OCS!!!

[CousinRicky]

1 hour ago, Triple B said:

 

The Sundome has never been consistently packed. Highest averages have been in the low 5K range The year after the NCAA bid, the average was 5389. and the student section was good but rarely filled to rafters ..... and those were usually games with some kind of prize for going to game. It is what it is and the next coach needs full disclosure on what he's facing with getting fan support here. Only thing that could possibly pay immediate dividends is a hoops version of CCS .... but even that wouldn't be solid lock.

It was after he was hired but I told COA the day we met (at a baseball game in Clearwater) that he shouldn't expect much from USF fans.  Don't expect them to show up in large numbers, don't expect them to stand at any part of the game and get loud.  It is a pitiful atmosphere in the Sun Dome.  A couple of years back I turned on an Ivy League game (maybe Princeton v Harvard or Penn).  The little gym was filled and raucous.  May not have been more than a thousand people there but it was loud and a fun atmosphere.  We can't even get all the fans to stand until the first basket is made. I'm not sure why people go to the games if not to get excited about what they are watching.  I know those times are limited with USF basketball but even at the times when it is exciting our fans don't seem interested.  Football is the same with the "don't stand and block my view thing".

Sorry, off on a tangent here.

[Gismo]

1 hour ago, charsibb said:

For this generation of students, who grew up glued to a computer or TV screen, live action isn't nearly as enjoyable as what they can see on their screen. Participation sports track down as strongly as X-Box sports track up

I was thinking the same thing. Before computers there was a lot less entertainment options. Well computers now deliver entertainment in such abundance that all forms of live entertainment are impacted. You have the first MMO (think world of Warcraft) and Halo generation now reaching the age of 30. This is when gaming addiction really took huge leaps with Xbox and play station 2 and online MMO and live online multiplayer. Combined with the obvious advancements in live streaming sports. 

You probably have a few thousand students and alumni who play video games instead of attend sports, because it is just more entertaining and modern games are very social. And you probably have a few more thousand who just watch the game at a bar or at home. And specifically in Tampa, you have a few thousand who make plans for Bucs or another pro team instead. I think of you look around college football stadiums, all of the larger venues tend to be in cities with no competing professional teams, and often are in smaller cities with less entertainment diversity. 

It will be up to venues to adapt and offer a unique live experience. It may even just be a matter of lower prices and more comfortable seats and comfortable outdoor weather for event times (I'm looking at you September noon games!)

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Gismo

[WoolyBully]

2 hours ago, George_Bullnard_Shaw said:

The old generations of families going to the same land grant university and remaining in the area after graduation paradigm is quickly fading away. Rural areas will probably always support the only game in town, urban/suburban areas not so much.

That's kinda where I'm leaning. It could well be that we never, ever reach the attendance levels of the P5 premier schools. Hey...could happen. I don't honestly believe we'll see 60K per Saturday - regardless of where we play. The reason I say that it we're not the 'university town'. The university is located in our town - which has no shortage of great weather, hockey, NFL, party in Ybor, wanna take the boat out, distractions to a generation of - brutally honest - short attention span digital-submarine undergrads. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that either...it's just that that's the environment in which we operate. Toss in the convenience and quality of home entertainment systems and you can see exactly what the 'game day experience' has to compete with. 

Someone mentioned some time back that it was the 'hot dog atmosphere' that drove attendance in the Big East days...Rutgers...WVU. May be. And it just may be that that atmosphere - RayJ or OCS - that is gonna move the needle. 'Cause if I can't pry you away from pokemon for three hours on a Saturday evening... 

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by WoolyBully
grammar

[Triple B]

26 minutes ago, Bourbon Bull said:

It was after he was hired but I told COA the day we met (at a baseball game in Clearwater) that he shouldn't expect much from USF fans.  Don't expect them to show up in large numbers, don't expect them to stand at any part of the game and get loud.  It is a pitiful atmosphere in the Sun Dome.  A couple of years back I turned on an Ivy League game (maybe Princeton v Harvard or Penn).  The little gym was filled and raucous.  May not have been more than a thousand people there but it was loud and a fun atmosphere.  We can't even get all the fans to stand until the first basket is made. I'm not sure why people go to the games if not to get excited about what they are watching.  I know those times are limited with USF basketball but even at the times when it is exciting our fans don't seem interested.  Football is the same with the "don't stand and block my view thing".

Sorry, off on a tangent here.

All I have to say these days is thank God for the band ....

What was COA's reaction to your heads up? I hope to heck all the coaches and signees coming into this situation knowing what to expect and want to be part of turning it around.

[NAM37]

6 minutes ago, WoolyBully said:

that is gonna move the needle. 'Cause if I can't pry you away from pokemon for three hours on a Saturday evening...

My son could tell you that you can play Pokemon just fine from within RJS.

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

1 minute ago, NAM37 said:

My son could tell you that you can play Pokemon just fine from within RJS.

Probably a nice gym and some good pokestations there!

[tampatony]

3 hours ago, Triple B said:

 

The Sundome has never been consistently packed. Highest averages have been in the low 5K range The year after the NCAA bid, the average was 5389. and the student section was good but rarely filled to rafters ..... and those were usually games with some kind of prize for going to game. It is what it is and the next coach needs full disclosure on what he's facing with getting fan support here. Only thing that could possibly pay immediate dividends is a hoops version of CCS .... but even that wouldn't be solid lock.

Well even if there is a 1000 students that isn't going to fill the gym. I remember that year. I went to most games the year they went to the tournament and the year after. I had season tickets the year after that. I was always pleasantly surprised that students were sitting in the upper sections, even to lesser known teams. Students aren't going to fill that arena. They aren't going to fill a new OCS either.

The idea that students are the cause of us not selling out is the biggest fallacy this site perpetrates. Students at most will be 2-3 thousand to a basketball game and what 10 thousand at football games? That's at most 15-17% for football and less than 10% for basketball. The people you should be mad at are the local fans that don't bother to go out for the games. Those are the fair weather fans that stay home instead of supporting the school.

If we build an OCS it will fail if we can't alumni to buy season tickets, not students using tickets that they pay for whether they go or not.

[Triple B]

14 minutes ago, tampatony said:

If we build an OCS it will fail if we can't alumni to buy season tickets, not students using tickets that they pay for whether they go or not.

No argument there .... which is why there's nothing concrete happening yet on an ocs.

[Gismo]

Build it 40k... 35k... whatever, expand it when we get into P5 or P6 or are selling out all games.

[Who'sYourData?]

4 hours ago, charsibb said:

For this generation of students, who grew up glued to a computer or TV screen, live action isn't nearly as enjoyable as what they can see on their screen. Participation sports track down as strongly as X-Box sports track up

Nope.  Go to an MLS game in Orlando.  Stands are full of young people, and the stadium moans and cheers with every move on the field.  At least 90 percent of the fans are glued to the action, understand what is going on, and the fans are LOUD with none of the piped in crap that has become a staple of American football and basketball.

Went to an Orlando Magic game in a suite the other day.   I started thinking "This is nice, but kind of boring and sterile"  Then I started looking around the area.  It is a beautiful place, but even the people down the in the lower deck were bored and barely watching the game.  Maybe half the people behind the basket were trying to distract someone taking a free throw.   The rest were politely watching.

It's like teams have gone so overboard with amenities and loud speakers, fans don't know how to be fans anymore.  I think all the TV timeouts in the other sports don't help.

Soccer is the only sport in which fans pay attention to the game.  Maybe it is the quick pace of the game and lack of timeouts.  If you aren't paying attention you may miss something.  In NFL or NCAA football or basketball, if you aren't paying attention you'll likely miss a TV timeout.