More than 10,000 fans crowded UNF's Hodges Stadium on Saturday, March 7, 2026, for Sporting Jax's inaugural game against the Hartford Athletic in a USL Championship contest. Sporting Jax was defeated. | Photo by Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on March 12, 2026 at 2:00 pm
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The Estate of Kernan Hodges has donated $8 million to the University of North Florida in support of its sports complex.
The donation will be used to renovate and upgrade the state university’s 22-year-old Hodges Stadium, and comes just months after the city gave millions to help with facility upgrades as well.
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Hodges Stadium is the home to the UNF Ospreys soccer and track teams, plus the current home field for Sporting Jax’s professional men and women’s soccer teams. The next USL Championship game there is at 7:30 p.m. on March 25 against Miami FC.
In a university statement, UNF interim President Angela Garcia Falconetti says the university is thankful for the “transformational gift” that will strengthen community connections and enhance campus life. UNF Athletics Director Nick Morrow added that the enhancements will elevate the experience for their student‑athletes and strengthen the university’s ability to attract national and international events to “amplify the stadium’s significant economic impact on our community.”
And as almost 2,000 high school athletes prepare to compete at the stadium in next week’s 62nd annual Bob Hayes Invitational Track and Field Meet, its executive director, Greg Coleman, says the renovations in coming years will make the teen athletes’ experience even better.
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“When you can make improvements to already one of the top track and field facilities in the country, the expectations are out of this world,” Coleman told Jacksonville Today. “A facility like this in the city is incredible. You can’t put a premium on exposure, and what’s possible. … To have this facility here in our own backyard, we are looking forward with baited breath as to what’s next at Hodges Stadium ”
The 9,400-seat stadium first opened in January 2004 and was renamed to honor a gift of $2 million from George and Kernan Hodges in October 2006. It has a lighted field, a nine-lane track, the Browning Athletic Training and Education Center and UNF Athletics Department offices. The Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium was named in 2021 after the Duval County Tourist Development Council committed $950,000 for the resurfacing of the competition and practice tracks at the facility.
The Hodges family’s $8 million gift is helping the university add new field lighting and digital video board to the stadium, and follows the Jacksonville City Council’s vote in December approving $6 million in public funding for capital repairs to Hodges Stadium. The Hodges’ gift, plus the city’s funding, are also supporting renovations to the restrooms, locker rooms, press box and other infrastructure. UNF is also exploring the addition of premium seating.
Hodges Stadium has attracted major sporting events to Jacksonville, bringing more than 200,000 hotel room nights booked and $160 million in total economic impact since 2012, the university said.
Hundreds more high school athletes, coaches, parents and others will be there next weekend after the statewide track meet moved to Hodges Stadium in 2023 from its previous longtime home at Raines High School. More than 100 schools from Northeast Florida and the state will compete.
Hodges Stadium has also hosted the NCAA track & field East First Round eight times, and the ASUN Conference Outdoor Track Championships annually since 2009. UNF is set to host the NCAA East First Round in 2027, NCAA Division II National Championships in 2028 and FHSAA Track & Field Championships through 2028.
The donation to UNF’s Hodges Field comes one month after the Bolles School received an $8 million gift from the estate of Kernan and George H. Hodges Jr. to care for the George Hodges Field at the school’s San Jose Boulevard campus. The field is named in honor of former Bolles Board of Trustees member George H. Hodges, and was the largest single contribution ever made to the private pre-K-12 school since its 1933 founding.
