The University of South Florida's board of trustees approved $407 million for a new 35,000-seat stadium and infrastructure. Project includes upgrades, with construction set for completion in time for 2027 football season opener. Funding sources detailed, project set to enhance campus experience.
USF render
A rendering of the inside of the finished stadium.
Construction on the University of South Florida's new on-campus football stadium in Tampa will soon ramp up significantly following the project's latest approval from the school's board of trustees.
In what USF President Rhea Law called a "red-letter" day for the university, the board on April 29, 2025, put its unanimous stamp of approval on spending $407 million for construction of a 35,000-seat stadium and an accompanying infrastructure project.
The approval enables construction to begin in earnest, the Tampa Bay Times reported, with the stadium set to be ready in time for the Bulls' 2027 season opener against the University of Louisville.
"It's a transformative moment for our university," said Will Weatherford, chair of the USF board, during the 20-minute virtual meeting. "It's about as big of a check as we're ever going to write for anything at the University of South Florida. I'm a believer in measuring twice and cutting once. I think our team has done a good job of measuring here and trying to build in all the contingencies that you possibly can for a project of this size and scale."
The final guaranteed maximum price tag includes $348.5 million in projected costs for the stadium and $47.9 million for what the Tampa school calls "east campus infrastructure" that includes utility and environmental investments, roadway plaza and walkway improvements, green-space development and security cameras.
An owner's contingency (a reserve set aside to cover unexpected costs) totaling $10.5 million also was approved, the Times noted.
Earlier, in June 2023 USF trustees approved a $350 million projected cost for the new stadium. Since then, however, a number of design and structural upgrades totaling an additional $8.5 million have been added to allow for possible stadium capacity expansions in the future, a build-out of academic space in the facility, vertical expansion of the Tampa General Hospital Center for Athletic Excellence and enhanced locker room amenities, in addition to the general cost of goods increasing over the past two years.
"In order for us to move to hopefully where we want to go potentially, with a lot of [athletic conference] realignment conversations out there — maybe a super conference coming at the end of the day — we wanted to be able to add on to this stadium from a capacity standpoint and also a revenue standpoint," USF Foundation CEO Jay Stroman told the board.
Funding for the stadium includes $200 million in financing, which USF's Jennifer Condon, the school's chief financial officer, said "is conservatively invested in money market and one- to three-year treasury notes." Equity contributions totaling $140 million include $50 million in capital gifts, $31.6 million in a capital-improvement trust fund, and $59.5 million in various license sales, she added.
USF trustees also approved $47.9 million in infrastructure upgrades needed as the university continues to develop the east side of the Tampa campus.
In recent years, USF noted in a news release, the school has added several new facilities, such as the Judy Genshaft Honors College building and a student Health & Wellness Center. Among the planned enhancements will be a new lift station, water main and stormwater facility, in addition to improved roadways, walkways and lighting.
Construction to Become ‘Bull-ish' Late Spring 2025
Since the stadium's formal groundbreaking ceremony late last year, site preparation has been ongoing on the USF campus.
The project team will now move forward with additional clearing at the site in May 2025 before full construction picks up shortly thereafter, the Tampa newspaper reported.
According to USF Bulls Athletics Director Michael Kelly, the construction timeline calls for final inspections to be completed in April or early May of 2027, giving athletes and staffers "the entire summer to move into the facility" in time for that fall's USF Bulls football opener.
Site preparation by Manhattan Construction Co., an Oklahoma-based firm with an office in Tampa, one of three companies selected to manage the project, has been ongoing along the campus' eastern fringe since mid-February of 2025, according to the Times.
"The plan approved by the board of trustees represents another important milestone in the process to deliver a world-class stadium that the USF community and all of our supporters can enjoy for generations to come," Law said in a statement released by the school. "We are excited to see the construction take off on this iconic facility that will bring tens of thousands of fans to our campus, help build lifelong connections to USF and allow even more people to experience everything our university has to offer."
In a joint statement, Stroman and Kelly, the co-chairs of the stadium planning committee, said, "With our plans in place and construction preparations under way, we've officially entered the next chapter in delivering USF's on-campus stadium, set to open in 2027. This moment is the result of years of vision and planning. We are grateful for the passionate support of our donors, alumni, fans and the greater Tampa Bay area community. This stadium is being built by and for USF and we can't wait to take this next big step together."
Today's top stories
