Joe

PSU does not have assigned seats. You line up several days before the game...

UF football benefits GREATLY from their deal with Nike and Gatorade. Last year they were the top Revenue Athletic Department in the country, beating Michigan, Ohio State, and USC.

I dont think it benefits us at all. (BTW, the ND games in Orlando the last 10 years have been FSU and Navy "home"games, not a ND home game, which is what the game at RJS would be). However, this is why I hate playing at RJS. Great facility...blah, blah, blah. We make no money for it, and therefore their priorities go Bucs, Bowl Game, Nuetral site games, USF. This nuetral site game would draw 68,000 plus money that ND would pay to rent the place.

Its gonna be UF, 1 game, neutral site, Least that is the rumor as of now. Thats the reason they are looking at multiple venues.

The bowls do this every whatever few years because of the NFL. Its been that way since teh 60s.

Velcro, Miss St. has expressed a lot of interest according to rivals.

Thank You Colin, exactly what I am saying (about the atmosphere). The Orange Bowl is a craphole. But it is what gives Miami such an advantage. Moving to Dolphins Stadium would ruin that atmosphere. A plush situation like RJS is nice, but it will not make an atmosphere like the Miami crowd game in and game out. Too many distractions...

Unfortunatly this is the Big East's choice. ESPN360 added live events on their internet based program. Each conference in the ABC/ESPN is having games on the 360 weekly that will appear only on ESPN360. The conference throughout the season (big 10 has done it twice, Big12 once) gets to make the choice from what I've been told and Big East chose our game.

WHo is paying for the UCF football stadium? I have heard rumors from a friend in the UCF sports management school, that many of their big boosters have offered a million a piece, and Rich DeVos (orlando magic) offered 3-5 mil.

No way they pass UCF, the program at UCF maybe hurting now, but I believe they will be fine in a few years. UCF has a fan base and possibly an on campus stadium. FAU is "averaging" 12k fans, BUT ticket receipts are in the 4-5k range. Money is already low and the team is having to regulate itself to 4 home dates a year.

You can't start an antitrust suit because the conferences agree to be part of the ESPN outlet, and there are alternatives for their viewing (see: CUSA to CSTV). As for ESPN360 how do/can you get it?

Yes, Miami fans are terrible (i posted a few weeks ago about my stories there for the UF and Clemson games). Beer thrown on Gator fans and plastic bottles hitting the Clemson fans. Yes the Louisville game was very loud, but only in spurts. Go watch a game at any aged BCS team and you will see a totally different atmosphere. Every game is loud at all times. I have been to many college games including a few at Pitt (grandfather is alumnus). The difference in the corwd at Pitt Stadium v. Heinz Field is amazing! The Heinz field crowd is subdued and quiet whereas the Pitt Stadium crowd was always noisy and exciting. The point of my post is yes the stadium was nasty, and the bathrooms smelt, and the parking lots were dirt and mud. The fans were terrible, but teh environment was great! Anyone who believes we have that type of environment for our games (Miami considers us a cupcake) is serious wearing the Bull Blinders.

Guys its college football, if you want all those great amenities then goto an NFL game! The reason they can't afford the "amenities" that many pro stadiums have (cupholders!? is it THAT big a deal?) is because tickets are 1/5th the price! I understand wanting a replay board, the guy I tailgated with before the game (friend graduated from Miami) told me that Miami doesn't want one. However, this is what college football is, its a pure form of the sport, bleachers, etc add to the environment. I wish we had something like that. The noise at our games is meek compared to many college games. People settle in their seats and act like they have nothing going on other than relaxing quitely and watching a football game. RJS is great, don't get me wrong, but I just don't think we'll ever have the environment of a real college game there (and believe it or not, it factors heavily into recruiting.)

Regardless the Big East will keep their bid. Starting next year if a non BCS school is in the top 12 (if there are 2 the top 1 from that) they will go to a BCS Bowl, as they have added the 5th game.

I think Florida is playing at Miami in 2009, seriously doubt they would allow themselves 5 homegames (currently play 6 homegames a year, 7 in 12 game season) to play us at RJS. Miami would make it 6 home games in 2009, and if they WERE to play at RJS that would be 5.

The 2010 is the last year of the contract. In 2008 new standards are comming forth that will evaluate conferences on a year to year basis. "The new BCS standards (2008) will measure the quality of the conference's depth over a four-year period in determining automatic bids, relative to the other conferences. " - Jim Palm CollegeBCS.com These will start with the 2004 season results and move on from there.

Actually its 2008, part of the FOX BCS package...

The Sundome is No different than the ODome in Gainesville, which ESPN, SI, and **** Vitale have considered to be one of the best places to see a college basketball game. I like its intimacy.

Thats a long way away, lets just concentrate on our current team.

Guys your looking past the fact that most USF alum didn't have D-1 football when they were at school. I do not blame them one bit for liking other teams, its what they got hooked on to when they started to follow football. Would a lifelong Bucs fan drop everything to become Jags fans because they were born and raised in Jacksonville? Probably not. You need to understand that it will take YEARS to build up a large loyal fanbase, especially considering that USF is a major commuter school (sadly many/most the people in my dorm leave on weekends), in which most people choose to go to for convience more than the name (unlike a Michigan or Florida/Florida State/Miami)

UK-Fla is a national game on CBS, that isn't moving. I'm hearing Troy- South Carolina will take its place at 7:30. This is from a friend who owns a cable company in Osecola County (he has received calls from USF/Louisville fans)

Major difference though, the Athletic Dept at WV is about 10 times bigger than ours. Schools are more willing to travel there and play 1 and 1's than comming to us. Fan support needs to improve.

No shock there, unless its a "big game" the Orange Bowl usually only has 40,000-50,000 fans in it. In their defense they only have 13,000 students and 5,000 of them don't know what the heck football is (foreign).

They have 3 juniors still, Caldwell was their number 2 receiver, but Baker and Cornelius will fill in fine, plus I believe they got 2 big recruits this past year if I am not mistaken.

FIU just went on probation, it will be a few years... As for Miami, asnice as it would be, they just ditched the Big East because they didn't think it was a strong enough conference with Va Tech and BC. It will be YEARS for them to accept us as a rival. Especially since they start playing UF again in 2008.