For the first time since its stadium was built 43 years ago, the Texas State Bobcats will have a corporate sponsor for it. Texas State held a press conference on Tuesday at the school’s football stadium to announce a naming rights agreement with University Federal Credit Union (UFCU).
Rebranding to UFCU Stadium
Known as Bobcat Stadium since it was built in 1981, the agreement will change the name to UFCU Stadium on a 15-year deal following a $23 million gift from UFCU. It is the largest stadium naming rights deal in the Sun Belt Conference, according to Texas State President Dr. Kelly Damphousse.
“We’ve been talking about this for at least a year,” Damphousse said. “We’ve had a great partnership with UFCU already. We’ve worked with them for about 11 years now, they’ve been on our campus. They partnered with us for a new student orientation. We felt like this was a great opportunity for us to do something we really want to do. Name this stadium, get some extra revenue and resources in here to help coach (G.J.) Kinne and the rest of our athletics program.”
Bobcat Stadium has been a symbol for the evolution of Texas State’s football program over the last 15 years. A seating expansion project started in 2009 and was completed in 2012, adding 16,000 seats, including 450 premium club seats and 15 luxury suites. The expansion coincided with the program’s jump from FCS to FBS after a years-long initiative known as The Drive to FBS.
“It’s just right on par for everything that is happening around here,” Kinne said. “This program, this athletic administration, is just going like this (up). President Damphousse, everything is headed in the right direction. A lot of momentum. This is the place to be right now.”
Who Is UFCU?
UFCU is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative that has operated in central Texas and Galveston since 1936. Currently serving more than 250 universities, associations, and employers, UFCU offers a variety of products, services, and education programs to empower members in achieving financial health, per their website.
This is the second stadium in central Texas that UFCU has bought the naming rights to. The Texas Longhorns baseball field was renamed to UFCU Disch-Falk Field in 2006 after a $13.1 million donation in 2005.
“We’re a community oriented university,” Damphousse said. “95% of our students come from the state of Texas. A large portion come from central Texas right around here. Most of our students are within driving distance here so having a local partner was important. There are national brands we could have gone with, but we really wanted to have someone local.”
Texas State AD Don Coryell and Damphousse also hinted that more changes would be coming, including the field receiving new turf before the 2024 season.
“We’re going to have UFCU all over the stadium,” Coryell said. “We want it to look really good on that field down there so we were thinking maybe some new turf to unveil this starting next season. It’s going to be important so we’re trying to get turf this summer.”
Damphousse also revealed that Coryell and the Texas State athletics department will be awarded the 2023-2024 Bubas Cup when it is announced. The Bubas Cup is the Sun Belt’s all-sports championship trophy, named after the Sun Belt’s first commissioner Vic Bubas.
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