University of South Florida On-Campus Stadium

College football in Tampa didn’t begin with the Bulls.

According to the Tampa Spartans website, the University of Tampa brought collegiate football to the area in 1933, playing at Plant Field against other small Southern four-year colleges. The Spartans won their first game, 28–0, against Bowden College in La Grange, Georgia.

The Spartans grew their program over the decades, and by 1967, with the opening of Tampa Stadium, became a hometown hot ticket. The team produced such future NFL stars as quarterback “Fabulous” Freddie Solomon and defensive end John “Tooz” Matuszak. By 1974, the NFL was expanding, and Spartan football had become a financial drain on the school. The program was terminated, leaving Tampa without a local collegiate football team.

Meanwhile, the University of South Florida, founded in 1956, had admitted its first students in 1960 with an enrollment of 1,977. In 1965, the school approved its first athletic teams in baseball, soccer, cross country, golf, and swimming as the Golden Brahmans. In 1971, USF debuted its first varsity basketball squad, beating Stetson 74–73. Games were played at different venues, including Curtis Hixon Hall, before the Sun Dome opened on campus. In 1981, Purdue head coach Lee Rose was hired to improve the program and started by rebranding the team the “Bulls.” The program continued to grow and, in 2024, took the American Athletic Conference title.

As the university grew, its leaders recognized that competing on a national level meant more than building strong academic programs. Attracting top students and faculty required a large and engaged alumni base, greater national visibility, and substantial private and corporate financial support. One way to build that loyalty, recognition, and investment was through major college athletics—particularly football.

By the time USF fielded its first football team, the university had evolved far beyond its beginnings as a small commuter school. It had become a major research university, yet lacked one of the most visible traditions associated with large American universities. That changed in 1997, when the Bulls played their first game as a Division I-AA program under head coach Jim Leavitt. Football gave students and alumni a new rallying point while providing USF with another way to build its identity and national profile.

The Bulls played their home games where the Spartans had left off, at the modified Tampa Stadium—known as Houlihan’s Stadium when the Bulls started and now Raymond James Stadium—sharing the field with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That arrangement has worked for nearly 30 years, but it is less than ideal. The team must balance its games with the Bucs’ NFL schedule and pay millions of dollars in rent and fees while losing revenue from parking, concessions, and sponsorships. There is also something distinctly big-school about students, alumni, and other fans gathering for football games on their own campus. The dream is about to come true.

After extensive planning and fundraising, the $348.5 million, 35,000-seat on-campus stadium project broke ground in November 2024. In their most recent contract with Raymond James, USF included a termination clause for when the new stadium is ready. The formal unveiling is scheduled for 2027, according to USF Athletics chief operating officer and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Pro Football Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks. The Bulls have hit the big time.

Their first 2026-2027 Game is against the Louisville Cardinals at Raymond James Stadium on September 4.

Go Bulls! ‍ ‍

© Chip Weiner. All rights reserved