Our Scheduling Philosophy is a Bad Look

[ArmyBull]

So I ran into this today while playing on the interwebs:

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-football/first-and-10-its-not-just-lsu-vs-ucf-its-the-sec-vs-ucf-with-reputations-at-stake/amp/

It's an SEC blog, relatively well written and we were mentioned.    

Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said last week he’d play UCF if the Gators get two home games for the Knights’ one. White doesn’t want that, and says UCF has established itself to deserve a one-for-one deal.

Realistically, if UCF hasn’t yet established itself to get those deals with the SEC, when will it? Florida recently agreed to a two-for-one with USF, and it might as well have been highway robbery.

The Gators are paying $750,000 for two games in Gainesville (total, not each) and receiving $250,000 (and 12,000 tickets; about 4-6,000 above typical road games) for the game in Tampa. That’s a net of at least $1 million over the three seasons because guarantee games typically costing Power 5 schools at least $750,000.

Here’s another reason Florida is playing at USF: the Bulls play in an off-campus, NFL stadium, and the 2023 USF home game will likely be at least half-full of Gators fans.

I remember when we made this deal.  I did not like it because I think two for ones are stupid but the chance to beat UF three times did have an appeal; however, I did not realize the deal was as lopsided as it appears.  Also, figured this would also turn into a nice OCS thread!  

Edited December 11, 2018 by ArmyBull

[SANJAY]

The return game from UF makes the deal make sense for us. I believe USF gets all money above a certain threshold ($2.50?) of each ticket. If there’s 50,000 tickets sold (regardless of who sits in them) and the average ticket goes for $52.50, then USF makes $2.5 million from the home game. And I think those are conservative attendance numbers for that game. 

[Rocky Style]

1 minute ago, SANJAY said:

The return game from UF makes the deal make sense for us. I believe USF gets all money above a certain threshold ($2.50?) of each ticket. If there’s 50,000 tickets sold (regardless of who sits in them) and the average ticket goes for $52.50, then USF makes $2.5 million from the home game. And I think those are conservative attendance numbers for that game. 

I imagine that will also help season ticket sales and those games against UMASS, TULSA or whatever other atrocities we have on the schedule.

[usf97]

Anytime, USF is playing UF, FSU or Miami it is giving us the games fans want. 

Somewhat to a lesser extent, I would enjoy more scheduling with Auburn, Alabama, GT, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina and Clemson. 

Pay game, 2 for 1, I don't really care. I would much rather do that than have a 1 and 1 with Illinois or Syracuse. 

[I like GOOOOLD (and green)]

I don't really think it's a bad look unless UF and UCF come to terms that are more agreeable to them than what we got.  At that point, with the Louisville debacle it would establish a clear trend of unfavorable philosophies relative to those guys.   

[SANJAY]

16 minutes ago, usf97 said:

Anytime, USF is playing UF, FSU or Miami it is giving us the games fans want. 

Somewhat to a lesser extent, I would enjoy more scheduling with Auburn, Alabama, GT, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina and Clemson. 

Pay game, 2 for 1, I don't really care. I would much rather do that than have a 1 and 1 with Illinois or Syracuse. 

Actually 1-1 with Illinois, Syracuse and the like are exactly what we do need. Teams that have some nominal name value, P5, and will bring contingents of northern fans to buy tickets. I don’t mind a 1 and done but there’s only a handful of places I think are worth that.

My personal 1 and done list: Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Alabama, USC, Notre Dame, Georgia, Clemson.

[NYCbull]

I’m fine with 2-1 if we win them all 

[ArmyBull]

I like the opportunities, but I will never agree that a two for one is good for us, no matter who the name is.  Especially if we are not making a boat load of money. 

[chapelbull]

45 minutes ago, ArmyBull said:

 

Realistically, if UCF hasn’t yet established itself to get those deals with the SEC, when will it? 

 

This was my point.  How does a top 10 rated team in back to back years not earn a 1:1? 

You have to schedule so far out it's a crap shoot.  USF has to schedule the right P5 teams on the right year (the year they are legitimately a title contender) or else it doesn't matter from a CFP perspective.  ucf may have a team that could compete this year, but no one knows because their AD didn't have the magic 8 ball to tell him to go ahead and give away the farm for a 1 shot or 2 for 1 deal with the right P5 team(s).  Would UF really have looked like that impressive of a W this year?  How much would that have really helped the resume if they handed UF their 4th loss of the season?

[Fold FB Invest in BB]

Whining about not being treated fairly is a bad look, especially when you're the only one in the room that thinks of yourself as "national champions", and you've greatly overestimated your leverage due to your own delusion.