UCF Stadium Naming Rights

[DawgPound]

Bright House Networks Acquires Naming Rights to UCF Football Stadium

Aug. 8, 2006

By Tom Evelyn

Bright House Networks has acquired naming rights to the University of Central Florida’s new football stadium slated to open next year, the university and cable provider announced today in an on-campus ceremony.

UCF has begun construction on “Bright House Stadium,†which is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2007 home opener against the University of Texas. According to the agreement, UCF will receive $15 million over 15 years for naming rights to the Golden Knights’ stadium.

“This generous support from our friends at Bright House Networks will help us build a first-class stadium on our campus that will attract the best student-athletes and provide an exciting college football experience for students, alumni and other fans,†UCF President John Hitt said.

“We are excited about announcing this new partnership between Bright House Networks and UCF because it demonstrates our commitment to the community, as well as to this university, which has  played such a pivotal role in Central Florida’s growth,†said J. Christian Fenger, president of Bright House Networks Central Florida Division. “As an on-campus sports venue, we believe Bright House Networks Stadium will become an important facility in this community and a symbol of our support for UCF’s leadership as one of the largest and most successful state universities in the country.â€Â

The 45,000-seat stadium will be in the intercollegiate athletics complex in the north end of the East Orlando campus. The complex includes the Convocation Center, which also is scheduled to be completed in fall 2007; the Nicholson Fieldhouse; the Wayne Densch Sports Center; other athletics fields; student housing; and retail space that will include restaurants and shops.

The estimated $47 million stadium is part of a total $60 million project that includes financing costs, reserve requirements, infrastructure, roads, parking and practice fields for football, soccer and baseball.

Construction and operation of the stadium will be funded through naming rights, revenues from suites and club seat leases, ticket and concessions sales, donations, corporate sponsorships and advertising. No public money or tuition will be used to build or run the stadium.

The university has raised about $29 million in private donations for the stadium, including Bright House Network’s support and sales of the 25 suites and 800 club seats. The suites and club seats have already sold out.

Bright House Networks is the region’s leading provider of home entertainment and information and serves more than 800,000 customers in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Brevard, Volusia, Flagler, Marion, Sumter and Lake counties. The company’s fiber-optic network offers digital cable, HDTV, digital video recorders, iCONTROL Video On Demand and Premium On Demand, digital phone and multiple high-speed Internet services.

Bright House Networks, which is owned by Advance/Newhouse Communications, also exclusively provides Central Florida News 13, the region’s only 24-hour local news channel.

UCF has played at the Florida Citrus Bowl stadium near downtown Orlando since the football team’s inaugural season in 1979. This past December, the Golden Knights hosted the inaugural Conference USA Championship at the Citrus Bowl. Nearly 52,000 fans attended.

UCF football tickets may be purchased by calling 407-UCF-1000. Visit ucfathletics.com and click on “Tickets†for more information or to buy tickets online.

http://news.ucf.edu/UCFnews/index?page=article&id=0024004105bd60439010c0c76ce2f007021

15 year, 15 million...Not bad.

[bulls96go]

$29M raised

$15M bright house

_____

$14M of $60M that is only 25%

you were bailed out by brighthouse and you are still $30M short.

this shaky accounting will comeback to bite UCF in the butt in the not so distant future.

[DawgPound]

I think it's a 20 or 30 year bond.  Since UCF collects all on tickets, parking and concessions now, it may not be as bad as people think.

At this time, my requirement was 20% raised without naming rights.  We nailed it and now near 50% with this deal in place.

[smazza]

one million a year seems pretty cheap

[DawgPound]

smazza, if it was a pro football stadium, you'd be right.  2mil is as cheap as I've found for those, but for college, the price tag is less cause the revenue in is less(attendence, tv, etc).

Lousille got 5mil over 10 years from Papa John's(500k/yr).

UCF gets 15mil over 15 years from Bright House(1mil/year).

Hell, Tropicana Field is only 1mil/year.  What a steal for a pro facility.

You do the math.

[goodknightfl]

When they first talked about the deal they said they needed a little over 20k to break even... with all the $$$$ they have raised they will be just fine.. bonds will finance the rest prob for 20 to 30 years.. should be under 1mil per year to cover the bond.

[ucfknights04]

$29M raised

$15M bright house

_____

$14M of $60M that is only 25%

you were bailed out by brighthouse and you are still $30M short.

this shaky accounting will comeback to bite UCF in the butt in the not so distant future.

Did you pay for your first home with cash up front?

If so, you're fortunate.  The rest of the world, including UCF (and USF (for things other than a stadium of course)) finances.

[Guest The House(Guest)]

$29M raised

$15M bright house

_____

$14M of $60M that is only 25%

you were bailed out by brighthouse and you are still $30M short.

this shaky accounting will comeback to bite UCF in the butt in the not so distant future.

Don't forget to close your eyes and click your heels 3 times   ;D

[TheGimp]

$29M raised

$15M bright house

_____

$14M of $60M that is only 25%

you were bailed out by brighthouse and you are still $30M short.

this shaky accounting will comeback to bite UCF in the butt in the not so distant future.

Nice try.  The financial study allocated $750,000 coming from the naming rights.  If they would have "bailed us out", they would have been bidding amongst themselves and would have been able to pay less.  Shaky accounting?  It looks like the accounting was the worst case senario ($750k for naming rights and we got $15M/15 years, attendance figures are for an average of 20,000 fans - a figure that if we can't meet, we shouldn't even be 1A).  Accounting, so far, looks pretty good from here.  Does it really bother you that bad that UCF is getting and can afford an OCS???

[Knight_Light]

When they first talked about the deal they said they needed a little over 20k to break even... with all the $$$$ they have raised they will be just fine.. bonds will finance the rest prob for 20 to 30 years.. should be under 1mil per year to cover the bond.

FYI...original Feasibility Study that showed that UCF would earn $750,000 per year in naming rights (now $1 Million per year), said the stadium was feasible and the bonds could be easily paid of it average attendance (paid and students) would be 23,000 for 2006 (now 2007)....and stabilize at 25,900 for years to come starting at 2010 (now 2011 and beyond).

UCF is well on pace to surpass those goals.

The momentum will build for the next 13 months...all the way up to the kickoff vs Texas on opening day of Bright House Stadium!!!!

Should be quite a ride for the next year plus...and beyond.

KL