ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – Thanks to a generous gift commitment of $1 million from Tom ’88 and Stacey ’89 McNamara and their daughters Shannon, Erin and Megan, Recovery Cove will be coming soon to UCF Athletics.
As part of the $30 million UCF Athletics Village facilities vision, Recovery Cove has been made possible thanks to the McNamara family’s lead gift. Recovery Cove, which will be entirely privately funded, is expected to include a pool, a small lazy river and other amenities.
In addition to Recovery Cove’s benefits to UCF student-athletes, it will also provide a unique, new college football tailgating experience for both fans and corporate clients, while also becoming a revenue generator. Revenues generated are expected to eventually surpass the construction costs, expected to be less than $2 million. UCF Athletics is continuing to raise funds for the project, which will involve no state dollars.
While UCF Athletics will provide more details in the coming months, all-inclusive Covegating packages will be available, complete with access to all of Recovery Cove’s amenities, as well as parking, food, drinks and other benefits.
“The Athletics Village is where UCF student-athletes study, eat, train and compete,” said Tom McNamara. “We are excited to help provide these exceptional young men and women a welcoming space to relax, socialize and study. This sort of facility will help build even more community amongst the student-athletes. It will also deliver a fun football game-day experience. Stacey, our daughters and I are thrilled to help UCF in this way.”
UCF Athletics’ vision is to be a perennial Top 25 intercollegiate athletics program. In order to accomplish this goal, it is essential to recruit, retain and develop championship-caliber student-athletes and coaches by delivering exceptional academic support services, competitive operating resources and world-class athletic facilities for competition, practice, training, recovery and nutrition.
“Florida weather is one of our greatest competitive advantages,” UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Danny White said. “UCF student-athletes have very demanding schedules. Having a recovery and leisure space so close to the Wayne Densch Center for Student-Athlete Leadership and the Garvy Center for Student-Athlete Nutrition will significantly enhance the UCF student-athlete experience. Recovery Cove will also deliver one of college football's most unique game-day premium experiences for UCF fans.
“Generating revenue from incredible premium experiences such as Covegating will continue to push Orlando’s Hometown Team toward becoming even more self-sustaining into the future.”
Tom and Stacey McNamara are both UCF graduates. Tom is the founder and president of Southern Development and Construction, Inc. (www.sdcfl.com), a site preparation, development and construction firm in Oviedo, Fla., as well as other businesses in the Central Florida area. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the UCF Athletics Association. Having first met at a UCF Football game, the McNamaras have supported the Knights for many years.
UCF Athletics has contracted with Aquatic Design & Engineering (ADEdesign.com) to help design Recovery Cove. More information about its content, construction, timeline and one of college football's most unique game-day tailgating experiences at Recovery Cove will be communicated in the near future.
The UCF Athletics Village facilities project is a significant part of a larger, ongoing University fundraising campaign. IGNITE: The Campaign for UCF is a strategic, comprehensive fundraising effort to infuse UCF with $500 million by June 30, 2019. The campaign has raised more than $446 million toward that goal.