Important OCS Update

[Bull Matrix]

37 minutes ago, BDYZR said:

STM are the “real fans.” Everybody else is just looking for a good time. IF they do have a good time, then maybe they’ll come back. Maybe they would become “real fans.” Maybe even donors someday.

These are great points. I use how I became a STM for example. Back when I was a student I would try to make every home game at The Old Sombrero Tampa Stadium & RJS because they were free and the seats were great. (Student Section). It was some of the best free entertainment I could find. When I graduated I used to get the cheapest tickets and walk around the stadium. It was a great deal. I decided to get season tix in the middle of the 2007 because the crowds started increasing at RJS. I didn’t want to get shut out of sold out home games which started happening during that season. After that I became hooked with being STM and will never look back. So imagine how a smaller OCS will have an impact with increased STM due to fans not wanting to be shut out of packed games at the OCS. That is how USF will grow imo 

[00Bull]

3 hours ago, JAFFX2 said:

https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2023/09/06/usf-football-stadium-interest-rates.html

The university of south florida has submitted revised financial projections regarding its planned on-campus football stadium ahead of a significant vote later this week.

If approved by the Florida Board of Governors on Friday, usf will build an approximately $340 million stadium and take out a $200 million loan to help pay for it. Truist Bank has quoted usf an interest rate of 7% on the loan, an increase of 1.5% from the originally projected rate.

Revenue projections from the stadium are now "fully dependent" on realizing consultants' estimates, which banked on over 30,000 fans attending each game, according to a Sept. 5 memo.

If usf's projected revenues can't be met, either the usf foundation would have to pick up the tab, or there would have to be cuts within the athletics department. Watkins wrote on Aug. 8 that usf's projections for increases in ticket revenue at the new stadium and in athletics revenue — including game guarantees, royalties and conference and NCAA distributions — are "arguably ambitious."

"The revisions to the projections for the project highlight the uncertainty of future financial performance," Ben Watkins, director of Florida's division of bond finance, wrote in the Sept. 5 memo to the board of governors.

Interesting. Article foreshadowing something?

[Cat941]

5 hours ago, gibbsak said:

USF is building a $340M on-campus football stadium despite concerns academics are being left behind

APNEWS.COM

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The University of South Florida is looking for some big changes when...

they misspelled "University that spent the last 2 decades chasing State Preeminent status, obtaining that and AAU membership, finally shows commitment to Athletics, the front door and marketing for many Universities."

They mention AAU in the article.

 

It's on Yahoo Sports too!  

USF is building a $340M on-campus football stadium despite concerns academics are being left behind

SPORTS.YAHOO.COM

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When the University of South Florida kicked off its first football season in 1997, the program's offices were headquartered in a glorified trailer on campus known as the...

 

[JAFFX2]

1 hour ago, Cat941 said:

So we have a higher interest rate on our loan.   Is that what I'm reading here?   It won't let me read the article.  

yes

 

[JAFFX2]

5 minutes ago, 00Bull said:

Interesting. Article foreshadowing something?

not sure.....sounded like an interesting spin

[Jim Johnson]

1 hour ago, BDYZR said:

Great attitude. Then complain when we have so many empty seats. Can’t make fans out of them if they don’t show up. 

And they told you they aren't showing up.  Did they at least say why?

Edited September 7, 2023 by Jim Johnson

[00Bull]

4 minutes ago, Cat941 said:

It's on Yahoo Sports too!  

USF is building a $340M on-campus football stadium despite concerns academics are being left behind

SPORTS.YAHOO.COM

---

When the University of South Florida kicked off its first football season in 1997, the program's offices were headquartered in a glorified trailer on campus known as the...

 

Despite my reservations about the OCS, F these academics at the source of this article. Academics has been the only focus by the failed leadership at USF over the past 2 decades who couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time. The result of which is an athletics department that is on life support and are now having to take $200M loans (which would have been half that) at 7% when interest rates were essentially 0% for 15 ******* years. 

[00Bull]

10 minutes ago, JAFFX2 said:

not sure.....sounded like an interesting spin

May just be a slow news day, but that’s how I’d suspect they’d trickle out news that there may be a change (new info has come to light, may need reassessing).

[BullsWinBucsWin]

Why do these academic types not want Women's Lacrosse to have a nice stadium to play in?

[00Bull]

1 hour ago, Bull Matrix said:

These are great points. I use how I became a STM for example. Back when I was a student I would try to make every home game at The Old Sombrero Tampa Stadium & RJS because they were free and the seats were great. (Student Section). It was some of the best free entertainment I could find. When I graduated I used to get the cheapest tickets and walk around the stadium. It was a great deal. I decided to get season tix in the middle of the 2007 because the crowds started increasing at RJS. I didn’t want to get shut out of sold out home games which started happening during that season. After that I became hooked with being STM and will never look back. So imagine how a smaller OCS will have an impact with increased STM due to fans not wanting to be shut out of packed games at the OCS. That is how USF will grow imo 

Where the student angle falls a bit flat for me is if you could make it to every game as a student, why can’t today’s students. I’d feel more support for their cause if they were actually showing up in numbers over the past 5 years. Don’t forget, they moved the band into the student section years back to help fill it in. 

In thinking about the (missing) student body, I do wonder how much of the focus on academics has brought in the type of students who do not have much interest in football.