
“At this point,” Wicker mentioned, “I don’t know how feasible that would be.”
That, too, hovers within the background at South Florida.
School have expressed issues about erecting a stadium and adjoining operations middle for soccer and the brand new ladies’s lacrosse staff whereas school rooms had mildew or leaky roofs. Citing hidden or unexpected prices, the school senate’s president forged the trustees’ lone vote in opposition to the stadium finances.
A pair of 2023 memos from Florida’s Division of Bond Finance questioned “arguably ambitious” projections of ticket gross sales and different “historically volatile” sources. If the Bulls miss their targets and might’t deal with $19.6 million in annual debt service, it warned the varsity dangers counting on its endowment or slicing athletics’ finances.
Attendance stays a long-term query. Half of USF’s convention dwelling video games fail to attract a minimum of 30,000 followers. And the way usually will groups like Alabama and Florida revisit if the SEC expands its convention schedule or begins an alliance with the Huge Ten?
Doubts didn’t disappear in 2023 when trustees and the state individually authorized a $340 million finances: $200 million in debt, $50 million in donations, $31 million from capital funds and the remaining from sources just like the sale of outdated broadband tools and auxiliary parking/bookstore funds. No tax {dollars} are included.
Trustees nonetheless haven’t authorized the ultimate value, which Weatherford mentioned has gone up. He referred to it as a “$400 million building” in November however mentioned lately it is going to be “well within what we can afford.” The challenge has already been postponed a 12 months due to a backed-up provide chain — and that was earlier than the Trump administration’s tariffs and analysis funding cuts added uncertainties in building and better training.
These issues come as athletic departments brace for a brand new expense: paying gamers. The prospect of $20.5 million in revenue-sharing has, together with rising building prices, reshaped the once-booming amenities arms race. Alabama, Auburn, Miami and Ole Miss have all paused or scaled again main soccer/basketball initiatives. After Maryland soccer moved into its new dwelling in 2021, Mike Locksley bemoaned the timing, saying that amenities matter much less in recruiting as a result of gamers would “get dressed in the trash can for $25,000.”
But when the calculus was that easy, Florida wouldn’t be exploring a $1 billion improve to The Swamp, and Florida State wouldn’t be spending $380 million to renovate Doak Campbell Stadium and add a soccer operations middle. The Seminoles are investing as a result of they anticipate amenities to matter extra once more in recruiting if each faculty has the identical de facto wage cap.
“We wanted to make sure coming out of whatever was going to happen that we were prepared to take advantage of the new age of college athletics,” Seminoles athletic director Michael Alford mentioned.
That prices cash.
The Bulls plan to max out on revenue-sharing beneath no matter pointers they’re given by the convention, NCAA or courts. USF’s 2022-23 payout from the American was $8.2 million — greater than $30 million lower than the smallest Energy 4 distribution, in response to convention tax returns. To compete on the highest stage doable, the Bulls are relying on assist from the stadium’s new earnings streams: stronger ticket gross sales, pricier facilities, naming rights, further occasions like live shows.
“You can’t share revenue,” Kelly mentioned, “if you don’t have any.”
‘It’s nonetheless a dream’
Final fall, 38 months after Weatherford made the proclamation that might vault the Bulls again to nationwide relevance, he stood beneath a good bigger white cover on a once-sloped swath of land a number of hundred yards north. Inexperienced and gold streamers shot by way of the air as dignitaries dug golden shovels right into a sand sculpture for the ceremonial groundbreaking of South Florida’s stadium.
5 months later, the bottom stays unbroken.
Regardless of a fall groundbreaking, USF hasn’t begun building but. (Matt Baker / The Athletic)
Although USF deliberate to start building by the tip of February, bulldozers can’t begin rumbling till the assured most worth is ready. The lag time isn’t anticipated to maintain the stadium from debuting for the 2027 opener in opposition to Louisville.
From there, directors anticipate it to remodel the college by way of better involvement from college students and alumni plus rising curiosity from donors and potential college students. Colorado State reported its second highest enrollment final 12 months and is on observe to prime it this 12 months. Parsons mentioned it’s unimaginable to quantify Canvas Stadium’s impression on these numbers, however recreation days are a major recruiting instrument for everybody (not simply athletes).
That’s important as colleges put together for a demographic drop in college-aged college students — the so-called enrollment cliff. Elevated engagement from an on-campus stadium is one technique to combat it and lift a college’s educational profile.
“I won’t say that it’s a slam dunk,” mentioned Karen Weaver, a former school coach and administrator who teaches in regards to the intersection of upper training and athletics at Penn. “But it’s certainly a way to elevate your campus enthusiasm for athletics.”
And if that’s the objective at South Florida, Invoice Sutton is aware of it’s possible. He noticed it firsthand.
When Sutton began working at UCF’s sport enterprise administration program, the Bulls have been what the Knights aspired to be. USF was within the Huge East, then an influence convention, and skyrocketed to No. 2 within the nation. The Conflict on I-4 rivalry started to show after the Knights opened what’s now referred to as FBC Mortgage Stadium in 2007. Sutton watched college students cease carrying Florida and Florida State shirts and begin supporting UCF. Fan curiosity and on-field success spiked, and the Knights capitalized on an ideal season and two different main bowl appearances to catapult previous the Bulls and into the Huge 12.
An identical leap is the dream state of affairs for South Florida, which is 99-117 since its week at No. 2.
“If the facility’s there, if it’s full, if the interest is there, all the things that we don’t really have right now would make the dream in play,” mentioned Sutton, the director emeritus of USF’s Vinik Sport and Leisure Administration Program. “It’s still a dream.”
But it surely’s a dream that’s unimaginable to disregard for a program that has already been left behind as soon as. USF is certainly one of three ex-Huge East colleges which have did not land in an influence convention in soccer after the league splintered round 2012 and have become the AAC. The opposite two: Temple and UConn.
The stakes are rising once more. TV contracts for the Huge Ten, SEC, Huge 12 and Faculty Soccer Playoff are all set to run out between 2030-34 as an escape hatch opens for ACC colleges. If main realignment — Huge Ten/SEC spin-off? Tremendous league? — is coming, that’s the likeliest timeline. It’s why Parsons mentioned the stress to construct a stadium can be much more immense now than when Colorado State began its push.
“There’s a risk if you build it. There’s a risk if you don’t,” Parsons mentioned. “And I would say in this landscape today, the risk if you don’t is even higher.”
USF officers say they’re pleased within the American. The Bulls proved that within the fall after they, together with Memphis, Tulane and UTSA, turned down curiosity from the new-look Pac-12 to remain put.
However the place they’re now may not be the place they need or must be in 5-10 years, if the ACC wants a brand new foothold in Florida, or the Huge 12 expands once more, or a fault line divides the groups prepared to ante into the game’s highest stage from those that aren’t.
“We just want to make sure we’re on the right side of it,” Weatherford mentioned. “I don’t even know what the right side of it means yet, but we’ll know it when we see it.”
If school sports activities is getting into a brand new period of paying gamers and, maybe, tremendous leagues, Kelly asks why it issues the place applications have been generations in the past when conferences shaped? In that case, South Florida has one of many nation’s largest pupil our bodies and sits in a top-20, fast-growing market in a talent-rich state. The Bulls have been one of many convention’s best in NIL and have been among the many nation’s first applications to place a sponsorship brand (Publix) on the sphere.
South Florida feels nearer to the underside of the Energy 4 than the center of the Group of 5, and the Bulls are prepared to place a 3rd of a billion {dollars} right into a constructing to show it.
“Everyone has to recognize their moment in history, I guess,” Kelly mentioned. “There’s times that call for bold decisions. There’s times that call for true action.”
