Bright House Networks Stadium

Location

Bright House Networks Stadium is located on the northern edge of The University of Central Florida's 1,415-acre (573 ha) main campus, which is approximately 13 miles (21 km) northeast of Downtown Orlando and 55 miles (89 km) southwest of Daytona Beach. The stadium is a part of UCF's Athletic Village and is bordered by McCulloch Road on the north side, Knights Plaza on the west side, and Orion Boulevard on the southern and eastern sides.

To the west in Knights Plaza is the CFE Arena, the indoor arena of UCF Knights basketball, and The Venue, home of the Knights volleyball program. Also located to the west, are Jay Bergman Field, the home field of Knights baseball, and the UCF Track and Soccer Complex. Also located in Knights Plaza are The Towers residence halls, housing 2,000 UCF students, including student-athletes.

Planning and Pre-Construction

On March 31, 2005, UCF received the results of a feasibility study it commissioned on whether it should build an on-campus football stadium. On April 14, 2005, the UCF Board of Trustees approved the construction of an on-campus stadium. The stadium, initially known as "UCF Stadium," was scheduled to be completed in time for the 2006 football season. However, the Board of Trustees delayed construction until March 2006 due to the concerns from local residents regarding potentially falling property values and noise levels from the stadium.

Construction

Construction on "UCF Stadium" began on March 22, 2006. The stadium was originally built without water fountains. The university argued that the building code used when the stadium was approved did not require water fountains. However, this claim turned out to be incorrect because the 2004 Florida building code (in effect in 2005, when the UCF Board of Trustees approved the stadium design) mandated that stadiums and other public arenas must have one water fountain for every 1,000 seats, or half that number of fountains if water was also available for sale.

During the stadium's opening game, vendors ran out of water at halftime, leading to the hospitalization of 18 people for heat exhaustion . In order to correct the issue, UCF provided a free bottle of water to each person at the next game and immediately began work to install at least 50 water fountains throughout the stadium in order to comply with the 2004 building code requirement.

Knights Football

On May 9, 2006, it was announced that the Texas Longhorns would be the first opponent for the UCF Knights in the new stadium. The game, the first of three scheduled meetings between the schools, was held September 15, 2007, and televised nationally on ESPN2 at 3:30 pm EDT (1930 UTC). A sellout crowd of 45,622 saw the Knights put a scare into the Longhorns before falling 35–32.

Although the Knights lost their first on-campus home game, they finished the remainder of the stadium's inaugural season undefeated, including the Conference USA home opener against Memphis. The Knights hosted the 2007 C-USA Championship at their new stadium, defeating the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 44–25 in front of a crowd of 44,128. In 2010, the Knights again hosted the C-USA Championship, defeating the SMU Mustangs 17–7 before a crowd of 41,045.

Attendance records

The highest attendance for games played at Bright House Networks Stadium against the Knights have included the University of South Florida Bulls, the Miami Hurricanes, and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The "Bounce House"

The stadium is also known as "The Bounce House" because the stadium vibrates and shakes when fans jump in unison, most notably when Zombie Nation's song "Kernkraft 400" is played. While many fans like this feature, some are uneasy with the bouncing. Stadium officials claimed the stadium was structurally sound, and an independent contractor confirmed that the bouncing will not damage the stadium and shorten its expected 50–year useful life. Still, a project was begun prior to the 2008 season to reinforce the stadium superstructure and mitigate the bouncing effect.

While the bouncing has been greatly reduced by the stadium reinforcements, it is still noticeable - sometimes enough to shake TV cameras during televised games. For the 2010 Conference USA Football Championship Game, television presenter ESPN2 set up a camera position outside of the stadium to eliminate camera bounce caused by fans.

Expansions and Renovations

The stadium was designed for a planned expansion to 65,000 seats. UCF plans to begin the expansion by expanding the Roth Tower with more suites and club seating, and also adding an additional 10,000 seats in a third level on the east side of the stadium, increasing the stadium's capacity to 56,000.

The capacity for the 2015 season dropped by 1,117 seats when UCF removed seats to create the "Carl Black and Gold Cabana," which includes a bar, catered barbecue, and padded seats above the bar.

In 2016, UCF removed its old scoreboard and replaced it with a full LED scoreboard measuring 114 ft x 36 ft. Due to the new scoreboard being entirely LED, the scoreboard is over 6 times larger than the LED portion on the old scoreboard. Additionally, the new scoreboard is larger than the entire old scoreboard.