Current Fans Need to be Recruiters FOR MORE FANS !!!

[NewEnglandBull]

38 minutes ago, Triple B said:

Not to be crass but what matters most is if he's doing whatever he can financially to help build the program, not just posting on a message board.

Well, I suspect we’ll above 90% of those who are regulars on this board do give financially, but everyone has different financial obligations. 

[USFreak]

23 hours ago, Buller64 said:

Initially O thought a OCS was a waste of money. We had a pro stadium available and the cost was low. About 12 years ago I changed my mind on this OCS stuff. Not because of atmosphere or finances, but because of the success of UCF in building a fanbase. I saw how the IPF improved their recruiting and how the OCS was building a fan base. They had no fan base at all when they were playing in the Citrus Bowl, just a few diehards. Once they opened that OCS their student attendance increased by a lot and since then their season ticket base has been slowly but steadily growing. I think that the most important part of an OCS is that it helps to build a fanbase. Students who attend games on campus become fans and when they get settled in on their careers (about 3 - 4 years) they start buying tickets. That's why I think we need an OCS. Its not going to pay off immediately but I think the dividends to it will come about a decade after it opens. Most of the schools (those who are not national powers) live on a fanbase made of alumni and I think that OCS is the reason why they have that fanbase.

 

Exactly.  That erector set stadium was built on lies, shady finances, mixed in with some fraud and double-dealing.  But they got it done when they needed to get it done.   Thing shook from day one and talk about making lemonade - "The Bounce House"?  C'mon, that's absolutely genius.  UCF and USF were very much commuter schools for a long, long time and UCF made the right moves at the right time while USF made a lot of the wrong ones.  You can't pin it just on the OCS, but that's about 60% of it.  Sure, add Lee Roy Selmon, the Leavitt debacle, Skip Holtz, a few Judy Genshaft fumbles and some just piss-poor AD hires and subsequent failings.  RJS was a nice short-term home but USF got too, too comfortable and they are paying for it.  Meanwhile UCF went big and look at the payoff.

I have a lot of friends that graduated @my timeframe.  We were nuts for the program back then.  To a person not one of them cares anymore.  I don't really care anymore.  I doubt I would have ever been some super-rabid alumni booster type (I mean c'mon, it's football and seeing some of this stuff with Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly makes it just obnoxious) but it would be nice to have a game-day experience.  USF, is in many ways, like the Rays - each should have upgraded their situation so, so, so long ago.  The difference is USF lost so much ground and I'm not sure they are going to get it back for a long time.  Instead of building a fanbase with an OCS they have literally watched a decent fanbase dwindle. 

Edited December 4, 2021 by USFreak

[MikePhillips]

As someone who lived in Fontana with the original team back in 1996-1998.... I feel like the program was trying to write a book

"How to have a college football team, on a shoe string budget"

Rent a local stadium... repurpose the old intramural fields... 

They did absolutely nothing, with any of the momentum, any of the marquee wins we had in the past, with anything that they could have built on. This college and the administrations, all had the same entitled mentality. "We placed in the top 25 last year... we will do it again, and every year and forever! We are a top 25 football team now! And we did it on the cheap! Rented stadium and a repurposed old intramural field.... pennies on the dollar!"

The other problem with RayJay, is that there is nothing around there. Strip clubs? There is zero atmosphere around that stadium when USF comes to play. If you don't bring your own party to the tailgate, you are just parking and walking up the gate. 

We have squeezed this program for every drop of juice we are going to get, with the bootstrap budget they've given them. We have almost nothing to show in regards to investment, for the 25 years of wins, top 25 finishes, 25 years of season ticket sales, sponsorships, TV deals, wins.... etc

Sure... we upgraded the locker room this past year... but only because Coach Scott demanded it.

It's time to invest, or fold. And no, it's not our fault that fans aren't showing up. We've had a half dozen coaches in the last decade, we've had 3 good .800+ seasons in the past 20 years, we've been left behind TWICE in conference realignment....

They need to invest first, build the product, then people will start to come. Starts from the top down. Stop scraping the football money for other athletics programs, invest in the program, that'll get the better players, which will improve the teams performance, and then the fans will return. 

 

 

[Triple B]

5 hours ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Well, I suspect we’ll above 90% of those who are regulars on this board do give financially, but everyone has different financial obligations. 

I would hope so and really do understand that everybody has different levels they can give at and that's fine ..... it's just that some treat this like the pros and don't seem to grasp that donors are the lifeblood of college athletics, especially at our level.

[NewEnglandBull]

20 minutes ago, Triple B said:

I would hope so and really do understand that everybody has different levels they can give at and that's fine ..... it's just that some treat this like the pros and don't seem to grasp that donors are the lifeblood of college athletics, especially at our level.

Understood and you are correct it is the most important variable for us going forward. 

[Triple B]

4 hours ago, USFreak said:

Instead of building a fanbase with an OCS they have literally watched a decent fanbase dwindle. 

When you've been unceremoniously demoted back to where you probably should have been all along, the only base an ocs would build, hopefully, would be the students ..... which would be great for the future but not have done much for the current situation.

[CycleBull]

On 12/2/2021 at 8:45 PM, Outlaw said:

 

i am not arguing about having an OCS. I was just wondering how heavily they are promoting bussing kids to the games. I remember they were pumping it hard for the kids to get on the bus and go to the WVU game. IT was the first and only time I remember and college friends not being able to get student tickets. They got tickets in overflow areas.

Tickets in over flows, someone getting arrested in the 200 section, and USF fans voted best in the country or something like that. What a heck of a time to be a USF Bull. Go Bulls by friend.

[Outlaw]

1 hour ago, CycleBull said:

Tickets in over flows, someone getting arrested in the 200 section, and USF fans voted best in the country or something like that. What a heck of a time to be a USF Bull. Go Bulls by friend.

One of my friends got his tooth knocked out by some drunk WVU fan for offering her some moonshine at a tailgate, but he was serious he always brought shine to the games. HE took it that my friend was making fun of him or something. Obviously cops come and the guy who was getting was crying  and trying to talk my friend out of it. Then my same friend got escorted out that game by the cops and arrested, but they let him go because they remembered he got his tooth knocked out earlier that night before the game. 

[Paisa el Toro]

On 12/4/2021 at 7:12 AM, Outlaw said:

One of my friends got his tooth knocked out by some drunk WVU fan for offering her some moonshine at a tailgate, but he was serious he always brought shine to the games. HE took it that my friend was making fun of him or something. Obviously cops come and the guy who was getting was crying  and trying to talk my friend out of it. Then my same friend got escorted out that game by the cops and arrested, but they let him go because they remembered he got his tooth knocked out earlier that night before the game. 

How is this relevant to USF athletics, other than this odd occurrence allegedly happening during a tailgate?

[bullstampede9922]

Well, just renewed so you're stuck with me for another season.  Will try to take a few co-workers to the games during the year to see if I can get anyone hooked.