UCF in the News

The University of Central Florida (UCF) has announced it will be renaming its football stadium to the "Acrisure Bounce House" come July. UCF to rename football stadium What we know: On Thursday, UCF Athletics announced that its on-campus football stadium, previously known as the "FBC Mortgage Stadium," will be renamed to the "Acrisure Bounce House." The decision was formally approved at today's UCF Board of Trustees meeting. What does the new name mean? FBC Mortgage joined the Acrisure family in 2022. UCF Athletics leaders said the updated stadium name reflects FBC Mortgage’s transition to Acrisure Mortgage. The transition is a move that strengthens the company’s alignment with Acrisure LLC, a global fintech leader with operations in 23 countries and more than 19,000 team members. While the name is changing, UCF leaders said the strong relationship between UCF Athletics and Acrisure Mortgage — and the shared commitment to excellence — remains unchanged. What's next: Signage and branding updates with the new stadium name are expected to begin this summer ahead of the Knights’ 2025 football season. The stadium name change will go into effect on July 1.

WFTV-TV (Orlando, FL) | 627,268 unique visitors per month For decades, the University of Central Florida has been a pipeline to the entertainment industry, churning out students into theme parks across central Florida. One of them is Karlyn Leander. She’s a figure finish artist.“Each of those figures has different aesthetic needs,” said Leander. “So it’s like silicone skin, fiberglass shells, show set painting, all that stuff. We go in and make sure those figures are looking as good as they did on opening day.” And that experience is gained through real world knowledge. “We’re required to do the same kind of work that you would do as a theme park designer,” Leander said. “We’re putting together a pitch deck. We’re learning how to present it and then we’re actually given the chance to present it to the very executives and creative directors and people that work at Universal.” But UCF’s impact on theme park storytelling goes beyond what you see. It also extends to what you taste. At UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, professor Jonathon Judy teaches students how food itself can be a storytelling tool. “They really learn about it from the perspective of how does food go from the kernel of an idea to something that creates an immersive concept,” said Judy.

How much will it cost to visit a museum, zoo or aquarium this summer? The answer, increasingly, is: It depends. John Linehan can rattle off almost two dozen factors that Zoo New England's dynamic pricing contractor, Digonex, uses to recommend what to charge guests. Steeper prices during peak periods and for short-notice visits could rankle guests — who may see anything less than a top-notch experience as a rip-off, said Stephen Pratt, a professor at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management who studies tourism. “Because of the higher prices, you want an experience that’s really great,” he said, transforming a low-key day at the zoo into a big-ticket, high-stakes outing. “You’ve invested this money into family time, into creating memories, and you don’t want any service mishaps.”