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"Raising the Stakes" - UCF Future article
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Raising the stakes

Will improved athletic facilities boost UCF to the top?
By ASHLEY BURNS

Published: Thursday, December 2, 2004

When it comes to athletic facilities, UCF evokes a quaint feeling.

The UCF Arena isn't exactly a shining example of a powerful basketball venue. Jay Bergman Field is definitely one of the nicer baseball stadiums in the state of Florida, but its seating capacity doesn't rival the Rose Bowl. The UCF Soccer Complex is sufficient for its host teams and the UCF Softball Complex at least gives the Knights a place to play.

But the quaint feeling of small-conference teams and small-conference facilities are about to give way.

Over the next two years, UCF's athletic facilities will undergo a whirlwind of changes that are expected to propel all UCF sports into the national spotlight.

The change coincides with the Knights' all-sport transition to Conference USA next fall. The conference switch marks the first time in UCF athletics history that all sports will be competing under the same conference umbrella.

The move to C-USA was one of the first and many goals of UCF Athletic Director Steve Orsini and the numerous new facilities and upgrades are the second wave of his master plan of bringing UCF into the forefront of college athletics.

"This is something that is going to satisfy the needs of the university, and, yes, it is going to benefit the athletics programs," Orsini said of the planned athletic region. "This is land that was set aside for athletics, and athletics has partnered with the university to develop what helps the students, and we get a wonderful convocation center. It will be attractive for students to come to UCF and it will be attractive for student-athletes to come to UCF."

Among the new buildings are four new dorms, which will house 2,000 total beds, three parking garages and a retail complex. The athletics association is also donating the old Wayne Densch buildings to the school's R.O.T.C. program.

"The university is behind us because this is what the university needs," Orsini said. "That's really important. We're adding more retail because the Student Union retail is overflowing. We're adding more parking as we put more people on campus to live so we don't tax the rest of the parking, which is already taxed as far as the demand."

Perhaps the biggest upgrade being added to the campus is a new convocation center, which will be the new home of UCF's men's and women's basketball teams.

The seating in the convocation center will be ideal for events such as graduation or campus-sponsored concerts, but the improvements are not being made specifically for basketball.

"We decided to go with a capacity that doesn't meet athletic needs, but the commencement services needs," Orsini said. "Right now, that's the biggest demand. We wish it was for basketball, but we're trying to get the crowds.

Orsini admits that the rest of the expansions and new facilities will be very attractive for hosting NCAA Tournament regional events, but the landscape of college basketball has changed in that only full-sized arenas can meet the needs of NCAA basketball.

Added Orsini: "We're not going to build another 18,000- to 20,000-seat arena in Orlando. We don't need that."

And an 18,000-seat arena would definitely not be ideal for UCF basketball. Both the men's and women's programs are growing by leaps and bounds with their success on the court, but attendance increases are not following as quickly.

The men and women have already played one home game this season and the undefeated men drew just 776 in their Dungeon opener. The women had only 207 in the stands for their 2004-05 home debut.

The overall project is being broken down into three phases, which would call for final completion of the convocation center some time before basketball begins in 2007. Each phase is being taken care of through bonds and donations, the latest of which being a $2 million gift from Sonja and Tony Nicholson for the football program's new field house.

The indoor practice facility will be open in the spring just in time for Florida's typically bleak summer weather.

The problem, though, is universal acceptance by UCF students and alumni, as well as local Orlando residents of this new mutually beneficial project. New facilities bring high price tags and also higher expectations for the teams and the fans. Last season, every UCF sport averaged attendance far below each venue's capacity.

But it's the NCAA Regional events that Orsini hopes will attract the fans to put in those seats. Hosting these events for baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball and track would give each team an advantage they've never had: home field in the NCAA Tournaments.

"It would really make us attractive," Orsini said of luring NCAA events to UCF. "The only thing we lack now isn't the field quality, it's the capacity. We'd be attractive for softball because we're building more than enough than what it would take to host a softball NCAA Tournament event."

Softball will see the biggest immediate change, as the team's current field will completely disappear within days of the last pitch of this upcoming season. However, the program will have a brand new stadium to call home when the Knights open the 2006 season.

Baseball is not a part of the three phases, but the program will see major improvements to Jay Bergman Field in the next few years as the money is raised.

"We're in a fundraising mode to expand the capacity of the baseball stadium," Orsini said. "We love what we have, but it was actually built to expand. Now we just have to come up with the funds for doing that."

Jay Bergman Field currently seats approximately 2,000 fans, and the stadium's expansion will eventually push the capacity even higher so UCF could host a NCAA Regional event. The optimism behind this expansion is a huge boost for the baseball program and its recruiting, but it also rests on the hopes that people will fill those extra seats.

Also under way is a brand new boathouse at Lake Pickett for the women's rowing team.

"We really like this plan," Orsini said. "This plan accommodates new or improved facilities for every one of our sports."

<a href='http://www.ucfnews.com/news/818532.html?page=1' target='_blank'>Link to article</a>
12-04-2004 11:31 AM
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