Regular Season Attendance

[Bullism]

The thing that irks me is that the Bucs have claimed to have a huge waiting list (over 100k, I think they say).  Where are these "football fans"?  

If these people want to see football, then they should get off their asses and come out to see a WINNING team in the same great facility.

$ for $, we get so much more enjoyment out our Bulls tickets than we do from our Bucs tickets.

[HaulingBull Sucks]

This is a major problem and will continually impact the Bulls bowls in the future.   If you play in a 40k stadium on campus, 30 to 32 is not bad.  But, playing in the Roman Colisium sized RJ, it is worse.

The scary thing is that last year the offensive product was bad and produced difficul games to watch.  However, this year the offense was exciting and it still did not attract fans.

Unless the Big East starts to assign teams to bowls in the order of finish, we will be going to the Birmingham and International Bowls of the world, no matter how good we are.   It will be BCS or crap facing non-BCS teams.  This is not good.

The RJ is a 40K stadium when the upper deck isn't open (the way it is for Bulls games)...the real problem is that we aren't filling the lower bowl with Bulls fans.  The largest crowds have come only when the visiting teams came with a very large contingent of fans (FAMU, UCF, WV, Louisville)

How can you expect us to travel well when we can't fill the lower bowl of the RJ with Bulls fans?

How many fans did we put in seats at Cardinal Stadium this year?  150??  How many Cardinal fans were in the RJ when we played UofL in 2005, and  2003?

Didn't we get the bowl game we deserved? We finished tied for 4th at 4-3 in the BE and were beaten soundly by the other 4-3 team.

[Knight_Light]

Unless the Big East starts to assign teams to bowls in the order of finish, we will be going to the Birmingham and International Bowls of the world, no matter how good we are.   It will be BCS or crap facing non-BCS teams.  This is not good.

Remember, Bowls are not charities.

Bowls are BUSINESS.

They will always choose teams that make the best BUSINESS sense.

If some of the minor bowls had zero say in which teams were selected...many of them would go under...and maybe USF would of stayed home this bowl season...even with a good 8-4 record.

[HaulingBull Sucks]

The thing that irks me is that the Bucs have claimed to have a huge waiting list (over 100k, I think they say).  Where are these "football fans"?  

If these people want to see football, then they should get off their asses and come out to see a WINNING team in the same great facility.

$ for $, we get so much more enjoyment out our Bulls tickets than we do from our Bucs tickets.

What do you think the problem is?   The product?  The schedule?  Ineffective marketing?

[Larry]

you'll see a bump in the attendance next yr, great Big East home sched, UNC, and UCF coming to Ray Jay.

The word is out on Grothe...starting to get a nice buzz around town for him. I see averaging >32K

Honestly, w/o Rutgers this yrs home schedule was kind of lame. Yes, it shouldnt be an excuse, but it is ...Tampa has a lot of competition for its sports $$.

[Larry]

also keep in mind that Rutgers game was in September, when Rutgers was still "Rutgers"...if that game played as it was in November, could have been an instant classic, with a much larger crowd 40K+?? ...of course all speculation....

[Guest r_to_the_izzo]

Where did Bret get those numbers?

[gobulls83]

Football isn't the only part of USF that has a problem attracting followers....look at the Alumi Association membership numbers.

Could there be something lacking.?  Effective marketing perhaps.

I think the bigger problem is that, until very recently, the university wasn't like a family, per se, like you get at other large universities. Unlike UF, USF for a long time carried the commuter school tag; people came there when they weren't looking for the college experience, so to speak, but were just interested in getting their degree, getting out and moving on. These aren't the kinds of people who are going to come back to go to football games, become boosters or care about how the team is doing.

I think the university is doing little to change this. While the commuter school image may no longer apply - though it's certainly more applicable than at a lot of other large public schools - the administration isn't exacly warm, friendly and inclusive. I know there are lot of university presidents that are ********, but when I was there we used to see Betty Castor riding her bike across campus, she actually lived in the Lifsey House on campus and she genuinely seemed to love her job. I was also there when Genshaft took over and she seems to despise public education and everyone associated with it. She's just biding her time until the next business opportunity comes along and she'll jump. In the meantime, she's just interested in keeping her backdoor meetings secret.

Just my impression, of course.

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

also keep in mind that Rutgers game was in September, when Rutgers was still "Rutgers"...[highlight]if that game played as it was in November, could have been an instant classic, with a much larger crowd 40K+?? [/highlight]...of course all speculation....

I'd say that's wishful thinking, Larry.

[Joe]

The thing that irks me is that the Bucs have claimed to have a huge waiting list (over 100k, I think they say).  Where are these "football fans"?  

If these people want to see football, then they should get off their asses and come out to see a WINNING team in the same great facility.

$ for $, we get so much more enjoyment out our Bulls tickets than we do from our Bucs tickets.

I think what many on this board have to understand is that FSU and UF have a lot of fans in Tampa, and many are not going to change their alliegences. Those VERY FAKE "100,000" fans on the list probably include a lot people who are fans of another school.

Go to any bar in Tampa on an FSU ior Florida Saturday and you'll see where many people's alliegences are.