The South Florida Bulls football team will open the 2026 season in a 35,000 seat on-campus stadium that has a $350 million dollar price tag. The Bulls are presently members of the American Athletic Conference but the goal is to get to a Power 5 conference they have been in talks with both the Big 12 and the ACC about future membership.

According to the Tampa Bay Times – The University of South Florida board of trustees voted Tuesday to authorize $200 million in debt to build a 35,000-seat stadium north of the practice facilities. The other $140 million will come from various sources: $50 million in donations through the school’s private fundraising arm, the USF Foundation; $31 million from the capital improvement trust fund (which generally pays for facilities through student fees); and $59 million from other funds, including the sale of broadband equipment and licenses.

No public money or tax dollars are included in the budget.

The stadium is nice but the key to the future is winning on tyhe field and this will be the first season of new head coach who was the talk of college football last season as the offensive coordinator for Tennessee one of the most innovative and productive scoring machines in the SEC and the nation. Coming off a 1-11 season without a win in the AAC last season coasting Jeff Scott his job as the head coach.

Todd Orlando, the defensive coordinator has been working the transfer portal for players and it looks promising.

In the end this will come down winning on the field and the pressure is on to produce.