Throughout college
football, the majority of Division-1 football stadiums are more than
50 years old. However, the University of Central Florida Knights have
the newest stadium in college football. The history of the Knights
football team dates back to 1979, when they were a Division-III
football program and played at the Citrus Bowl. The football program
moved to Division-1 in 1996 and today they are a member of the Conference
USA.
FACTS & FIGURES
-Tenant:
University of Central Florida Knights -Conference: CUSA -Capacity: 45,301 -Surface: Grass -Opened:
September 26, 2007 -Cost: $54 million
-Seating Chart
-UCF
Knights Sports
In 2005, the University of
Central Florida proposed building a new stadium for the Knights from
the Citrus Bowl to campus. Originally scheduled
to open in 2006, construction was delayed after opposition from the
nearby neighborhood. However, on September 15, 2007, the Knights played
their first game at their new stadium against the Texas Longhorns.
Bright House Networks,
a local home entertainment company, bought the
naming rights to the stadium for $15 million over 15 years. Over 45,000
seats enclose the football field at Bright House Networks Stadium. The
stadium features the four story Roth Tower that contains the pressbox,
822 club seats and 24 luxury suites. Scoreboards are located atop the
stands on both the north and south ends of the stadium. At a cost of
$54 million, Bright House Networks Field was designed to be expanded
to seat 65,000 fans in the future. The home of the Knights has been
nicknamed, The Trampoline, because the stands bounce when fans rock
to the song Kernkraft.