- Stuart Bell began his tenure as University of Florida president on July 1 after unanimous approval by UF's Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Committee.
- UF accounts for 51% of jobs in Gainesville and Alachua County and students spent about $1.236 billion in the community last year.
- The $1.45 billion renovation of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium will use local resources and aims to finish before the 2030 season while keeping games ongoing.
New University of Florida President Stuart Bell spoke at the UF Eye Opener Discovery Breakfast on Thursday, where he shared an update on his tenure so far and discussed the connection between the university and the community, including economics.
Bell, former president of the University of Alabama, began his tenure as UF president on July 1 after the Florida Board of Governors confirmed him. The confirmation followed Bell’s unanimous approval by the UF Board of Trustees and unanimous recommendation by the UF Presidential Search Advisory Committee.
Speaking in front of what organizers said was a record crowd of community and business leaders at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center in Gainesville, Bell said his first few months as president “have been great.”
“[I’ve] spent a lot of time listening. Spent a lot of time learning,” he said. “I’ve visited with our students, with our faculty, with our staff, with our alumni, with leaders, just really across the university, across the community.”
Bell added that he’s also had the chance to visit each of UF’s 16 colleges on campus, while also making it a priority to get off campus and into the region to visit with businesses, elected officials and nonprofits.
“I knew before arriving at the University of Florida that we did have an extraordinary university, an extraordinary institution,” he said. “But there is something different than just reading it on paper and looking at the numbers and knowing. I think when you come to a community, you live in that community, you see that impact, you see the strengths, and that’s what I’ve been seeing over the last several months. I’ve been experiencing it within.”
Bell said Gainesville “is a place that we want to make sure that we continue to improve quality of life in everything that we do.”
While speaking, he shared figures from UF’s economic impact contribution report. Copies of the report were also provided at tables.
Sharing numbers from the report, Bell said 51% of the jobs in Gainesville and Alachua County “have an affiliation either directly or indirectly” with UF.
Bell also said students accounted for roughly $1.236 billion in annual spending in the community last year.
“That includes housing. That includes restaurants,” he said.
Bell said UF also produces roughly $307 million in visitor revenue. He noted that this includes athletics, cultural events, conferences, arts, university programs, medical care and campus visits.
“Each one of those visits supports our hotels, our restaurants [and] our shops,” Bell said. “They support our services. They support our economic development – our engine that we have for our community that is so important to each one of us.”
Bell said football alone generates $117 million in revenue for the city from outside groups.
“I’m not counting those of us who live here and go to the games. These are outside folks,” he said. “Roughly $20 million dollars for each home game.”
Along the lines of football, Bell also touched on the renovation of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which is scheduled to begin at the end of the football season and cost $1.45 billion.
“That’s a lot of money. The cool thing is, is that we will focus on using a lot of local resources, if you will, for building that facility,” Bell said. “So, that will help make sure that we preserve our economic activity.”
Bell said the plan is to keep all the football games in the stadium while the renovations take place throughout a three-year period. UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin said at the June Board of Trustees meeting that the goal is to finish the renovation and “fully reopen” the stadium prior to the start of the 2030 season.
“When that renovation is complete in three years, it will be a fabulous new addition, [a] great place for the Gators to play, but also great places for us to have community events and gatherings that we will all appreciate …,” said Bell.
Bell’s appearance at the Eye Opener Breakfast came on the heels of U.S. News & World Report releasing its 2027 Best Colleges rankings. UF slipped one spot in the rankings, dropping from No. 7 to No. 8 among national public universities.
The rankings from U.S. News & World Report came nearly a month after TIME Magazine ranked UF No. 4 among public universities. Florida also ranked No. 9 among public universities in Forbes’ “America’s Top Colleges” list published this month.
While he didn’t touch on rankings specifically at the event, Bell said UF’s “North Star is excellence.”
“And it will continue to be excellence in our community and all that we do,” he added.
Bell closed his remarks by encouraging those in attendance “to continue to dream and think of new ways” they can work together and be successful.
UF has hosted the Eye Opener Breakfast for more than 20 years, giving community members and business leaders the opportunity to learn about the newest research and resources impacting Gainesville.
For information on the events tentatively planned for the 2026 season, visit https://gcr.ufl.edu/community-relations/uf-eye-opener-breakfasts/.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.