A football stadium and Greek village could be in the University of North Florida’s future, according to a draft campus master plan presented to the Board of Trustees (BOT) on Wednesday.

The draft campus master plan outlines any physical improvements or renovations to the campus over the next ten years. Woody Giles, senior planner for the DLR Group, presented the preliminary plan to the BOT Wednesday afternoon. The plan detailed new developments, including new academic buildings, research buildings, housing, athletics and recreational fields and facilities, operations and community buildings.

One item of note in the plan is the opportunity for a football stadium and facilities to be built upon the current Hodges Stadium, should UNF make the step to create a football team. 

Another idea in the works is a Greek village that would sit next to Osprey Fountains on Osprey Ridge Road.

Football at UNF

The draft campus master plan presented by Giles creates space for a football stadium and facilities.

“We had a lot of discussion about football over the course of the process,” said Giles.

“I can’t pretend to have the answer or a detailed timeline today,” Giles said. “But we planned so that you can have a football team in the future at such a time that you’re ready to do that.”

Giles said that UNF’s current Hodges Stadium could be renovated to accommodate football games in the short term, and facilities could be added onto the stadium for more seating and space in the long term.

The conversation regarding UNF and football is longstanding, with many in support of the program. However, there are multiple barriers between wanting a football team and creating one.

UNF Athletic Director Nick Morrow spoke with Spinnaker earlier this year about the possibility of creating a football program. Morrow said it comes down to the cost of running a football program and the size of enrollment. 

“Financially, it doesn’t make sense,” Morrow told Spinnaker, saying that at this point, Athletics would have to create a new, stand-alone student fee to fund a football team. 

Increasing enrollment to 25,000 by 2028 is one goal of UNF’s ambitious strategic plan, which Morrow said would increase the possibility of a football team.

“If we get to 25,000 students by 2028 and we properly fund the 19 teams we have—and we want to keep growing as an institution—then football becomes a more serious discussion,” said Morrow. 

Greek village on campus

During Giles’ presentation, he detailed different areas of campus that could hold new or renovated housing, with one area near Osprey Fountains to be a Greek village.

Giles said the proposed Greek housing may need partnership from Greek life, but would give fraternities and sororities housing on campus. 

“This is something else that might be a partnership in cooperation with fraternities and sororities, but would allow there to be a place for Greek village and Greek housing on campus,” Giles said during the meeting.

[The proposed Greek village, along with additional housing throughout campus. The Greek village is circled in the center, composed of six small yellow squares denoting different buildings.]

Similar to football at UNF, Greek housing on campus has been an ongoing conversation, with pushes to create housing going back as early as 2003.

In the past, the main challenges in creating a Greek village were cost and securing full support.

In 2021, Spinnaker spoke with Robert Boyle, the senior director of Housing and Residence Life, about the last big push for Greek housing in 2013. Boyle, who was a part of the project at the time, said there were differences of opinion in terms of funding and feasibility.

“I think there was a lot of momentum at that time to physically do it and there was a lot of student interest, but as I recall, there were some advisors of these organizations that didn’t think it was a good move, and they wanted the university to foot a larger component of the cost,” said Boyle. 

Next Steps

The contents of the draft campus master plan, including the proposed complex for a Greek village and additions to Hodges Stadium, are not yet finalized. 

The draft plan will be sent to government agencies for review and will be open to public comment for 90 days, according to John Hale, associate vice president of Administration and Finance at UNF.

In November, the plan will be brought back to the BOT for adoption.

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