Ben Hill Griffin III has donated $12,500 to a football scholarship fund to help Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) build a football stadium and to create a football team.
Following the footsteps of Griffin, another donor has made a small contribution of $1,000 to the scholarship fund.
Building stadiums has become part of the Griffin family tradition. They have earlier helped build the Ben Hill Griffin stadium or 'The Swamp' at the University of Florida.
Carr Sports Associates Inc. two years ago conducted a survey and costing for starting a football program in the university in the near future. The report said that it would cost more than $100 million to begin a scholarship Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) program and around $90 million for the construction of a 15,000-seat stadium with two practice fields and parking and support service facilities,
The study, led by former University of Florida athletic director Bill Car, also revealed that the program would operate at a loss of about $4.8 million per year.
However, Griffin was optimistic as football talent produced in Southwest Florida high school programs is enormous and he believes that the university can take small baby steps by starting the program first in order to achieve the big goal.
Overall, Griffin actually donated a total of $25,000 to the university, wherein, the remaining balance was allocated toward a business scholarship for the Scott Lutgert Business College.
The university, lately, has tasted success through their sports programs. The men's basketball team won the Atlantic Sun tournament and moved to the NCAA last Saturday and its women's basketball team is the reigning Atlantic Sun Conference champs among others.
"There's no reason to expect we'd have anything less for football," Griffin told Naple News. "And a football program would just make us a complete sports university."
