Attendance is an embarrassment

[jasonb56]

This whole thread is depressing... Our school, it's fans and this team deserve better. This needs to be corrected. 

[deadudea]

In reality though, most of the entire conference is struggling with attendance. Granted, being ranked should help, but it's not going to. There's a low ceiling on the AAC any way you spin it. It's not going to change, sooner you accept it the more you'll be able to enjoy the games.

[El_Toro_86]

1 minute ago, Supersurch said:

U guys ready for the answer??

It's Tampa.  All other factors (conf affiliation, ranked, no ocs, etc. does not matter.)  Look at our other sports teams in the bay area.  Same thing.  And the bay area has a lombardi trophy, stanley cup, and a world series.  

Tampa Bay is a vacation destination.  People who lives here or have lived here come and go.  Most have no attachment to the area therefore no attachment to the sports teams.

That is true for pro sports, however, tampa is passionate about college football.  It just happens to be Noles and Gators and not the Bulls.

[Apis Bull]

1 minute ago, Supersurch said:

U guys ready for the answer??

It's Tampa.  All other factors (conf affiliation, ranked, no ocs, etc. does not matter.)  Look at our other sports teams in the bay area.  Same thing.  And the bay area has a lombardi trophy, stanley cup, and a world series.  

Tampa Bay is a vacation destination.  People who lives here or have lived here come and go.  Most have no attachment to the area therefore no attachment to the sports teams.

I would agree with you, however, how many UF fans live in or near Gainesville?  Notre Dame fans in South Bend?  We probably have more alumni living in the area that most other teams.  I know the other teams mentioned have years of history and fan base growth.

[El_Toro_86]

2 minutes ago, jasonb56 said:

This whole thread is depressing... Our school, it's fans and this team deserve better. This needs to be corrected. 

Ageed.  It is depressing and I don't see an easy fix.

[Bull Matrix]

3 minutes ago, El_Toro_86 said:

Attendance problem goes deeper than schedule.  Look at FSU game last year.  Yeah there were over 50k in attendance but 25-30k were FSU fans.  I'm in section 112 and it was 60/40 FSU to USF in my section.

There is very little passion and pride for USF athletics.  When that changes, attendance will improve regardless of opponents.

Also add Maryland & NC State. Not powerhouses but you would think fans would notice. 

[Paisa el Toro]

6 minutes ago, El_Toro_86 said:

There is very little passion and pride for USF athletics.  When that changes, attendance will improve regardless of opponents.

This. All. Day.

[Bull Matrix]

2 minutes ago, Apis Bull said:

I would agree with you, however, how many UF fans live in or near Gainesville?  Notre Dame fans in South Bend?  We probably have more alumni living in the area that most other teams.  I know the other teams mentioned have years of history and fan base growth.

We need an older USF alumni group that are die hards. They need to retire with a lot of money so they can travel back to Tampa for each home game. Sadly, traveling back to Tampa to watch USF play at RJS is not really interesting to a lot of alumni. An OCS will give an excuse for alumni to come back to see the campus.

[JTrue]

2 minutes ago, Supersurch said:

U guys ready for the answer??

It's Tampa.  All other factors (conf affiliation, ranked, no ocs, etc. does not matter.)  Look at our other sports teams in the bay area.  Same thing.  And the bay area has a lombardi trophy, stanley cup, and a world series.  

Tampa Bay is a vacation destination.  People who lives here or have lived here come and go.  Most have no attachment to the area therefore no attachment to the sports teams.

None of those were answers.

Lightning - In the last 5 years, the worst attendance they've had was selling out 97% of the seats FOR THE SEASON.

Bucs - All they have to do is win a little bit and the attendance is in the 60k range.

Rays - I left my house at 5:45pm on Tuesday for the game. I sat down in my seat at 7:45pm. That's the problem for a Rays game that needs an answer.

 

[Rocky Style]

Build local pride for USF and the sports will follow.  Get people on campus to see all the amazing upgrades, put up signs in the stadium touting all the academic and research rankings.  This is not rocket science.  People who went to USF and never came back will be proud.  Trust me I have friends that have no idea about any of this and they went there.

Build 35k horseshoe or simple bowl with cloth thing to provide shade.  Done.