UCF offers huge value to expansion hopefuls
Rumors of Big 12 expansion are heating up again and there's no school more worthy of joining to the ranks of the Power 5 than UCF.
Looks like we’ll finally put the finishing touches today on the official announcement of a naming-rights partner for UCF’s football stadium. A source tells us “3MG Stadium” is set to be approved as the new name for the Bounce House during today’s Board of Trustees meeting. The vote to approve the name is on their agenda.
The official deal, which would begin on Sept. 1, is worth $20 million over 12 years. We’ll update you once things become officially official.
Today’s read is 4.5 minutes ⏲️
Trending in the Kingdom: Sleeping Giant no more 🚅💨
The Big 12 might not have a choice to ignore UCF any longer. There’s long been something brewing in East Orlando, but now the “sleeping giant” is a speeding locomotive.
UCF’s influx of young, influential alumni donors, plans for a one-of-a-kind “football campus” and the growth of the City Beautiful as a booming metropolis has positioned this once-commuter school into one of the most coveted universities in college athletics, just in time for a shifting landscape.
And that’s just a small part of the story.
Here’s the scoop: Even before the formation of The Alliance, which really is just a fancy name for a not-so-secure collaborative pact among 41 universities across three Power 5 conferences to schedule each other, there’s been whispers that the Big 12 has seriously been considering expansion.
But this new ACC, Pac-12, Big Ten bff pinky swear that’s meant to “bring stability” to the three conferences may have actually helped UCF in the long run. It should signal to the Big 12 and its members that there’s no immediate way out, and sticking together - while adding pieces - may be the only path to survival.
As Max Olsen of The Athletic writes, expansion is on the table:
“Yes, Big 12 expansion has been a subject of internal conversation over the past month. The conference has already formed an expansion subgroup to lead the way, but that process is still in the preliminary stages. They recognize they must start figuring out who fits best if that’s the move to make…
“One sentiment among multiple sources is that the Big 12’s best approach to expansion, if it does stay together, is focusing on building the strongest football conference it possibly can. BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Boise State would be logical targets if that’s the plan, and several more schools merit consideration.”
Every expansion conversation starts with UCF. They’ve been good, and growing, at the opportune time. With the help of Chris Vannini of The Athletic, here’s the three key points of value UCF brings to the table, and why the Big 12 should be paying attention.
Enrollment, engagement and alumni base
UCF features an enrollment of nearly 72,000, which is the largest public university in the nation and in Florida. Here’s how that compares with Big 12 members, minus Texas (51,000) and Oklahoma (28,000):
Texas Tech: 40,000
Iowa State: 35,000
Kansas: 28,000
West Virginia: 26,000
Oklahoma State: 25,000
Kansas State: 22,000
Baylor: 19,000 (Private)
TCU: 11,000 (Private)
Some of these universities have been around decades longer than UCF, but none of them are pumping out alumni faster, birthing an entire wave of fandom nationwide.
More than 150,000 of the school’s 322,000-plus alumni live in Orlando and the Central Florida area, and most of those are under 40, but there’s still a growing influence of UCF alumni nationally.
📲 Engagement matters on social media as well. UCF is among the top 10 for social engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and No. 1 in the FBS among the Top 25 brands for all three.
“Eyeballs are absolutely paramount as we go forward,” UCF AD Terry Mohajir said during a recent Board of Trustees meeting. “…we have a very active fanbase on Twitter. You might have heard, they’re called the Twitter Mafia.”
That Mafia shows up. For weighted social media engagement, UCF ranks 9th on Twitter and 18th on Instagram in the country. In terms of average rank among the four major platforms, UCF is No. 3 for schools outside the Power 5, behind just UConn and Army. The UCF is the only non-Power-Five university that leads in multiple sports (football, women’s basketball and softball). Twitter engagement also ranks in the top 25 for baseball, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.
TV viewership and eyeballs
I already dove into the social engagement numbers, but all that really matters is how many people watch your games. UCF, consistently, draws well, as Mohajir pointed out in that BOT meeting. They’re ranked No. 9 in the country for most nationally-televised games since 2018, ahead of LSU.
Vannini looked into the overall viewership numbers since 2018. When comparing the Big 12 and UCF, it breaks down like this:
Non-Texas and Oklahoma Big 12 home games: An average of 886,000 viewers.
The 22 Big 12 home games on just ABC, ESPN or ESPN2: Averaged 1.37 million viewers
The 49 AAC home games on ABC/ESPN: Averaged 1.01 million viewers.
UCF’s 14 games on ABC/ESPN: Averaged 1.09 million viewers.
When you boil it down, UCF is right on par - and much better in some cases - with every other Big 12 member in terms of eyeballs.
“Who’s going to bring that type of value to a super conference?” Mohajir recently told the Palm Beach Post. “Those commissioners will be looking for lots of eyeballs and who’s watching you all over the country.”
Budgets, donors and facility upgrades
Thank you, Danny White. You won’t see me write that much here, but UCF benefited from White and Josh Heupel’s exits to Knoxville, pocketing about $6 million in buyout cash. That helped UCF finish the fiscal year in the black, despite pandemic budget challenges.
💰 Mohajir said the athletic budget for the next year is $73 million, and the goal is to bump that up to $100 million in the next five years. To help meet that goal, they’re getting an influx of donor dollars, courtesy of the ChargeOn Fund.
I’m going to do a much deeper look at the incredibly popular fundraising arm of UCF Athletics, especially the uber-cool Shareholders Society, in a later edition, but some of the initial numbers are impressive:
8,156 total donors to the ChargeOn Fund, a record number.
They’re hoping to increase that to 10,000 donors by 2022.
Since February 1, they’ve generated $5.5 million in new donations.
Added 31 new members to the Shareholders Society. Membership requires a minimum pledge of $25,000 over a five-year period.
That money helps to fund all the future plans UCF has for growth, including the “football campus” concept we introduced to you last week.
“I’ve seen a lot of athletics facilities across the country and we will be able to compete 100 percent with anybody in the country,” Mohajir said last week. “Anybody, with this vision. Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State…this will put us on that type of level.”
We didn’t even get into UCF’s on-field performance over the last six years, but that’s been a pretty significant part of this as well. All in all, this program is primed to make the leap to a major conference. It’s only a matter of time before they do.
It’s extension SZN 🔒
Over the last few weeks, Mohajir has been busy locking up as many UCF head coaches as humanly possible. By my count, he’s signed six different coaches to a contract extension in just the last nine days.
🔒 Let’s run through who’s sticking around the kingdom a bit longer:
⚾ Greg Lovelady, UCF baseball head coach
Now signed through: 2025 season
2020-21 season: 18-14, lost in AAC championship game (first since 2017)
Tenure: Five seasons, hired in 2016
Overall record: 157-98
Best finish: 2017 - 40-22, first in AAC
🎾 John Roddick, UCF men’s tennis head coach
Now signed through: 2025 season
2020-21 season: 22-4, AAC champions
Tenure: Five seasons, hired in 2016
Best finish: 2021 - Most wins in program history, first NCAA tournament match win and the program’s highest ranking in school history (No. 9).
🎾 Bryan Koniecko, UCF women’s tennis head coach
Now signed through: 2027 season
2020-21 season: 20-5, AAC champions
Tenure: Five seasons, hired in 2016
Best finish: 2019 - 24-4, including 15-0 at home and earning their first conference title since 2002.
⚽ Scott Calabrese, UCF men’s soccer head coach
Now signed through: 2027 season
2020-21 season: 9-4-1, AAC champions
Tenure: Four seasons, hired in 2017
Overall record: 45-16-8
Best finish: 2019 - 15-3-2, including a No. 5 ranking in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
⚽️ Tiffany Roberts, UCF women’s soccer head coach
Now signed through: 2025 season
2020-21 season: 2-4-1, shortened due to COVID-19
Tenure: Eight seasons, hired in 2013
Overall record: 91-39-17
Best finish: 2014, setting a program records for wins in a season (18) and earned a trip to the Sweet 16.
🏌️♀️ Emily Marron, UCF women’s golf coach
Now signed through: 2026 season
2020-21 season: 2-4-1, shortened due to COVID-19
Tenure: Nine seasons, hired in 2012
Resume highlights: Two-time AAC Coach of the Year, six NCAA Regional appearances and two NCAA National Championship appearances.
Looking ahead, UCF volleyball coach Todd Dagenais may be next in line for an extension. He’s under contract through 2023 and just led the Knights to their third-consecutive conference championship. Dagenais’ group is preseason favorites yet again. UCF has lost just two conference games in the last three seasons.
📅 Friday: UCF vs. Georgia Tech (Orlando, Fla.) - 7 p.m.