How's construction for USF's on-campus football stadium looking?

From a distance, it's difficult to see at first glance the magnitude of what's going on tucked in on the northeast area of USF's campus, where the Bulls' football stadium is being built.

But get closer, into the middle of the hard-hat construction site, and it's clear how massive the job is of constructing the 34,500-seat stadium and adjoining football operations center.

The USF athletic department offered a peek into the construction progress, the first of several planned over the next 15 months leading into the project's completion. It is on schedule to open for the 2027 season opener Sept. 4 against Louisville.

"Coach (Brian) Hartline talks about the headlamps a lot," CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins said. "What does the headlamp mean? It means the crew that's out here well before the break of dawn to have their headlamps on and help construct our home. So we're just appreciative of all the different people that are pouring into the project, both literally and figuratively."

Higgins - wearing a hard hat with a Bulls logo on the side, gold and green helmet strip along the top, and an American flag on the back with his "all gas, no brakes" motto - spoke over drilling equipment and the beeping of construction vehicles.

"Usually, when you're in interviews like this, you don't want any background noise, but we welcome all of the background noise, the sights and sounds of this incredible project," he said. "To finally have a home of our own is really special."

Cranes transported huge slabs of concrete. Workers smoothed out pavement for what will be the north concourse. White steel beams sat on what will eventually be the playing field, waiting to be lifted into place to make up the 8,000-seat student section behind the west end zone. Among the beams that will hold up that student section is one that sat in USF's student union for passersby to sign.

"It was out there for three days; we thought maybe there'd be 500 or 600 signatures," Higgins said. "Seventy-two hours later, there was over 5,000 signatures. These students are leaving their mark on the stadium, just like the stadium is going to leave their mark on all of our 400,000 living alumni, on all of our student-athletes, on our faculty, staff and everybody involved."

The most prominent part of the stadium to take shape is the south tower, which will have a rooftop bar that will stretch from end zone to end zone and would be the longest in the state. Underneath will be broadcast booths and the press box, then below suites and a 1,000-patron sideline club.

Behind that tower, the two-story, 150,000-square-foot TGH Center for Athletic Excellence will house coaches offices, meeting rooms, physicians offices, weight rooms, sports medicine and recovery areas.

"We are making great progress every single day," Higgins said. "It's around the clock, and we could not be more fired up to have this home that we've waited on for our entire lives. What I can tell you is that it's helping change the narrative and sentiment around this community in a big way."

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