Sen. Rick Scott continued his crusade against Kanye West’s upcoming Tampa concerts with a fiery press conference at the Florida Holocaust Museum on Monday morning.
Florida
Why is this Florida Gators athletic program joining the Big 12 next season?
Florida is a founding member of the SEC, but one Gators athletic program is joining the Big 12 in 2025. Find out which and why the move is happening
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The Sun’s Kevin Brockway and David Whitley discuss NIL and the UF basketball matchup vs. Vanderbilt with Aria Gerson of the Tennessean.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) serves as a fundamental part of Florida’s identity.
The Gators chartered the conference in 1932, and 20 of 21 varsity teams compete in the SEC.
The lone exception?
Women’s Lacrosse.
Only UF and Vanderbilt sponsor lacrosse in the SEC, so since its program founding in 2010, the Gators have bounced between three conferences.
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Next season, Florida will move into a new home — the Big 12 and depart from the American Athletic Conference. The Big 12 is set to add LAX as a sport in 2025, and the Gators will join along with Arizona State, Cincinnati, Colorado, San Diego State and UC Davis.
The latter two enter as affiliate members. The Sun Devils, Bearcats and Buffaloes will be full members of the conference next season.
Here’s why UF is making the move:
Better non-conference schedule
Florida coach Amanda O’Leary emphasized during a press conference last Thursday the main reason for the move is the better scheduling opportunities.
With just five other members, UF can now schedule 12 non-conference games.
“I think we’ve been known to pack our out of conference games with top 10 opponents, and this gives us that opportunity,” O’Leary said.
O’Leary isn’t wrong with that statement. The Gators (1-2) first three games of 2024 were vs top 10 foes — No. 8 Loyola-Maryland, No. 6 North Carolina and No. 5 Maryland.
However, UF must end its season with six AAC games. That number would increase to eight in 2025 with USF and Charlotte adding lacrosse.
The Big 12 also expects to challenge the orange and blue more. Florida went 25-1 in its four seasons of American play, with the lone loss last season vs new member James Madison which ranked No. 7 at the time of its win.
Despite this, O’Leary remains grateful for the American.
“We got to play a lot of different teams from a lot of different areas, so it certainly prepared us well,” she said. “Moving to the Big 12, though, allows us to prepare better for the NCAA Tournament.”
Diving into recruiting hotbeds
The Big 12 lost some cachet in recent years with the departure of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. However, it remains a prestigious conference and adds four new teams this summer.
O’Leary believes this helps with recruiting, as does the ability to enter recruiting hotbeds in Colorado and California.
“The exposure for us to be able to get out there and allow potential student athletes to come watch us, that’s fantastic,” O’Leary said. “We’ll be able to get in front of a lot of different places.”
While squads such as Maryland and UNC are regular UF opponents, the coach listed dominant programs such as Northwestern, Syracuse, Stony Brook and Notre Dame as potential new games.
Each of those programs currently rank in the top 11 and play in prime recruiting regions such as the Midwest and New York State.
Travel concerns?
The biggest result of this move comes geographically. In the American, Florida’s longest trip is to Cincinnati, but in the Big 12, it’ll be their shortest.
O’Leary isn’t concerned, though, for a multitude of reasons. First, conference games in lacrosse are on weekends and conference officials promised UF it only needed to make two trips out to the west coast each season.
This means if the Gators must travel to say, Arizona State and San Diego State, Colorado and UC Davis will come to Gainesville.
As for time change, Florida is given a bone in that all conference games usually start around noon local time. Due to that, O’Leary believes the team will benefit for games in Gainesville.
A good litmus test, O’Leary thinks, comes this season. Next week, the squad travels for a west coast swing at ASU, SDSU and UC Davis.
For Sam Hughes, the travel will be embraced. The freshman is from Castle Rock, Colorado, about 60 miles southeast of Boulder.
“We already talked to her about the possibility of going to her house for dinner prior to the game,” O’Leary said.
The SEC remains end goal
The conference’s other lacrosse program — Vanderbilt — will remain in the American.
O’Leary closed by stressing the Gators would join the SEC the minute lacrosse was added.
“I think the end goal for us and Vanderbilt is to eventually play in the SEC. It’s an incredible conference, so I think lacrosse would blossom in there,” she said. “Come on ADs, make it happen.”
No. 16 Florida returns to Donald R. Dizney Stadium Wednesday after a massive 13-12 overtime upset at No. 5 Maryland Saturday. The showdown with Jacksonville begins at 4 p.m.
Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.
Joined by Holocaust survivors, Jewish leaders, fellow Sen. Ashley Moody, and former Republican governor turned Democratic St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Charlie Crist, Scott stood behind a lectern bearing the slogan “Don’t. Fund. Antisemitism.” He gestured to the boxcar on his right, which once transported humans to death camps during the Holocaust.
“Many suffocated in boxcars like these before they even made it,” Scott said. “It all started with questions like the one before us today: Are we going to tolerate this?”
Kanye West’s schedule in Florida
West, who now goes by Ye, has Raymond James Stadium concerts scheduled on June 26 and 28, prompting an outcry from the Tampa Jewish Federation and the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women. Last week, the Florida Holocaust Museum announced it would offer free admission that weekend.
On June 4, Scott wrote a scathing open letter to the Tampa Sports Authority, which operates Raymond James Stadium. He argued that taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to fund events for West, who sold swastika merchandise and posted a song titled “Heil Hitler” last year.
“People say, ‘Oh, it’s just a concert. Oh, the Tampa Bay Sports Authority is going to make some money, let people have their fun,’” he said. “Some of the worst sins in human history begin with the words, ‘I was just’: ‘I was just going to a concert with my friends,’ ‘I was just trying to make money,’ ‘I was just following orders.’ No, you can’t do that. None of us should be let off the hook for hatred and antisemitism.”
In a new statement following Monday’s press conference, the Tampa Sports Authority pushed back against Scott’s claims.
“We condemn antisemitism from any source. However, we also respect free speech rights guaranteed under the US Constitution, even when we disagree with that speech,” it said. “In addition, no taxpayer money is being used for staging the Ye concerts. To suggest otherwise is false.”
Ye has a long history of antisemitism
This spring, Ye published an apology for his antisemitism in the Wall Street Journal, attributing his behavior to his bipolar disorder and brain damage caused by a car accident. Despite this, his behavior prompted European officials to block him from entering the UK, effectively canceling some concerts there.
“Why is it that other countries can tell him no, and we don’t do that? We’ve accepted him,” said Toni Rinde, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who traveled from Clearwater to speak at the press conference. “Why? Why is this person being so hateful, trying to destroy people?”
Janet Hammer, a volunteer at the Jewish Federation of Florida’s Gulf Coast, spoke out against the concerts at last week’s Tampa City Council meeting and sent letters to her elected officials.
“There are people who have not been educated to understand what Nazis represent. He is glamorizing hatred,” she said. “We should have a ticket buyback program. Because to me, it’s not just the profit that’s going to be made. It’s how many individuals are going to be hearing this person, and who knows what the messaging is that he’s going to share?”
After the press conference, Hammer said she is still looking for ways to fight back against the concert.
“It’s like a done deal. That’s unacceptable in my eyes,” she said. “I left there asking, ’What more can I do?’”
🏆 Residential: The top home sale to hit records in South Florida was in Miami, where the 4,400-square-foot at 733 Belle Meade Boulevard changed hands for $9.2 million. The seller was an LLC tied to entrepreneur Andrew Sieja and his wife, philanthropist Jessica Sieja. The buyer was Joshua Keller. The waterfront property has five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. It last sold in 2021 for $8.3 million. It went on the market in January for $10 million. Miltiadis Kastanis with Compass had the listing, and Dan Hechtkopf, also with Compass, brought the buyer.
🏆 Commercial: The priciest commercial deal was in Hollywood, where the hotel known as the Rooftop Resort at 1215 North Ocean Drive sold for $6.9 million. Built in the 1970s, the property spans 16,500 square feet and has 34 rooms. The seller was an LLC tied to Pamela Riccio and the buyer was an LLC managed by Michael Delouya, Thierry Cohen and Daniel Benhamou. The Rotella Group had the listing.
📊 Residential: In Miami Beach, a 4,500-square-foot condo at 1011 West 48th Street sold for $8 million or roughly $1,800 per square foot. The seller was a company managed by Ansir Junaid, founder of the Junaid Group, which operates business across a range of industries from real estate to healthcare, and the buyer was an entity led by Robert Curran. The unit, which has four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, previously sold in 2023 for $8.3 million. Its most recent asking price was $9.5 million. One Sotheby’s International Realty’s Chelsea Werner had the listing, and Ximetta Mires with Global Luxury Realty represented the buyer.
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The number of underwater homes in the U.S. is rapidly growing.
For the first time since 2021, the number of homes where loan balances sit at least 25 percent higher than a property’s estimated market value passed the 2 million mark. The figure represents a 15 percent year-over-year increase, according to a new report from real estate analytics firm Attom.
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SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA)—Around 22,000 juvenile snook will be released in Southwest Florida to advance Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium’s fisheries enhancement efforts in 2026.
According to Mote Marine Laboratory, for nearly three decades, Mote scientists have worked to develop, refine, and evaluate responsible marine stock enhancement strategies for snook and other native species.
“These releases reflect the continued growth and refinement of Mote’s fisheries enhancement capabilities,” said Dr. Ryan Schloesser, Manager of Mote’s Fisheries Ecology & Enhancement Program. “Our focus remains on producing healthy fish, releasing them strategically, and collecting the scientific data needed to better understand how stock enhancement can support resilient wild populations.”
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Credit: Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium -
Credit: Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium
The releases in 2026 represent another step forward in Mote’s science-based efforts to support Florida’s recreational fisheries.
Mote Marine Laboratory strategically selects release locations based on environmental conditions and habitat characteristics that provide favorable conditions and structure essential for juvenile snook survival and growth.
According to Mote, the stock enhancement program is guided by research objectives that examine post-release survival, movement patterns, habitat use, and the overall contribution of stocked fish to wild populations.
Before the fish are released, they go through comprehensive health assessments to ensure they are well-suited for release.
According to Mote, in addition to physical tags, Mote scientists are working to utilize advanced genetic tagging techniques using known genetic profiles of parental broodstock.
Researchers can identify individual fish and trace their lineages from small tissue samples, such as fin clips, collected after release through genotyping.
“We have the genetic profiles of the parents and are developing the tools needed to match offspring recovered in the wild back to their source,” said Dr. Schloesser. “This approach will allow us to evaluate stocking success while minimizing handling and stress associated with traditional tagging methods.”
According to Mote, snook remains one of Florida’s most sought-after recreational sportfish, and they contribute significantly to Florida’s coastal economy.
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