A rendering of the planned UNF esports arena | UNF
Published on April 8, 2025 at 9:51 pm
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The University of North Florida’s proposal to create an esports arena is a step closer to coming online with a $3 million buy-in from the city of Jacksonville.
City Council’s 15-1 vote for Ordinance 2025-0265 on Tuesday approved funding for the state university to build what Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration has described as a state-of-the-art electronic sports venue inside the John A. Delaney Student Union on its Jacksonville campus. UNF wants to establish the esports facility by January 2026, according to city documents.
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UNF tells the city that the ability to host national tournaments for competitive video gaming — a multibillion dollar industry — will help the school grow its enrollment and its science, technology, engineering and math graduates.
Promotional material for the program provided to the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee last month says UNF will collaborate with Duval County Public Schools to use esports to “inspire” high school students interested in technology to pursue STEM degrees and create career pathways in gaming, game development, broadcasting and esports management.
”Esports is a rapidly growing trending way to engage young students who may not otherwise get excited about science, technology, engineering or mathematics,” the material says.
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“By bringing local high school [esports] teams to UNF’s campus to compete, students have an opportunity to see themselves on a college campus — many for the very first time — and explore new pathways to a career in this exploding field and other high-demand areas.”
The bill, filed by council member Will Lahnen, whose district includes UNF, says the esports program will provide workforce development and skills training to students interested in the gaming industry and position Jacksonville as a regional leader in the esports industry.
Deegan endorsed the project in a March 10 news release in tandem with the budget review committee’s vote to submit legislation for the funding to council.
“UNF’s esports arena will help us build a next generation workforce and position Jacksonville as a leader in the fastest growing sports genre nationally and globally,” Deegan said in the release.
The city’s investment
The legislation appropriates $3 million from the general fund for the esports arena.
The esports funding was separated from a larger spending bill that also appropriated $4 million to renovate two fire stations during last week’s Finance Committee at the request of Beaches council member Rory Diamond. Diamond said he didn’t support spending the $3 million due to anticipated future budgetary pressures on the city.
Ordinance 2025-0206, which council approved 16-0 on Tuesday, provides $692,823 to the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department to build a personal protective equipment wash facility at 2610 Fairfax St. That money comes from “recaptured” funds from unused dollars from the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The esports project will be considered $3 million toward the city’s $40 million in countywide spending committed by the council to a community benefits agreement that’s part of the stadium funding deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Council members Ju’Coby Pittman and Reggie Gaffney Jr. abstained from the vote because nonprofits to which they are affiliated could benefit from that fund.
Council Vice President Kevin Carrico was absent for the UNF vote. All three members abstained from the Fire Department funding bill.
Esports landscape
Esports is a big business. UNF’s program description says revenue for the esports industry is expected to reach $3 billion by the end of 2025.
UNF already has an esports club active on campus.
According to 2022 research from the Entertainment Software Association provided by the city, the esports and competitive gaming industry supports more than 16,000 jobs in Florida and generates $2.7 billion annually.
The National Federation of State High School Associations reported in 2022 that 8,600 U.S. high schools have esports teams.
In 2016, the University of California, Irvine was the first public university to create an esports program, and the school built a 3,500-square-foot esports arena.
In Florida, Full Sail University in Winter Park added competitive gaming to its academic curricula and built an 11,200-square-foot, $6 million esports arena.
The top professional players and teams can have six-figure earnings from game play and endorsement deals through team sponsorship. The Indicator podcast reported last year that esports leagues saw buy-in from game developers like Activision and Riot Games, and that investors put $4.5 billion into esports in 2018 alone. Some of that economic activity has slowed in recent years as the cost of the sport has outweighed the speed of the financial returns, according to the podcast.
