It’s been a long time coming, but the University of South Florida football team will soon have a shot at a true home field advantage.
In just under 500 days, the Bulls are scheduled to play the first game in their on-campus football stadium, about 12 miles northeast of their current home at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
USF Athletics showed off construction progress on Wednesday, most visible in the growing skeleton of a steel structure.
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CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins pointed out key amenities as workers smoothed over concrete poured at 2 a.m. earlier that morning.
Higgins emphasized the student experience as a guiding force behind the over $400 million project.
“Here at USF, it all starts with the students,” Higgins said.
In addition to a dedicated section for over 8,000 students, the building also has a steel beam bearing 5,000 student signatures.
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 of Florida.
Rising directly adjacent to the stadium, the Tampa General Hospital Center for Academic Excellence will serve as the football team’s headquarters and as a general hub for student-athletes.
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.
"Anything and everything that our football student-athletes need to be successful will be located in that center," Higgins said.
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Last November, then-head coach Alex Golesh boasted that the university spared no expenses with the stadium complex.
Indeed, since the 2025 spring semester, the project’s sticker price has shot up from $348 million to $407 million. Financing is coming from capital gifts and a $200 million debt, to be repaid over two decades to the USF Financing Corporation.
The investment comes as USF’s administration sharpens its focus on sports, hiring Higgins as its inaugural CEO of Athletics in Sept. 2025.
USF is currently a member of the top-tier mid-major American Athletic Conference.
However, in a February conversation with Florida Matters: Live and Local, USF President Moez Limayem suggested that an invitation to a Power 4 conference is not a remote possibility.
As the Florida summer gets underway, workers face long days in the sun to finish construction in time for Sept. 2027's kick-off against the University of Louisville.
GMF Steel Group is a Lakeland-based contractor working on the stadium project.
Spokesperson Sara Taylor said GMF is taking precautions to protect its over 50 ironworkers from the extreme heat.
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"We're very, very big on hydration," Taylor said. "They have a lot of electrolyte packages as well to make sure they're staying hydrated."
Taylor also said the complex should stand up against the unpredictable Florida weather.
“That’s why we build in steel, because it’s better for the environment,” Taylor said. “It lasts longer than any traditional foundation piece.”
And Taylor echoed Higgins’ words about student involvement — several USF alumni are working on the project.
"We've 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," Taylor said.
