Oracle: On Campus Stadium Debate!!!

[Joe]

With the Glazers' business sense you'd think they'd see the opportunity here to appease everyone and make more money. Build some nice dorms in a corner parcel of the mall lot where they're building the training facility. They could use these for their training camp and then in the fall rent them out to students on Fridays of game weekends. They could get **** faced and then stumble over for the game on Saturday.

Heck, even rent them to them on Saturday nights of Buc home games too so they could get **** faced again and then stumble over to the stadium on Sunday. Apparently this is the most important part of the experience since some seem too put out to drive 15 minutes to actually attend the game ...

Triple your arrogant...

Read any of my posts, I have never said getting drunk and stumbling over to games is the reason for an on campus stadium. I fact only ONE person said that and he's banned...

I believe an OCS is needed for ENVIRONMENT. Cars sprawled across campus, people cooking everwhere. The student union right there. Parking on campus 2-3 days before a big game in your RV. Staying after the game w/o getting chased out by TSA to watch other games on TV or to talk about your game. Having your OWN venue to be proud of and hopefully hear other teams say, "You can't go into USF Stadium, that place is a madhouse."

Are adult beverages part of it, yes for some people, but they aren't necessary.

However, RJS does not offer it, it feels so mechanical. Arrive 2 hours before the game. Set up quickly. Hang out. Go into the game. Stay quiet and sit on your hands in a CAVERNOUS stadium dressed for another team for most the game. Leave, go out to your car, be chased off by TSA id you stick around or wait in traffic.

If you have never been to another school for an on campus gameday atmosphere check it out, its special.

[Knight_Light]

That's the main point I've been trying to get people to see all along.  Most schools build them because THEY HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS!

We don't need to play "follow the leader" when those we are trying to follow don't have as many options as we do.  They all wish they had stadiums as nice as we do.

I've heard coaches from Texas, UF and Arizona talking, they were saying what a great recruiting tool RJS must be. and how they wish they had that.

We've had players with offers from Okla and other big programs decide on us when they got taken on a tour of RJS.

We need to realize how lucky we are and that we can be leaders (not followers.)

If you offered UF RJS for FREE vs the SWAMP today....the answer would be NO!

Most top colleges would rather have an "original" one of a kind stadium...with 90,000 plus seats (includes mostly bleacher seating with some club and sky boxes)...vs a much smaller NFL Stadium with only 100% chairbacks w/cup holders, club seats and sky boxes.

College is all about ATMOSPHERE...which is very hard to create in a NFL Stadium.

KL

[TripleB]

Triple your arrogant...

Read any of my posts, I have never said getting drunk and stumbling over to games is the reason for an on campus stadium. I fact only ONE person said that and he's banned...

I'm not arrogant. I'm just being a dickhead. That really wasn't directed at you but actually at the ONE person you're talking about....... knowing he's probably reading but can't respond.  

I believe an OCS is needed for ENVIRONMENT. Cars sprawled across campus, people cooking everwhere. The student union right there. Parking on campus 2-3 days before a big game in your RV. Staying after the game w/o getting chased out by TSA to watch other games on TV or to talk about your game. Having your OWN venue to be proud of and hopefully hear other teams say, "You can't go into USF Stadium, that place is a madhouse."

Honestly, I think an OCS will be great when the time comes. I just don't agree with what some are saying that we NEED an OCS for the viability of our football program down the line. That's just not the case. We'll get one when/if the time is right.

However, RJS does not offer it, it feels so mechanical. Arrive 2 hours before the game. Set up quickly. Hang out. Go into the game. Stay quiet and sit on your hands in a CAVERNOUS stadium dressed for another team for most the game. Leave, go out to your car, be chased off by TSA id you stick around or wait in traffic.

That stadium can be as intimidating as any if the fans want it to be. Why do you think the ones that you say are staying quiet and sitting on their hands will suddenly come alive in an OCS?? You can make your atmosphere ANYWHERE if you really want to.

If you have never been to another school for an on campus gameday atmosphere check it out, its special.

In a previous life, I went to some FSU games in Tally. It WAS special because I was Seminole fan back then. Now, game days here are just as special because I'm a Bulls fan. I guess it's all in personal preference.

[USFFan]

News flash for Tony "I Love Penn State!" Marquis: Most of the schools in the Top 25 aren't in cities that have an NFL team. Let's see...

1. USC - Los Angeles - NO

2. Texas - Austin - NO

3. Virginia Tech - Blacksburg - NO

4. Georgia - Athens - NO

5. Alabama - Tuscaloosa - NO

6. Miami - Miami - YES (use another off-campus stadium)

7. LSU - Baton Rouge - NO (but it's good enough for the Saints this year)

8. UCLA - Los Angeles - NO

9. Notre Dame - South Bend - NO

10. Florida State - Tallahassee - NO

11. Penn State - State College - NO

12. Ohio State - Columbus - NO

13. Boston College - Boston - YES (on-campus stadium)

14. Oregon - Eugene - NO

15. Wisconsin - Madison - NO

16. Florida - Gainesville - NO

17. Texas Tech - Lubbock - NO

18. West Virginia - Morgantown - NO

19. Auburn - Auburn - NO

20. TCU - Fort Worth - NO (the Cowboys don't count in this situation)

21. Northwestern - Evanston - YES (I'll count the Bears - on-campus stadium)

22. Fresno State - Fresno - NO

23. Tennessee - Knoxville - NO

24. California - Berkeley - NO

25. Michigan - Ann Arbor - NO

Let's see, that's three out of 25, and if you want to get really lenient with TCU, then it's four out of 25. No wonder they all have on-campus stadiums. Otherwise the city wouldn't need one at all.

The real question is how many schools in NFL cities went ahead and built themselves a new stadium after an NFL stadium went up? SMU and Minnesota for sure, and maybe Houston. That's it.

Not to be a stickler, but the Patriots don't play in Boston, they play in Foxboro, which is more than 30 miles away from Boston.  Evanston's not exactly down the street from Soldier Field, either.  

Also FYI, University of Minnesota plays in the Metrodome.  Oh, and Houston's Robertson Stadium (which is a piece of crap, by the way), is older than Reliant Stadium (not sure about the Astrodome).

More evidence that supports the original thesis.  Not that I expect that to stop the weekly flogging of this dead horse...

USFFan

[smazza]

usc plays in la coliseum which is a dump but it has tradition

the toilets dont work and thee is  50-50 chance you may not make it to your car alive unless you park in $60 spaces

[Sitting_BULL]

If you offered UF RJS for FREE vs the SWAMP today....the answer would be NO!KL

Very doubtful my fine educationally challenged Knight. ;D

Give UF the choice back when they were planing to build the swamp and I'm quite sure they would have been glad to have a state of the art stadium for a fraction (emphasis on FRACTION) of the costs.

[Knight_Light]

Very doubtful my fine educationally challenged Knight. ;D

Give UF the choice back when they were planing to build the swamp and I'm quite sure they would have been glad to have a state of the art stadium for a fraction (emphasis on FRACTION) of the costs.

Wrong...College is a totally different animal then the NFL.

Put in chairbacks even now in the Swamp...and UF would lose about 20,000 seats.

Put a smaller structure like RJS in there...and UF loses about 30,000 seats from what they have today.

Go visit top programs like Michigan, Penn State, UF, Ohio State, Tennessee, UGA, Alabama, LSU, Texas, etc....their stadiums are now basically idols and and "attractions" themselves.

Take out the Pirate ship at RJS...and it looks like the other 10-15 new NFL Stadiums across the Country.

Seems that many USF fans haven't been able to experience REAL Collge Atmoshperes...and can only compare what they know to RJS (either College or Pro).

KL

[smazza]

i can't even tell you # of stadiums this old butt(40 years of sporting events in northeast,lflorida and cali) has been in but rjs is  the nicest outdoor facility i have watched a football game and it great for usf at this point in time

at the right time,usf should build a  astate of the art  facility

staples is nicest indoor facility

[WoolyBully]

at the right time,usf should build a  astate of the art  facility

That's it...right there. However...there are those who believe that the right time is NOW and those who believe the right time is when RayJ is no longer servicable. That's really the essence of the argument.

I would still like to know, how much did the fact that there was an existing stadium, play a part in the decision to make USF football a reality. For instance, would we be where we are now, had we also been on the hook to build (all that that entails) a stadium.  I have to believe that the multi-million dollar savings had to have smoothed some bumps.... :

[Guest Justin Boza]

That really wasn't directed at you but actually at the ONE person you're talking about....... knowing he's probably reading but can't respond.   .

are you sure about that one?  

like joe has stated, as long as we have a stadium off campus, we may never get that certain "mystique" that you get when you've got the entire collegiate environment behind you.. yes, true diehard fans will come out despite the fact that its 15 minutes away from campus, but the OCS will capture all of the "fringe" fans who werent fans of college football when they came to college, to begin with.. many fans across the nation who attend colleges with football on campus transform into college fans once they are exposed to it.. its a lot easier to be a fan of something (whether it be a sport or any other type of recreational activity) when you've got more exposure to it.. and being exposed to something that is 15 steps from your dorm is a lot more conducive than being exposed to something that is 15 minutes driving