Attendance Predictions

[79 Bull]

Okay, a little fun....

Predict the attendance for each home game (with rationale) now and let's see who came closest at the end of the year.

Here goes mine...

McNeese - 29,000 (Gut feel for opener against 1AA)

FIU - 26,000 (Casual fans drop off second week against another no-name opponent)

Rutgers - 29,000 (May be best home game of the season but Friday night kills what would be a great Saturday crowd)

UConn - 35,000 if 7pm - 26,000 if 12noon (Noon start just sucks for USF crowds)

Pitt - 32,000 (Noon start again kills what would be a great night homecoming crowd probably near 45,000)

'Cuse - 42,000 if 7pm - 28,000 if 12noon (Last home game draws big crowd with Bulls in BE/major bowl race, yet noon start again kills the Tampa casual fans)

[Guest]

McNeese State - 26,500 ... Labor Day weekend, a lot of fans on vacation

FIU - 28,500 ... Some fans drive up from Miami, service organization night...

Rutgers - 31,500 ... Friday Night Lights on ESPN 2 and the Big East opener

U Conn - 32,500 ... USF's 5-0 record starts drawing fans as USF is probably ranked going in to this game...

Pittsburgh - 38,500 ... yes, it's Noon, but it's Homecoming... and it's Florida in November so Pitt will travel a little... and if USF is 8-0 coming in, the crowd will top 41,000...

Syracuse - 35,000... last game of the year, senior night, the Orange will travel down from New York... if USF is undefeated, this will also top 40,000...

[twillybull]

McNeese - 37,500 minimum show up for season opening kickoff, 20,000 stay past first quarter.

FIU - 34,000 in keeping with the steadily climbing attendance averages from the last 4 years, plus a boost of unexpected FIU fans pushes this one close to 35k.

Rutgers - 40,000 Yeah maybe optimistic, but if we're 4-0 going into this ESPN-2 game, the fans will show.

UConn - 38,000  this one will depends on our record (as well as Uconn's).  If either team is ranked (posibility) then this may top the 40k number.  REVENGE GAME!

Pitt - 42,000 first day game to open up the upper deck.  Homecoming and possible TV date will draw the crowd.  The college football experience is all about early morning tailgating / drinking.  I'll be in the parking lot fire'n up the grille as soon as they let me in!  

Syracuse - 39,000 Syracuse may be winless again at this point, but the last home game of the season will draw all of the diehards.    

[BullsFanInTX]

First of all, we averaged close to 40K last year so you guys are way too low.  We should have a better record this year, so we should at least match last year.

McNeese 37,500.  Good showing for 1AA opener.

FIU 35,000.  Decent crowd as FIU also brings some fans.

Rutgers: 43,000.  Great crowd as the bulls start to go on a run.

UConn: 41,000.  Again, crack 40K.  USF on a roll.  Band wagon jumpers start to get on board.  USF could be close to cracking top 25.

Pitt:  46,000.  Biggest crowd of year as USF starts to contend for BE title and hangs with UL and WVU.

Syracuse:  45,000.  Another big crowd as the last one of the year, to send them off strong for their final push in the bowl pecking order.

[Guest]

First of all, we averaged close to 40K last year so you guys are way too low.  We should have a better record this year, so we should at least match last year.

Um... no UCF, no FAMU, no Louiville, and no WVU. Those four teams brought A LOT of visiting gans. Rutgers, U Conn, Pitt, Syracuse, and FIU just don't bring the same crowds... so that will cause a few thousand less fans.

JMHO

[79 Bull]

TX, I love the optimism, but let's get real comparing this year to last.

In terms of drawing the casual fan and opponents fans....

McNeese is no FAMU

FIU is no UCF

Rutgers/UConn are not UL

Syracuse is far from WVU

I hope you're right.

Jim - you beat me to it.

[twillybull]

First of all, we averaged close to 40K last year so you guys are way too low.  We should have a better record this year, so we should at least match last year.

Um... no UCF, no FAMU, no Louiville, and no WVU. Those four teams brought A LOT of visiting gans. Rutgers, U Conn, Pitt, Syracuse, and FIU just don't bring the same crowds... so that will cause a few thousand less fans.

JMHO

Yeah, but look at the last 5 year home attendance averages.  If the trends keep up we will should averave a minimum of 38K.  

[BullsFanInTX]

Well the schedule isn't as good, but the record should be better, so I am hoping it will even things out.

[Joe]

You cannot just carry trends when the season ticket base hasn't increased dramatically. Season tickets are up I believe people are saying we should have 17-18k by kickoff. However, that's only 2k more than last year.

You then have to base your numbers on what the opposing fans brought. FAMU brought a lot and there was public interest because of the band. UCF brought a lot of their fans. Louisville brought a decent amount. Finally WVU was oustanding considering the hurricane and all.

I look at the number of fans for Louisville 33,000 and see that being a more realistic number for our biggest games at this point. To sell 10,000 tickets (5,000 students) over your season tickets is really really freaking hard to do.

Pitt, Rutgers, UConn and Cuse have decent amounts of fans, but 2 are basketball schools, and the other two aren't known for packing the house...see Pitt bringing less than the allotted 15,000 to the Fiesta Bowl.

When all is said and done USF will average around 30,000-32,000 or so this year.

[BullsFanInTX]

I hope you're wrong.  We need to start putting butts in seats like other big time programs always do.