can any UCF fans give me the rundown of the issues between the city & school. I have read that it is quite complicated/problematic. Can anyone give a little insight on that???

I can't provide an insider's level of detail, but I know the story.

Back in the mid 2000s, UCF was still playing home football games at the Citrus dump. The city had been working to obtain public funds to refurbish the stadium. It definitely needed it as the Capital One bowl turf fiasco showed. Anyways, the city believed it had finally acquired the funds they needed and basically told UCF football to basically find another place to play while the refurb was going on. UCF asked them to reschedule the refurb so most of the work would be done in the off-season. The city said no, and basically said "sorry about your luck". Which was odd since UCF was the only permanent tenant of the Citrus dump. So UCF decided they would build an on-campus stadium. So they basically gave the city a big middle finger, and created the BHNS. The city was pretty unhappy that they had lost the monies associated with UCF's rent and the gate money. The two haven't had much to do with each other ever since. Others might have more details, but that's the basic background.

Between Orlando? No problems, the Mayor is a UCF Alum. He enjoys throwing us parades and dubbed a Black and Gold day in Orlando. Its been great and full support from the city. We did have a hiccup when we were trying to get money from the City. We were trying to build our on Campus stadium. But that's understandable, looking back on it. We ended up raising the money completely on our own and the stadium is slowly growing and getting renovated.

The majority of the issues we have are with Florida Citrus Sports. The company that owns the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium and the 2 bowl games Russell Athletic and Capital One Bowls. This goes back to the Citrus Bowl being a dump for a really long time and acting like we are lucky to play in that stadium. Thats what forced us to build our own On-Campus Stadium. There were also rumors that Florida Citrus Sports was trying to block the Cure Bowl from being established. Now the two have come to some agreement and Cure Bowl will be played at the Citrus Bowl instead of BHNS. After that change, its been able to get approved without any more road blocks.

(04-18-2014 11:23 AM)Knightsweat Wrote:  I can't provide an insider's level of detail, but I know the story.

Back in the mid 2000s, UCF was still playing home football games at the Citrus dump. The city had been working to obtain public funds to refurbish the stadium. It definitely needed it as the Capital One bowl turf fiasco showed. Anyways, the city believed it had finally acquired the funds they needed and basically told UCF football to basically find another place to play while the refurb was going on. UCF asked them to reschedule the refurb so most of the work would be done in the off-season. The city said no, and basically said "sorry about your luck". Which was odd since UCF was the only permanent tenant of the Citrus dump. So UCF decided they would build an on-campus stadium. So they basically gave the city a big middle finger, and created the BHNS. The city was pretty unhappy that they had lost the monies associated with UCF's rent and the gate money. The two haven't had much to do with each other ever since. Others might have more details, but that's the basic background.

Florida Citrus Sports is the one who owns the Stadium not the City.

(04-18-2014 11:26 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  

(04-18-2014 11:23 AM)Knightsweat Wrote:  I can't provide an insider's level of detail, but I know the story.

Back in the mid 2000s, UCF was still playing home football games at the Citrus dump. The city had been working to obtain public funds to refurbish the stadium. It definitely needed it as the Capital One bowl turf fiasco showed. Anyways, the city believed it had finally acquired the funds they needed and basically told UCF football to basically find another place to play while the refurb was going on. UCF asked them to reschedule the refurb so most of the work would be done in the off-season. The city said no, and basically said "sorry about your luck". Which was odd since UCF was the only permanent tenant of the Citrus dump. So UCF decided they would build an on-campus stadium. So they basically gave the city a big middle finger, and created the BHNS. The city was pretty unhappy that they had lost the monies associated with UCF's rent and the gate money. The two haven't had much to do with each other ever since. Others might have more details, but that's the basic background.

Florida Citrus Sports is the one who owns the Stadium not the City.

FCS doesn't own the stadium. The City does. FCS runs the college football and bowl operations of the stadium, though, and does have a say-so in what events can and cannot happen there.

From their website: http://www.fcsports.com/about.aspx

Quote:Florida Citrus Sports does not own or operate the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. The facility is owned by the City of Orlando and operated by Orlando Venues. FCSports DOES NOT manage any of the following events held at the stadium: Orlando City Soccer, the Super Bowl of Motorsports, Supercross, International Soccer or the FHSAA high school football championships. For information on these and other events at the stadium visit http://www.orlandovenues.net.

(04-18-2014 11:26 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  

(04-18-2014 11:23 AM)Knightsweat Wrote:  I can't provide an insider's level of detail, but I know the story.

Back in the mid 2000s, UCF was still playing home football games at the Citrus dump. The city had been working to obtain public funds to refurbish the stadium. It definitely needed it as the Capital One bowl turf fiasco showed. Anyways, the city believed it had finally acquired the funds they needed and basically told UCF football to basically find another place to play while the refurb was going on. UCF asked them to reschedule the refurb so most of the work would be done in the off-season. The city said no, and basically said "sorry about your luck". Which was odd since UCF was the only permanent tenant of the Citrus dump. So UCF decided they would build an on-campus stadium. So they basically gave the city a big middle finger, and created the BHNS. The city was pretty unhappy that they had lost the monies associated with UCF's rent and the gate money. The two haven't had much to do with each other ever since. Others might have more details, but that's the basic background.

Florida Citrus Sports is the one who owns the Stadium not the City.

City owns it. And the city wasn't exactly an ally in the whole affair with FCS. It hasn't been until recently that the city has been "UCF Friendly". I think the whole ordeal is mostly in the past though.

(04-18-2014 11:24 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  Between Orlando? No problems, the Mayor is a UCF Alum. He enjoys throwing us parades and dubbed a Black and Gold day in Orlando. Its been great and full support from the city. We did have a hiccup when we were trying to get money from the City. We were trying to build our on Campus stadium. But that's understandable, looking back on it. We ended up raising the money completely on our own and the stadium is slowly growing and getting renovated.

The majority of the issues we have are with Florida Citrus Sports. The company that owns the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium and the 2 bowl games Russell Athletic and Capital One Bowls. This goes back to the Citrus Bowl being a dump for a really long time and acting like we are lucky to play in that stadium. Thats what forced us to build our own On-Campus Stadium. There were also rumors that Florida Citrus Sports was trying to block the Cure Bowl from being established. Now the two have come to some agreement and Cure Bowl will be played at the Citrus Bowl instead of BHNS. After that change, its been able to get approved without any more road blocks.

Buddy Dyer is a major supporter of UCF lately, but he's a Gator (law school - Brown undergrad), not a Knight. He's not a UCF alum at all.

As for the friction, well, it's water under the bridge at this point. The City and FCS believed the stadium reconstruction really couldn't be done satisfactorily in the 6-7 month window of the football offseason. UCF was also going to be charged more rent IIRC and have no place to play for two years (although the current reconstruction plan is much larger in scope than what it was a decade ago and it should be mostly done in 10 months -meaning only one season would have been relocated). That is what sent UCF scrambling to find a solution. There just aren't any other acceptable venues in the vicinity, so UCF came up with the plan to build their own on-campus stadium. UCf does pretty well in that deal and the debt service requires UCF to hold six home games per season to cover, so there was never seen to be an opportunity to go back to the CB.

That said, FCS has approached UCF about some games and UCF has shot them down, mostly because UCF is the one being stubborn and not wanting to split the gate. UCF wants teams to come to BHNS.

I wouldn't necessarily say there's a ton of friction between the City/FCS and UCF, other than both groups want to make money off of UCF football and UCF doesn't want to share.

Oh, whoops (I could have swore our rent went to FCS)

I defer to CommuterBob

Here is a few issues if we are talking about the break away from the city stadium to OCS.

1). Wanted us to relocate for a few years. Part of the reason we had to push out an erector style stadium fast to get it done by the opener.

2). Can't remember the exact details but they wanted us to pay for some of the upgrade costs and a large increase of rent.

3). We couldn't even get priority game times if the FCS scheduled a game like the Florida Classic. Imagine being the lone tenant and we can't even get a priority time slot.

4). Guys like Steve Sloan(old AD) used to let UCF take it, but lucky for us we moved on by that point or we would be still small time playing in the citrus bowl. I believe that moron paid for most of the scoreboard that was still in the citrus bowl. I doubt we got revenue for ads after we left b/c he couldn't think past playing golf.

Speaking of the stadium......

when are they gonna increase the capacity?

(04-18-2014 02:54 PM)john01992 Wrote:  Speaking of the stadium......

when are they gonna increase the capacity?

I think the plan is expanding the luxury suites since we have a waiting list and adding a 3rd level on the east side (worst side to bake in the sun). Next year the open bar will be added to the east side of the stadium. I think they need to get 2 nice HD boards and upgraded sound. Then at least replace the bottom and top level fencing with concrete or something. We definitely have items that need to look visually more appealing.

Fans and donors at UCF had been pushing for an on-campus stadium since the late 90s and early 2000s. UCF's President, Dr. Hitt, always had the vision of one day having an on-campus stadium but his stance on it was that we'd stay downtown until there was a reason to leave. He loved the relationship between the City of Orlando and UCF. It was indeed a working partnership. UCF would cover rent and expenses, with Orlando covering security and allowing free parking for students.

With increased attendance following our journey up the conference ranks, former AD Steve Orsini tried to negotiate a share of the advertising revenue from the stadium, primarily from the new video board. Florida Citrus Sports, a group that still rubs a lot of UCF people the wrong way, told Orsini that the value of UCF fans in terms of their advertising revenue share was nothing. Zero. That didn't sit too well with Dr. Hitt and that's what primarily got the ball rolling.

At that time, while Buddy Dyer (UF grad) was mayor of Orlando, Richard Crotty (UCF grad) was mayor of Orange County. Orange County is the one who charges the tourist tax so Dyer knew all renovations to the Citrus Bowl would have to go through Crotty first. With talk of UCF moving to their own on-campus facility, Crotty figured the tax money would be better served building the Orlando Magic a new arena to keep them in Orlando. After all, the Citrus Bowl had just recently been passed on by the BCS for a BCS Bowl and the ACC for its title game. This was an awesome time in terms of UCF alums having the city by its balls.

Dyer had a goal of renovating the Citrus Bowl, building a new arena for the Magic, and building a new performing arts center. He stressed that the Citrus Bowl was a better option for UCF than an on-campus stadium. In reality, FCS and the city didn't think UCF could afford to build its own stadium, let alone build it within two years after announcing it. Dr. Hitt, on the other hand, figured both parties could do what they wanted. UCF would build its own stadium and Orlando could renovate the Citrus Bowl. He didn't think one needed to necessarily hinge on the other. FCS, who was the one who belittled UCF fans, never stopped using UCF as a political selling point as to why they needed the funds to renovate the stadium. Funny how things work. Pimp UCF and its fans to appeal to your audience when you need to but ****-talk them behind close doors.

For perspective, UCF had lost its last 4 games of the 2003 season, lost all 11 games of the 2004 season, and lost the first 2 games of the 2005 season. The perception of the program wasn't necessarily at an all-time high around town. But Dr. Hitt always had the vision of what UCF could become and never let up. And with a growing number of powerful UCF alums both locally and in the state legislature, UCF was in a position to take advantage of the situation. State Reps David Simmons and Lee Constantine (both UCF grads) helped make the point that UCF was much more important than the Citrus Bowl.

During a road game at Marshall, their AD showed UCF's AD a new endzone expansion they had recently completed. Our AD was shocked to hear they completed it for about $2.5 million. This led to more research and pitches which eventually led to UCF's official announcement that they would build an on-campus stadium. Dr. Hitt no longer wanted to be a tenant. FCS had the gall to still try to woo UCF back. Backhandedly, of course, saying that UCF playing in a nice and renovated Citrus Bowl would be better than the city having two mediocre football stadiums.

Fast-forward to now. UCF's on-campus stadium has done wonders for the program. Since announcing that a stadium would be built on UCF's campus and through the past 7 seasons of playing in it, UCF has won 4 Division Titles, 3 Conference Titles, played in 6 bowl games including a BCS Bowl, and finished in the Top 25 twice including a Top 10 finish. How many of each accomplishment did UCF have prior to the stadium announcement? Zero.

Between 2007 and 2010, Dr. Hitt managed to build a football stadium, a basketball arena, and a performing arts center on UCF's campus. On the other hand, Buddy Dyer has completed just one since announcing his goal nearly 10 years ago. This should give you an idea as to the political clout Dr. Hitt has in Central Florida.

This quote from a 2011 article in the Orlando Sentinel said it best:

"Now, it seems, the city needs UCF more than UCF needs the city."

(04-18-2014 03:30 PM)St. H. Gink Wrote:  Fans and donors at UCF had been pushing for an on-campus stadium since the late 90s and early 2000s. UCF's President, Dr. Hitt, always had the vision of one day having an on-campus stadium but his stance on it was that we'd stay downtown until there was a reason to leave. He loved the relationship between the City of Orlando and UCF. It was indeed a working partnership. UCF would cover rent and expenses, with Orlando covering security and allowing free parking for students.

With increased attendance following our journey up the conference ranks, former AD Steve Orsini tried to negotiate a share of the advertising revenue from the stadium, primarily from the new video board. Florida Citrus Sports, a group that still rubs a lot of UCF people the wrong way, told Orsini that the value of UCF fans in terms of their advertising revenue share was nothing. Zero. That didn't sit too well with Dr. Hitt and that's what primarily got the ball rolling.

At that time, while Buddy Dyer (UF grad) was mayor of Orlando, Richard Crotty (UCF grad) was mayor of Orange County. Orange County is the one who charges the tourist tax so Dyer knew all renovations to the Citrus Bowl would have to go through Crotty first. With talk of UCF moving to their own on-campus facility, Crotty figured the tax money would be better served building the Orlando Magic a new arena to keep them in Orlando. After all, the Citrus Bowl had just recently been passed on by the BCS for a BCS Bowl and the ACC for its title game. This was an awesome time in terms of UCF alums having the city by its balls.

Dyer had a goal of renovating the Citrus Bowl, building a new arena for the Magic, and building a new performing arts center. He stressed that the Citrus Bowl was a better option for UCF than an on-campus stadium. In reality, FCS and the city didn't think UCF could afford to build its own stadium, let alone build it within two years after announcing it. Dr. Hitt, on the other hand, figured both parties could do what they wanted. UCF would build its own stadium and Orlando could renovate the Citrus Bowl. He didn't think one needed to necessarily hinge on the other. FCS, who was the one who belittled UCF fans, never stopped using UCF as a political selling point as to why they needed the funds to renovate the stadium. Funny how things work. Pimp UCF and its fans to appeal to your audience when you need to but ****-talk them behind close doors.

For perspective, UCF had lost its last 4 games of the 2003 season, lost all 11 games of the 2004 season, and lost the first 2 games of the 2005 season. The perception of the program wasn't necessarily at an all-time high around town. But Dr. Hitt always had the vision of what UCF could become and never let up. And with a growing number of powerful UCF alums both locally and in the state legislature, UCF was in a position to take advantage of the situation. State Reps David Simmons and Lee Constantine (both UCF grads) helped make the point that UCF was much more important than the Citrus Bowl.

During a road game at Marshall, their AD showed UCF's AD a new endzone expansion they had recently completed. Our AD was shocked to hear they completed it for about $2.5 million. This led to more research and pitches which eventually led to UCF's official announcement that they would build an on-campus stadium. Dr. Hitt no longer wanted to be a tenant. FCS had the gall to still try to woo UCF back. Backhandedly, of course, saying that UCF playing in a nice and renovated Citrus Bowl would be better than the city having two mediocre football stadiums.

Fast-forward to now. UCF's on-campus stadium has done wonders for the program. Since announcing that a stadium would be built on UCF's campus and through the past 7 seasons of playing in it, UCF has won 4 Division Titles, 3 Conference Titles, played in 6 bowl games including a BCS Bowl, and finished in the Top 25 twice including a Top 10 finish. How many of each accomplishment did UCF have prior to the stadium announcement? Zero.

Between 2007 and 2010, Dr. Hitt managed to build a football stadium, a basketball arena, and a performing arts center on UCF's campus. On the other hand, Buddy Dyer has completed just one since announcing his goal nearly 10 years ago. This should give you an idea as to the political clout Dr. Hitt has in Central Florida.

This quote from a 2011 article in the Orlando Sentinel said it best:

"Now, it seems, the city needs UCF more than UCF needs the city."

Very detailed. Thank you for posting it. I lived in the central Florida area for 40 years but moved in 1999 and it is good to hear some of the local issues there.

(04-18-2014 11:35 AM)CommuterBob Wrote:  

(04-18-2014 11:24 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  Between Orlando? No problems, the Mayor is a UCF Alum. He enjoys throwing us parades and dubbed a Black and Gold day in Orlando. Its been great and full support from the city. We did have a hiccup when we were trying to get money from the City. We were trying to build our on Campus stadium. But that's understandable, looking back on it. We ended up raising the money completely on our own and the stadium is slowly growing and getting renovated.

The majority of the issues we have are with Florida Citrus Sports. The company that owns the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium and the 2 bowl games Russell Athletic and Capital One Bowls. This goes back to the Citrus Bowl being a dump for a really long time and acting like we are lucky to play in that stadium. Thats what forced us to build our own On-Campus Stadium. There were also rumors that Florida Citrus Sports was trying to block the Cure Bowl from being established. Now the two have come to some agreement and Cure Bowl will be played at the Citrus Bowl instead of BHNS. After that change, its been able to get approved without any more road blocks.

Buddy Dyer is a major supporter of UCF lately, but he's a Gator (law school - Brown undergrad), not a Knight. He's not a UCF alum at all.

Is he up for re-election soon?

People like Dyer and Hitt aren't where they are by having pissing matches and holding grudges. Most of UCF fans got their insights on the issues from Mike Bianchi. That should tell you all that you need to know.

The Medical School was a huge partnership that had UCF and the City at the table and the 10-15k student downtown Orlando campus will be an amazing new era for both as well.

(04-18-2014 11:23 AM)Knightsweat Wrote:  I can't provide an insider's level of detail, but I know the story.

Back in the mid 2000s, UCF was still playing home football games at the Citrus dump. The city had been working to obtain public funds to refurbish the stadium. It definitely needed it as the Capital One bowl turf fiasco showed. Anyways, the city believed it had finally acquired the funds they needed and basically told UCF football to basically find another place to play while the refurb was going on. UCF asked them to reschedule the refurb so most of the work would be done in the off-season. The city said no, and basically said "sorry about your luck". Which was odd since UCF was the only permanent tenant of the Citrus dump. So UCF decided they would build an on-campus stadium. So they basically gave the city a big middle finger, and created the BHNS. The city was pretty unhappy that they had lost the monies associated with UCF's rent and the gate money. The two haven't had much to do with each other ever since. Others might have more details, but that's the basic background.

It's worked out pretty well for UCF, while the Orlando is spending several hundred million dollars to host three bowl games.

(04-19-2014 09:26 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  

(04-18-2014 11:23 AM)Knightsweat Wrote:  I can't provide an insider's level of detail, but I know the story.

Back in the mid 2000s, UCF was still playing home football games at the Citrus dump. The city had been working to obtain public funds to refurbish the stadium. It definitely needed it as the Capital One bowl turf fiasco showed. Anyways, the city believed it had finally acquired the funds they needed and basically told UCF football to basically find another place to play while the refurb was going on. UCF asked them to reschedule the refurb so most of the work would be done in the off-season. The city said no, and basically said "sorry about your luck". Which was odd since UCF was the only permanent tenant of the Citrus dump. So UCF decided they would build an on-campus stadium. So they basically gave the city a big middle finger, and created the BHNS. The city was pretty unhappy that they had lost the monies associated with UCF's rent and the gate money. The two haven't had much to do with each other ever since. Others might have more details, but that's the basic background.

It's worked out pretty well for UCF, while the Orlando is spending several hundred million dollars to host three bowl games.

Oh, I agree. UCF has done well since the OCS was built. Most UCF fans jokingly thank the city for their negotiation skills, as it drocvve UCF to make the OCS decision that has changed everything for them.

(04-19-2014 12:50 PM)st932253 Wrote:  People like Dyer and Hitt aren't where they are by having pissing matches and holding grudges. Most of UCF fans got their insights on the issues from Mike Bianchi. That should tell you all that you need to know.

The Medical School was a huge partnership that had UCF and the City at the table and the 10-15k student downtown Orlando campus will be an amazing new era for both as well.

What is the timetable for the downtown UCF expansion? Does it coincide with the completion of the performing arts project?

(04-20-2014 09:37 AM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  

(04-19-2014 12:50 PM)st932253 Wrote:  People like Dyer and Hitt aren't where they are by having pissing matches and holding grudges. Most of UCF fans got their insights on the issues from Mike Bianchi. That should tell you all that you need to know.

The Medical School was a huge partnership that had UCF and the City at the table and the 10-15k student downtown Orlando campus will be an amazing new era for both as well.

What is the timetable for the downtown UCF expansion? Does it coincide with the completion of the performing arts project?

It more realistically would coincide with the never ending creative village project. Since 2008 Orlando has spent over a billion on Amwy, performing arts, creative village related items and now citrus bowl. Thank you everyone not from Orlando for your tourist dollars