The basketball arena inside Gainesville's Stephen C. O'Connell Center has a new name. The University of Florida Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved a naming-rights arrangement with Tower Hill Insurance Group, rebranding the court as Tower Hill Arena while the O'Connell Center itself keeps its longstanding name.
The initial term runs five years, from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031, with an option to extend another five years through 2036, according to the Miami Herald. Board materials did not disclose how much Tower Hill will pay for the rights, and the newspaper reports the figure remains unknown even after the vote. The arena's previous sponsor, Exactech Arena, saw its contract with the Gainesville-based medical device company expire over the summer, clearing the way for the switch.
That earlier deal, signed in 2016, ran for 10 years and was worth $5.9 million, coming together after the O'Connell Center underwent a $64.5 million renovation that December, per the Orlando Sentinel. The O'Connell Center hosts Florida's men's and women's basketball teams, along with volleyball and gymnastics, meaning Tower Hill's branding will now greet fans across four different sports throughout the year — including the kind of crowd that packed the building for Florida's 84-60 win over Texas on Jan. 18, 2025.
Lemerand Center Expansion Budget Jumps to $77 Million
Trustees also approved increasing the budget for an expansion of the Lemerand Athletic Center from $30 million to $77 million, the Herald's report notes. Alongside that increase, the board signed off on a $22.5 million loan from university auxiliary funds to the University Athletic Association, covering initial construction costs for the Lemerand project as well as pre-construction work tied to the broader stadium renovation.
The current Lemerand Athletic Center, which opened during the 1995-96 academic year as a 46,000-square-foot facility according to floridagators.com, houses three full volleyball courts along with training and locker room areas, team meeting spaces, and coaches' offices. The expanded version is expected to total roughly 108,000 square feet, the Herald reports, and will let the UAA relocate athletics functions currently based inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
A Broader Pattern in College Sports
Florida's move fits a wider trend among college athletic departments scrambling to find new revenue as annual revenue-sharing commitments climb past $20 million, according to Sports Business Journal. The trade publication has noted that long-term naming-rights agreements can offer schools a measure of revenue certainty amid otherwise uncertain financial times, and it has suggested more such deals, along with jersey-patch arrangements, could surface in the months ahead as costs keep rising.
Other schools' recent deals illustrate the range of figures in play, though none establish what Florida's new agreement is actually worth. Arizona struck a 15-year, $27.7 million naming-rights deal with Alkeme Insurance for its McKale Center basketball arena, described by Sports Business Journal as the largest publicly known arena naming-rights agreement in the Big 12, while Tennessee's basketball arena rebrand as Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center was valued at $20 million over a decade.
