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USF Board of Trustees chairman announces ambition for on-campus stadium

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Published  September 8, 2021 6:11pm EDT
University of South Florida Bulls
FOX 13 News

USF breaks ground on indoor practice facility

The groundbreaking of USF’s indoor practice facility was overshadowed by University Chair of the Board Will Weatherford announcing it was time for USF to have an on-campus stadium.

TAMPA, Fla. - The groundbreaking for USF football's long-awaited indoor practice facility was going to just a be a nice photo op of all the university movers and shakers turning prop dirt to symbolically begin the 10-to-12-month project.

However, that took a backseat when the university’s board of trustees chairman dropped a bombshell.

"I'm just going to say it. I, for one, think the Bull Nation deserves to have a football stadium on this campus," Will Weatherford said to donors. "I'm here to tell you we're going to do it."

Weatherford didn't just say that to generate applause. This is something that's been thrown around as a legitimate possibility for some time.

FROM 2017: University of South Florida releases on-campus football stadium study results

"He's not just a fluff guy," USF coach Jeff Scott told reporters. "He's an action guy so for him to make that statement, he's already had a lot of conversations with the leadership here at the university ... for the last couple of months."

An on-campus stadium won't be happening anytime soon. In fact, campus leadership is unable to ballpark a timeline for a new stadium.

"There is some work to be done, particularly where you get with ground use, and where does that facility go," athletic director Michael Kelly said. "That's kind of undetermined at this point but obviously you speak things into existence and that's what we'll do as it relates to the stadium."

USF breaks ground on new indoor performance facility

Charley Belcher spent the morning with USF athletics ahead of their football home opener Saturday.

If and when an on-campus stadium does happen, it would work wonders, not just for football recruiting, but for overall student enrollment.

"When [students] are making decisions where they want to go to school, the ones that want to be a part of a campus that has an on-campus stadium and has gameday on campus, and all the festivities that come with that, they're choosing that before they come to school," Coach Scott said. "There's not another structure that you could build on this campus that will have the transformational effect that an on-campus stadium will."