When Terry Mohajir arrived at UCF to become the school’s next athletics director in 2021, he brought with him an ambitious plan to reinvent many of the athletic facilities.
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That vision included a football campus anchored by a modernized Roth Tower at Acrisure Bounce House Stadium. It was part of a multi-phase project that Mohajir believed would help not only enhance the gameday experience, but also serve as a premier event space.
After campaigning and securing $90 million in funding from Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax in October 2023, UCF broke ground on an ambitious project to expand Roth Tower in December 2024.
Nearly two years later, officials, boosters and donors got a sneak peek of the revamped venue on Thursday ahead of the venue’s debut on Sept. 3, when UCF opens the 2026 football season by hosting Bethune-Cookman.
“This is why we went to the TDT a few years ago,” Mohajir said on Thursday. “We said this is the anchor of the football gateway, the Hagle Gateway project. This is the anchor because it generates the most revenue and it’s the best piece of real estate that we have in the athletics department.”
The tower grew to encompass an 85,000-square-foot footprint, expanding club space by 256% from 4,400 square feet to 15,650 square feet across four levels. The expansion added 42% more club seats, a new loge seating area on the third floor, 28 luxury suites and 34 new outdoor Sky Suites, all with the goal of enhancing the guest experience while generating revenue for the athletics department.
“It’s been amazing,” said Mohajir. “Everything that we promised would happen and be done, we’re on schedule to do so.”
The new Club Lounge encompasses 16,000 square feet over two levels of the tower. It features multiple televisions, gameday and lounge seating options and multiple dedicated restrooms.
The outdoor loge boxes are attached to the North and South outdoor club level and are 2,300 square feet apiece, with an upscale cash bar, multiple televisions, outdoor space, seating and a dedicated attendant.
The luxury suites, on the top level, seat 22 people and include a full-size refrigerator, locked storage, operable windows and multiple televisions. Each suite has a dedicated attendant and private suite-level restrooms.
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A new option for fans is Sky Suites, which are situated at the top level of the North and South wings. They offer an open-air, semi-private suite that seats 12 people.
“Having this indoor-outdoor space is pretty cool,” said Marcus Attles, UCF’s executive associate AD for capital projects. “It’s just unique. It’s something specific to UCF and you’re not going to find it around the country.”
Jimmy Skiles, UCF’s chief branding officer, also likes the spaces’ uniqueness.
“Being the brand guy and loving to hear the atmosphere of college football and still being outside, but still having the shade and the protection that the Sky Suites provide is pretty awesome,” added Skiles.
The sixth floor also features a modernized press box and larger broadcast booths for radio and network television. Officials from the conference’s broadcast partners were consulted in creating the space to help accommodate the broadcasts.
The facility also includes a dedicated space for the school’s content team and a Spanish radio booth.
“In college athletics, the landscape has changed and generating new revenue is really important,” Mohajir explained. “Changing your commercial profile is also important. This is a serious space that you can use for wedding receptions, sales seminars, lecture series, birthday parties, whatever.
“We could probably host 10 separate events in this building at one time.”
Mohajir said the department is already working to secure future events.
As UCF enters its fourth season in the Big 12, officials feel this updated tower has put its facilities on par with many other venues in the conference.
“I’ve been in every one of the facilities. This is as good as any one of them,” said Mohajir. “When the original tower was built, that was great at the time. Now we kind of outgrew it. Now we’re building more and it puts us right on par with any Power Four school in the country.”
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