In 2026, in what will be the 20th season of UCF Football on campus, the Bounce House will see its most dramatic transformation yet with the debut of a brand new Roth Tower. The stadium structure will be more than double the size of the existing tower while adding a plethora of luxury amenities, giving UCF a true Power Four-caliber setup.
The project is a reality thanks to $90M in funding from Orange County's Tourist Development Tax.
Prior to the groundbreaking ceremony, UCF AD Terry Mohajir talked about the historic day and what is yet to come.
Terry, so this has been a culmination of a lot of hard work over the last couple of years. What does it mean to actually have this project start and get some shovels in the ground and start working on it?
"Well, to your point, we have a lot of people that have been involved to get to this point. University leadership, we've had a lot, it was a great collaboration with the Athletic Department and University leadership. President Cartwright allowed us to go forward with pursuing these funds and this grant with the Tourism Development Council and we were able to get it with fierce competition.
"This is great because this is going to help level set our athletics program and the community, but also it's going to create a lot of tourism. We already are a huge player in Orlando for tourism and I think this is just going to enhance it even more."
So what can fans expect when this tower is finished?
"Well, you can see the flags. We put the flags up there on both sides. That's where the tower, from the north to south, will go to. So I think people are going to see definitely an overhaul in the whole look of this stadium. And I think fans are going to be able to enjoy premium products. I was just saying earlier that your biggest competition nowadays is your 80-inch and 70-inch screen TVs, so you have to provide really awesome premium products for people to experience college football live as opposed to being in their house because a lot of people don't want to deal with some of the travel and stuff.
"So we're doing that and I think year-round programming for this facility, it's just not seven home games a year. We're going to have lecture series. If you're a premium product person that owns a premium product in the stadium, you're going to be a part of a social membership that's going to allow for monthly programming as well. So I think that's going to be a little different than other people around the country.
"This is going to be one of the bigger event spaces in eastern Orlando. I believe that we're going to have a lot of people that will want to rent it, maybe for weddings, lecture series, all kinds of different things. So I think it's a really good opportunity for us."
What will next season look like in terms of the construction progress? I know you just pointed out the flags. The existing Rod Tower will remain intact during next season?
"Yeah, so I think by next season, we already started a little bit of the process. You see all the fencing outside. You're going to see this shell on both the north side and the south side of the tower. So obviously the main tower, Roth Tower, will still be in full use. After the 2025 season, Barton Malow, which is our construction partner, will repurpose the entire tower and will cantilever out to the west. So I think we'll be ready for the 2026 season."
Terry, having premium seating like this, do you expect this might help draw other sporting events during other times of the year?
"Yeah, we were going to host the bowl game, again, the Cure Bowl. We hosted that last year, but we weren't able to do it because they need full facilities for the tower. And we weren't able to do that this year. But we're also still hosting the Hula Bowl. And we'd like to explore a concert, maybe one or two a year. And we've hosted some derby functions and all kinds of stuff. So yeah, we want this to be programmed more than just seven times a year."
It's been an exciting past week. And this is just more adding on to it. What is the excitement level with fans right now?
"We're trying to keep top of mind, man. UCF, we want to keep in the news. That's what we're trying to do, keep top of mind. So it's exciting. I think any time that you can feel the momentum. I think people are really excited about our new coach. I think about some of the personnel that we're bringing back. And I think it just all works together. And keeping top of mind with good news, and obviously can't make everybody happy, but we believe we're in the right direction.
"And this is a crazy time in college athletics. I just got back from Big 12 meetings with all my AD colleagues. We're still learning about what's coming up in the new revshare era. And I think Scott Frost, Coach Frost, is also learning as he settles back in the chair, the head coaching chair. We're just trying to navigate through a lot of things right now."
Terry, you mentioned that with the House Settlement and the revenue sharing, how much additional money do you guys feel like a project like this can maybe help in that situation?
"Well, that's why we chose this. Because of all the funding that we were trying to receive, the tower was the most important. Because this is probably the best piece of real estate we have in the athletic department. And it's going to help level set. We almost pay for the entire project with the grant money. So everything is additive. Every dollar that you make, the stadium still has a debt service. Every dollar you make on top of what you're already paying is additive to your budget."
How important was it to get a Power Four level facility? That was going to be very difficult to do without this TDT money.
"Yes, no doubt about it. And that was the pitch. It took about nine months to get this done. And we had a lot of people involved, as I mentioned, from the university and our athletic department was tremendous in pursuing. We were very creative and we were very determined and had a lot of conversations over a nine-month period.
"But we knew that if we could get a head start, because going out and raising the money I think would have been possible, but it's just harder because then you have to use most of that money to pay for the debt service. And now your budget is... Some of these athletic departments across the country, they're paying almost $18 million in debt service a year, and that just takes away from what you're trying to do to build.
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, so we've got to play the long game here. It's trying to reduce your debt and putting every dollar that you possibly can into the operating and personnel, and building new facilities to compete at a very high level is what this will do."
Terry, what about the Gateway Project? I know that's still kind of ongoing.
"This is the first phase of the Gateway Project. You'll see the field that's closest to the Roth building in Wayne Densch, we'll start putting a parking lot and we'll start building the promenade from Kenneth G. Dixon Way, it's not Orion anymore, it's Kenneth Dixon Way, all the way to the spine of the tower. You'll see some of that. We've still got a little ways to go on funding for the operations building, but this is a very planned and intentional way we started this, and this is the first way.
"Having the tower will help us with some fundraising will be essential."
What is your favorite design element of the new Roth Tower?
"I think every part of this, we have really been intentional about how our fans use the facility and what they like, and being indigenous to Florida and this region is really important. So I think the Sky Suites, we call them Sky Suites, they're like Topgolf-type bays. That's the open-air concept. Basically you're taking the field cabanas and putting them up there.
"I think the club space is going to be fantastic, and then we also have outdoor clubs. So on game day, it'll be completely used for the game experience, but on any given day, if you wanted to have five to seven events going on in there, you could do that because the way that we had this segmented, we were really intentional, and I think this is going to be just a fantastic opportunity for our community, and our premium seat holders."
Terry, have you been contacted by other schools and athletic departments about the idea of working with the community for tourism money to use to help in those kinds of situations?
"You know, this is my third school that I've done this at, and it gets a little bigger, and not only have I done it, we've done it in Boca Raton, we did it in Jonesboro, Arkansas, we did it here. So it's not one of the first questions I asked when I got to UCF, is there any type of, we call them hotel tax, you know, for tourism. Some schools, the states have helped build stadiums, but I don't recall anybody receiving this type of grant across the country.
"So we're very proud, and we're very excited, and a lot of the commissioners and Mayor Demings should be here today, and so we're very excited to shake their hand and tell them thank you again."
Will the 2017 National Champions signage remain in some form on the stadium?
"It'll be there. It'll be there somehow, some way, we'll get it there. It won't look exactly like that, but it'll definitely be there somewhere. You know what, we're going to do something a little different. We're going to make it a little smaller so we have room to have more. We can't make them that big every time. We don't want to just have one, right?"
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