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Report: AAF Never Paid UCF for Orlando Apollos’ Lease of Spectrum Stadium

WFTV: UCF may lose more than $1 million after hosting just three of five scheduled Apollos games

By JeffSharon
Orlando Apollos Spectrum Stadium
Spectrum Stadium on the Orlando Apollos’ opening night.
Photo: Jeff Sharon

WFTV is reporting that UCF will lose more than $1 million on the Alliance of American Football’s lease of Spectrum Stadium for the Orlando Apollos’ home games in their abortive 2019 season.

The Alliance’s debut season was cut short on Tuesday, with all staff and players being immediately let go, including six former UCF football players and numerous staff with UCF ties.

The Apollos played only three games in Spectrum Stadium, winning two of them. Their final two regular season games were at home, plus the Apollos had clinched a playoff spot and were set to host one of the two semifinal games.

The report states:

“Sources around the league said the AAF never paid UCF for the lease it signed to play at the stadium -- leaving the university with a hit of over $1 million. It is believed the UCF Athletics Association never sent an invoice to the team.”

There were a total of 11 games left in the AAF’s season when it ceased operations: two regular season weeks of four games each, plus two semifinal playoff games and the AAF Championship, which was set to be played at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.

The Apollos drew an average of 19,648 fans in the three games they played at the UCF Knights’ football home. The most was 20,394 against the Memphis Express.

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