{"id":279582,"date":"2026-05-21T15:28:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279582\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:28:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:28:44","slug":"progress-report-usfs-new-on-campus-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279582\/","title":{"rendered":"Progress report: USF\u2019s new on-campus stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a long time coming, but the University of South Florida football team will soon have a true home-field advantage.<\/p>\n

In just under 500 days, the Bulls are scheduled to play the first game in their on-campus stadium, about 12 miles northeast of their current home, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.<\/p>\n

USF Athletics showed off construction progress Wednesday, most visible in the growing skeleton of a steel structure.<\/p>\n

CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins pointed out key amenities as workers smoothed over concrete poured at 2 o\u2019clock that morning.<\/p>\n

Higgins emphasized the student experience as a guiding force behind the $407 million project.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere at USF, it all starts with the students,\u201d Higgins said.<\/p>\n

In addition to a dedicated section for over 8,000 students, the structure includes a steel beam bearing 5,000 student signatures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

USF Athletics CEO Rob Higgins speaks to reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The stadium is planned to seat 35,000 fans in an open-ended bowl design featuring a field-level club section, premium suites and the largest rooftop bar in the state.<\/p>\n

Rising adjacent to the stadium, the Tampa General Hospital Center for Academic Excellence will serve as the team\u2019s headquarters and a general hub for student-athletes.<\/p>\n

The 150,000-square-foot facility also features a state-of-the-art weight room, sports medicine clinic, a barbershop and a DJ recording studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything and everything that our football student-athletes need to be successful will be located in that center,\u201d Higgins said.<\/p>\n

Last November, then-head coach Alex Golesh boasted that the university spared no expenses with the stadium complex.<\/p>\n

Since the 2025 spring semester, the project\u2019s sticker price has shot up from $348 million. Financing is coming from capital gifts and a $200 million debt, to be repaid over two decades to the USF Financing Corp.<\/p>\n

The investment comes as USF\u2019s administration sharpens its focus on sports, hiring Higgins as its inaugural CEO of Athletics in September.<\/p>\n

USF teams play in the American Conference, which is known as a mid-major or part of the Group of 6.<\/p>\n

However, in a February conversation with Florida Matters: Live & Local, USF president Moez Limayem suggested that an invitation to a Power 4 conference is not a remote possibility.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The latest rendering of the USF stadium includes premium suites, 40 \u201cliving room\u201d style suites, a press box and a rooftop patio. Image provided.<\/p>\n

As the summer gets underway, workers face long days in the sun to finish construction in time for the September 2027 opener against the University of Louisville.<\/p>\n

GMF Steel Group is a Lakeland-based contractor working on the stadium project. Spokesperson Sara Taylor said GMF is taking precautions to protect its 50-plus ironworkers from the extreme heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very, very big on hydration,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cThey have a lot of electrolyte packages as well to make sure they\u2019re staying hydrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor also said the complex should stand up against the unpredictable Florida weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we build in steel, because it\u2019s better for the environment,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt lasts longer than any traditional foundation piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Taylor echoed Higgins\u2019 words about student involvement \u2014 several USF alumni are working on the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had several interns, full-time individuals who have been studying at USF and now work at GMF, and they get to put their fingerprints on this job,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

The latest rendering of the USF stadium includes premium suites, 40 \u201cliving room\u201d style suites, a press box and a rooftop patio.<\/p>\n

USF Athletics CEO Rob Higgins speaks to reporters on May 20, 2026 during a brief tour of the progress on the on-campus football stadium<\/p>\n

Officials from the University of South Florida gave news outlets a look at the progress made on the on-campus football stadium on Sycamore Drive on May 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

Phoebe Martel is a summer news intern at WUSF, the bay area\u2019s NPR affiliate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a long time coming, but the University of South Florida football team will soon have a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-279582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}