Yuengling Center

Yuengling Center
	File:USF SundomeExterior.jpg Aerial view of arena (c.216)
Former names	USF Sun Dome (1980–2018)
Location	12499 USF Bull Run Dr; Tampa, FL 33617
Owner	University of South Florida
Operator	Tampa Bay Entertainment Properties
Capacity	10,411
Surface	QuickLock Portable Floor (northern hard maple)
Construction
Broke ground	1977
Opened	November 29, 1980
Renovated	1993; 2000; 2011;
Construction cost	$12 million; ($60.3 million in 2023 dollars)
Architect	Barger + Dean Architects, Inc.
Tenants
	South Florida Bulls (NCAA) (1980–present)

28°03′33.25″N 82°24′23.30″W / 28.0592361°N 82.4064722°W / 28.0592361; -82.4064722

The Yuengling Center, formerly known as the USF Sun Dome, is a multi-purpose facility on the campus of the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. It was built, starting in 1977 and was completed on November 29, 1980. It is located on the southeast side of campus, and is home to the men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams. The center hosts approximately 300 different events each year, including sporting events, concerts, home and garden shows, trade shows, religious services and conventions, ethnic festivals, rodeos, bull riding competitions, youth sports camps, professional wrestling, boxing, taekwondo tournaments, gymnastics and cheerleading competitions, commencement ceremonies, lectures and political rallies among other corporate, community and university events.

In June 2018, USF signed a 10-year naming rights deal with brewer D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc., which runs a brewery near the college campus. The Sun Dome was officially rechristened as the Yuengling Center on July 1, 2018.

History

File:USF SundomeInterior.jpg

Interior of the Yuengling Center

Before the Yuengling Center, USF's indoor sports teams played at various locations on and off campus. The basketball teams first played at Curtis Hixon Hall in downtown Tampa, and later split their home schedule between Curtis Hixon Hall, the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, and the Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds.^{[citation needed]}

By 1975, both the University of South Florida and the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville had decided to build new on-campus indoor sports facilities. The two schools pooled their resources and shared the cost of a basic arena design to stretch limited state funding. The "core unit" of the USF's Sun Dome Center and UF's O'Connell Center were nearly identical, and they each featured a flexible, inflatable roof made of Teflon and supported by a system of blowers. However, the O'Connell Center included facilities for other sports around the main arena while the Sun Dome as originally built did not.^[2] These were added in later expansions.

The $12 million Sun Dome broke ground in November 1977 on formerly open land on the southeast side of campus not far from Fowler Avenue. Construction was slowed on both the Sun Dome and the O'Connell Center when cracks appeared in precast concrete support beams.^[3] The problems were eventually fixed, and the sister facilities were completed within a few weeks of each other in late 1980 – the Sun Dome in November and the O'Connell Center in December.^[2]

The first two events at the new arena were a USF men's basketball game against Florida A&M and a concert by Alice Cooper.^{[citation needed]}

On June 12, 2018, USF announced that Yuengling had purchased the naming rights to the facility and renamed it the Yuengling Center, effective July 1, 2018.^[4]^[5] The deal is slated for 10 years. The move was made official on July 1, 2018.^{[citation needed]}

Renovations

The Yuengling Center has undergone several minor expansions and alterations over the years along with two major renovations:

In 2000, the original inflatable roof was replaced with a more conventional hard dome and additional facilities for USF indoor sports programs were added around the main arena at a cost of about $8 million (about $14.2 million in 2023 dollars).^[1]

In 2011, USF began a major renovation of the Yuengling Center at a cost of $35.6 million ($48.2 million in 2023 dollars).^[1] Among other interior improvements, this renovation reconfigured the seating area to make the facility ADA compliant and added a large center hung scoreboard, a team store, and a new concourse level with concessions and restrooms. On the outside, original exterior concrete was repaired, bricks were added to some portions of the façade, and the entrance gates were improved. This project was completed in April 2012.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Events

In addition to USF sporting events, the Yuengling Center hosts USF commencement ceremonies along with many concerts, shows, and special events over the years. It has been the site of live events by World Wrestling Federation, such as Saturday Night's Main Event IV in December 1985 and Saturday Night's Main Event XIX December 1988, and the Royal Rumble (1995). The UFC also made their debut in the arena in February 2009 with UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs Stephens. Bellator Fighting Championships has also held a number of events at the Yuengling Center.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
^ ^a ^b Walbolt, Dan (Interviewee) and Huse, Andrew T. (Interviewer), Dan Walbolt oral history interview by Andrew Huse, July 13, 2004 (2004).Digital Collection - USF Historical Archives Oral Histories. Paper 194.
^ Keen, Larry (March 26, 1983). "State Plans Lawsuit Over O'Connell Center Defects". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
^ Knight, Joey (12 June 2018). "Yuengling secures USF Sun Dome naming rights". tampabay.com. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
^ Roa, Ray (June 12, 2018). "Tampa's USF Sun Dome will change name to Yuengling Center". Creative Loafing. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
^ "Reddit hacks you definitely need to know about". www.tboblogs.com.
^ "Sun Dome Renovation Financing Approved".
^ Center, Yuengling. "Arena Renovation - Yuengling Center". www.sundomearena.com.

External links

The Sun Dome

[inflation-US-1] 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.

[USF-2] Walbolt, Dan (Interviewee) and Huse, Andrew T. (Interviewer), Dan Walbolt oral history interview by Andrew Huse, July 13, 2004 (2004).Digital Collection - USF Historical Archives Oral Histories. Paper 194.

[cracks-3] Keen, Larry (March 26, 1983). "State Plans Lawsuit Over O'Connell Center Defects". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved November 27, 2012.

[yuengling-4] Knight, Joey (12 June 2018). "Yuengling secures USF Sun Dome naming rights". tampabay.com. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 12 June 2018.

[5] Roa, Ray (June 12, 2018). "Tampa's USF Sun Dome will change name to Yuengling Center". Creative Loafing. Retrieved 12 June 2018.

[6] "Reddit hacks you definitely need to know about". www.tboblogs.com.

[7] "Sun Dome Renovation Financing Approved".

[8] Center, Yuengling. "Arena Renovation - Yuengling Center". www.sundomearena.com.

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v t e South Florida Bulls men's basketball
Venues	Curtis Hixon Hall (1971–1980) Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory (1972–1975) Bayfront Center (1974, 1976–1978, 1979–1980) Hillsborough Community College Gymnasium (1978) USF Gymnasium (1978–1979) Expo Hall (1979–1980) Lakeland Civic Center (1976, 1979–1980, 2011) Bob Martinez Sports Center (2011) Amalie Arena (2011–2012) Yuengling Center (1980–2011, 2012–present)
Rivalries	UCF
Culture & lore	Rocky the Bull
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e South Florida Bulls women's basketball
Venues	USF Gymnasium/Campus Recreation Center (1972–80, 2011–12) Yuengling Center (1980–2011, 2012–present)
Rivalries	UCF
Culture & lore	Rocky the Bull
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24

v t e Music venues of Florida
Outdoor	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Camping World Stadium Capital City Amphitheater Coral Sky Amphitheatre Daily's Place Daytona Beach Bandshell FIU Stadium Hard Rock Stadium Klipsch Amphitheater LoanDepot Park MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre Mizner Park Amphitheater Pompano Beach Amphitheater Raymond James Stadium St. Augustine Amphitheatre Sunset Cove Amphitheater TIAA Bank Field Universal Music Plaza Stage
Arenas	Addition Financial Arena Amalie Arena Bradenton Area Convention Center Bud Adams Equestrian Center Donald L. Tucker Civic Center Expo Hall FLA Live Arena Hard Rock Live Hertz Arena Kaseya Center Kia Center Jenkins Arena Lee County Civic Center O'Connell Center Ocean Center Arena Pensacola Bay Center Silver Spurs Arena The Venue at UCF Tropicana Field VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena Watsco Center West Palm Beach Christian Convention Center Yuengling Center
Theaters and clubs	Beacham Theatre Capitol Theatre Club La Vela The Fillmore Miami Beach Florida Theatre Freebird Live Hard Rock Live Henegar Center Jannus Live Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium Lyric Theater Lyric Theatre Mahaffey Theater Maltz Jupiter Theatre Marina Civic Center Miami-Dade County Auditorium Murray Hill Theatre New World Center Olympia Theater Parker Playhouse Peabody Auditorium Ritz Theatre The Ritz Ybor Ruth Eckerd Hall Saenger Theatre State Theatre Sunrise Theatre Tampa Theatre The Plaza Live Polk Theatre YouKey Theatre
Performing arts centers	Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts Broward Center for the Performing Arts Coral Springs Center for the Arts Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts King Center for the Performing Arts Knight Center Complex Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts Straz Center for the Performing Arts Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center
Festivals	Calle Ocho Festival Cornerstone Florida Electric Daisy Carnival Florida Azalea Festival Florida Music Festival Florida Strawberry Festival Jacksonville Jazz Festival Lakeside Jazz Festival Langerado Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival One Spark Springing the Blues SunFest Ultra Music Festival
Historic venues	Amway Arena Bayfront Center Bob Carr Theater Cameo Theater Coconut Grove Convention Center Coconut Grove Playhouse Curtis Hixon Hall Dixie Crystal Theatre Gator Bowl Stadium Hollywood Sportatorium Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum Lincoln Theatre Metropolitan Park Miami Arena Miami Jai-Alai Fronton Miami Marine Stadium Miami Orange Bowl Orange County Civic Center Orlando Sports Stadium Roxy Theater State Theatre Sunrise Musical Theater Tampa Stadium

History

Renovations

Events

See also

References

External links