A Bold, New Era

Many of those individuals were in attendance, including philanthropists Carol and Frank Morsani. They and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik made $5 million gifts that helped kick off the fundraising effort two years ago.

Also on hand were John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital, which gave a transformative $25 million gift in 2023 to create the Tampa General Hospital Center for Athletic Excellence; Richard Skaggs, chair of USF Federal Credit Union, which gave $6 million to name Champions Way, the promenade that will lead student-athletes and fans into the stadium; and members of the Richard Gonzmart and Oscar Horton families, who each contributed $1 million through their family foundations.

They were just a handful of the numerous people credited by Law during her opening remarks. She also expressed appreciation to others who toiled behind the scenes. “I must tell you, we have a tremendous stadium steering committee and an incredible number of staff members who have spent countless hours bringing this project to fruition,” she said. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

In closing, Law directed special gratitude to USF Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford, a longtime proponent of the stadium: “Thank you for your steadfast vision, thank you for inspiring us, thank you for being instrumental in making all of these things happen. Because of your leadership and support, we are here today.”

Weatherford shared a little-known story about the stadium that elicited laughter from the audience. Three years ago, he said, he spoke at the groundbreaking for the Porter Family Indoor Performance Facility and announced that the process would begin to design and build an on-campus stadium.

“That caught everybody in the audience by surprise, including our most rabid Bulls fans,” he said with a smile. “And rightfully so, because it probably felt like it came out of nowhere. But I’m going to let everybody in on a little bit of a secret. In that moment when we made that announcement, we had zero plans to actually build a football stadium.”

It was a bold move, but ultimately paid off. “I just have to say that sometimes in life, you just have to speak things into existence,” he added. “And I’m proud of this university for speaking this into existence, because we knew if we said we would do it — if the Bulls put their name on it — we knew we would stand up and deliver. And we have.”

USF Vice President for Athletics Michael Kelly was quick to join Law in acknowledging Weatherford’s efforts: “There’s a saying that ‘Where there’s a will there’s a way’ — where there’s a Will Weatherford there’s a way,” he said.

Kelly shared his own deep connection to the stadium concept. As a graduate student at St. Thomas University in 1993, though he had never even been to Tampa, he completed an assignment proposing that USF start a football program and build a stadium. He recalled that during his first stint at USF as associate athletic director (2001-2002), he talked about a possible stadium with his boss, Paul Griffin, later discussing it with inaugural football coach, Jim Leavitt, and the late Lee Roy Selmon, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend who eventually served as USF’s athletic director.

“(They) knew we were going to have this day someday, but it just wasn’t time yet,” Kelly said.

That time is now — and USF’s new women’s lacrosse team, which will play in the stadium, was there to share in the celebration.

“We’re all so excited to be here,” said sophomore Claire Nottoli of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, surrounded by teammates and head coach Mindy McCord. “And honestly, you don’t get an opportunity like this at any other school. I think that really speaks to our leadership. It’s very empowering as a female athlete — this is our stadium, and we’re going to go out there and build a foundation for our program.”

Recent graduate Will Livesay, who ran track for USF, noted the magnitude of the moment. “As a student, I’ve always been passionate about sports,” he said. “And I just wanted to be here to be part of USF history. I really love this university.”

That love and pride is shared by USF Foundation CEO Jay Stroman, who helped lead the effort to bring a dream to fruition.

“The USF community deserves a state-of-the-art, on-campus stadium where we can welcome alumni and friends,” he said. “This will be so much more than a building. It will energize our community and showcase USF’s culture of achieving excellence in all forms.”