This statement got me thinking...

[RandyGator]

Let's get 40,000 people into the seats ANYWHERE, then worry about the other stuff.

Putting a stadium in North Tampa (ie On Campus), will cut off a lot of people from attending.

You hear all the complaints about driving to Tropicana Field, and it is all interstate and not much traffic for game times.

[Herman_Momart]

the tailgating aspect was a lot better when we were allowed to do it at Al Lopez Park.  

throwing footballs was allowed and so was riding the bull.  Which if you havent seen it, its when the first keg gets polished, you throw it in the back of a pick up truck.  you proceed to find the 1st drunk you can see and saddle them up on top of the keg.  get about 4-6 other drunk people to shake, rock and bounce the pickup truck until the the first drunk falls off, hence the name Riding the Bull.  Its a real blasty blast.  

[Joe]

Let's get 40,000 people into the seats ANYWHERE, then worry about the other stuff.

Putting a stadium in North Tampa (ie On Campus), will cut off a lot of people from attending.

You hear all the complaints about driving to Tropicana Field, and it is all interstate and not much traffic for game times.

There is a differnece between a sport with 6-7 games a year and 81 games. I don't thinbk attendance would have a negative effect.

[Triple B]

I don't agree. Have you ever played sports? Sure its about the product on the field but sometimes that directly reflects the atmosphere around the field - also know as homefield advantage. How would you feel as a football player to run out of the corridor for the first time before a game to 20,000 seated, clapping fans vs. 45,000 standing, screaming fans? It's all about getting players pumped before the game and keeping pumped through the 4th quarter.

Can't disagree with a thing you said .... but that has nothing to do with the color of the stadium. People don't get pumped because of the colr of the seats they're sitting on, they get pumped with the passion for their team ... on the field. You've seen the passion of the fans posting here. I don't think they're holding anything back because their butts are on red or pewter seats.... WHEN they sit. The only green and gold a TRUE Bulls fan should need are the green pants/jerseys and the gold (or whatever) on the helmets.

I guess you should inform.....oh, I don't know.......every pro & college team who has ever had a stadium...........that decorating in one's school/team colors is completely pointless.  Obviously, they are complete ignorant jerks for so doing.

Where did I say it was pointless? If you're going to build a stadium for a primary tenant, why WOULDN"T you incorporate the team colors in it? I just feel that the passion one has for the team and the game in front of them doesn't hinge on the color of the seats ..... Not a real hard concept to get your arms around.

[Triple B]

Let's get 40,000 people into the seats ANYWHERE, then worry about the other stuff.

Putting a stadium in North Tampa (ie On Campus), will cut off a lot of people from attending.

You hear all the complaints about driving to Tropicana Field, and it is all interstate and not much traffic for game times.

There is a differnece between a sport with 6-7 games a year and 81 games. I don't thinbk attendance would have a negative effect.

The quality of the stadium rather than the location would have a bigger impact on attendance in the first few years. With the location of campus being in the middle between the two interstates, access shouldn't be a problem .... until you get real close to the stadium.

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

I don't agree. Have you ever played sports? Sure its about the product on the field but sometimes that directly reflects the atmosphere around the field - also know as homefield advantage. How would you feel as a football player to run out of the corridor for the first time before a game to 20,000 seated, clapping fans vs. 45,000 standing, screaming fans? It's all about getting players pumped before the game and keeping pumped through the 4th quarter.

Can't disagree with a thing you said .... but that has nothing to do with the color of the stadium. People don't get pumped because of the colr of the seats they're sitting on, they get pumped with the passion for their team ... on the field. You've seen the passion of the fans posting here. I don't think they're holding anything back because their butts are on red or pewter seats.... WHEN they sit. The only green and gold a TRUE Bulls fan should need are the green pants/jerseys and the gold (or whatever) on the helmets.

I guess you should inform.....oh, I don't know.......every pro & college team who has ever had a stadium...........that decorating in one's school/team colors is completely pointless.  Obviously, they are complete ignorant jerks for so doing.

Where did I say it was pointless? If you're going to build a stadium for a primary tenant, why WOULDN"T you incorporate the team colors in it? I just feel that the passion one has for the team and the game in front of them doesn't hinge on the color of the seats ..... Not a real hard concept to get your arms around.

I would venture to say, Triple_B, that for 90% of the fans who post on this board, you are correct.

However, if you were to go ask a bunch of what we might call "average fans," details such as the color of the seats and the gayness of having to close off a MONSTER upper deck rate highly on the things they care about.

If you haven't heard much of that, you aren't talking with many average football fans.

[nukebull]

I don't agree. Have you ever played sports? Sure its about the product on the field but sometimes that directly reflects the atmosphere around the field - also know as homefield advantage. How would you feel as a football player to run out of the corridor for the first time before a game to 20,000 seated, clapping fans vs. 45,000 standing, screaming fans? It's all about getting players pumped before the game and keeping pumped through the 4th quarter.

Can't disagree with a thing you said .... but that has nothing to do with the color of the stadium. People don't get pumped because of the colr of the seats they're sitting on, they get pumped with the passion for their team ... on the field. You've seen the passion of the fans posting here. I don't think they're holding anything back because their butts are on red or pewter seats.... WHEN they sit. The only green and gold a TRUE Bulls fan should need are the green pants/jerseys and the gold (or whatever) on the helmets.

I guess you should inform.....oh, I don't know.......every pro & college team who has ever had a stadium...........that decorating in one's school/team colors is completely pointless.  Obviously, they are complete ignorant jerks for so doing.

Where did I say it was pointless? If you're going to build a stadium for a primary tenant, why WOULDN"T you incorporate the team colors in it? I just feel that the passion one has for the team and the game in front of them doesn't hinge on the color of the seats ..... Not a real hard concept to get your arms around.

I would venture to say, Triple_B, that for 90% of the fans who post on this board, you are correct.

However, if you were to go ask a bunch of what we might call "average fans," details such as the color of the seats and the gayness of having to close off a MONSTER upper deck rate highly on the things they care about.

If you haven't heard much of that, you aren't talking with many average football fans.

Sounds like a great marketing tool go after the average and casual fan and get that 1 game every 2 years money from them. I would think getting the sports fan. who is much to wise to give a rats @ss about the "color" of the stadium more than the product on the field, to the games would pay off more. We are taking about a town that went to Hockey games in a barn (I did) because they wanted to see NHL hockey. If USF continues to win and builds a nice schedule out of conference then the fans will come, when they do the stadium will be Green and Gold as the seats will be full. Funny how the old dual use stadiums would sell out NFL games even when there was a baseball diamond and baseball crap all over the stadium.

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

I don't agree. Have you ever played sports? Sure its about the product on the field but sometimes that directly reflects the atmosphere around the field - also know as homefield advantage. How would you feel as a football player to run out of the corridor for the first time before a game to 20,000 seated, clapping fans vs. 45,000 standing, screaming fans? It's all about getting players pumped before the game and keeping pumped through the 4th quarter.

Can't disagree with a thing you said .... but that has nothing to do with the color of the stadium. People don't get pumped because of the colr of the seats they're sitting on, they get pumped with the passion for their team ... on the field. You've seen the passion of the fans posting here. I don't think they're holding anything back because their butts are on red or pewter seats.... WHEN they sit. The only green and gold a TRUE Bulls fan should need are the green pants/jerseys and the gold (or whatever) on the helmets.

I guess you should inform.....oh, I don't know.......every pro & college team who has ever had a stadium...........that decorating in one's school/team colors is completely pointless.  Obviously, they are complete ignorant jerks for so doing.

Where did I say it was pointless? If you're going to build a stadium for a primary tenant, why WOULDN"T you incorporate the team colors in it? I just feel that the passion one has for the team and the game in front of them doesn't hinge on the color of the seats ..... Not a real hard concept to get your arms around.

I would venture to say, Triple_B, that for 90% of the fans who post on this board, you are correct.

However, if you were to go ask a bunch of what we might call "average fans," details such as the color of the seats and the gayness of having to close off a MONSTER upper deck rate highly on the things they care about.

If you haven't heard much of that, you aren't talking with many average football fans.

Sounds like a great marketing tool go after the average and casual fan and get that 1 game every 2 years money from them. I would think getting the sports fan. who is much to wise to give a rats @ss about the "color" of the stadium more than the product on the field, to the games would pay off more. We are taking about a town that went to Hockey games in a barn (I did) because they wanted to see NHL hockey. If USF continues to win and builds a nice schedule out of conference then the fans will come, when they do the stadium will be Green and Gold as the seats will be full. Funny how the old dual use stadiums would sell out NFL games even when there was a baseball diamond and baseball crap all over the stadium.

Nukebull...

When I say "average fan," I am speaking in relation to the guys/girls who frequent this board.  Our fanbase has a few hundred of Bullspen.com-type fans....tops.  The rest are folks who love the Bulls, but would never spend even a few minutes per week on a site like this.

Thus, the "average fan" of which I speak would go to several home games every season.  I have had conversations with more than a few of these kinds of fans (who make up a significant part of our fledgling fan base) who notice stuff like this that you and other "football purists" deem inconsequential.

Like I asked before, if this stuff is so unimportant, why do franchises/universities spend millions on prettying up stadiums/arenas??

Maybe you and Triple_B need to be hired as consultants for every sports venue in the world and tell them your totally sweet insight here.

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

And as far as your analogy with the old dual-use stadiums, it is a poor comparison.

Several years of my upbringing were spent in San Diego.  I took in many, many Chargers & Padres games there, and as a fan, you always felt as if you were in that team's home stadium (crappy though it may have been).  I even attended SDSU football games there, and even that worked (somewhat).  There was very little team-specific decoration throughout the stadium.  You probably remember the endzones being painted with a generic "San Diego."

I would say we could achieve the same thing at RJS if we could get the Glazers to agree to the following:

1) Lop off the upper deck

2) Change the seats to a neutral color

3) Remove the pirate ship & any other mascot specific decoration

4) Let us paint the field (mid-field and endzones) for our games

If they let us do that, then I'd say your argument probably would hold some water.

[nukebull]

And as far as your analogy with the old dual-use stadiums, it is a poor comparison.

Several years of my upbringing were spent in San Diego.  I took in many, many Chargers & Padres games there, and as a fan, you always felt as if you were in that team's home stadium (crappy though it may have been).  I even attended SDSU football games there, and even that worked (somewhat).  There was very little team-specific decoration throughout the stadium.  You probably remember the endzones being painted with a generic "San Diego."

I would say we could achieve the same thing at RJS if we could get the Glazers to agree to the following:

1) Lop off the upper deck

2) Change the seats to a neutral color

3) Remove the pirate ship & any other mascot specific decoration

4) Let us paint the field (mid-field and endzones) for our games

If they let us do that, then I'd say your argument probably would hold some water.

Maybe I just do not notice but I have been in Michigan, Tennessee, The Orange Bowl, and etc. and they are largely nondescript bowls with silver bleacher seats. The end zones are painted for TV advertising of the University. The stadiums get their color from the fans that fill them. I went to the USF- SDSU game and the stadium was half full of half interested fans and did not scream SD state to me because the end zone said "San Diego" it was fans half showing up to watch their team play a no name up start in a tune up game. This was vastly different from the UM game I saw there. Funny it was same stadium.

IMO if someone does not go to the games because the seat colors, they are not needed for support. I live here and have had season tickets since day 1 and have 8 and the #1 reason people who have no affiliation to USF have asked for my tickets or have gone and bought their own was to see the stadium that is sold out on Sundays and the Pirate ship. Some of these people have become season ticket holders or have attended a couple of games each year. A move to the campus will eliminate the fans that never went to USF as it will require them to go to a campus that is not very central and not very visual. To students and former students who mover here for school it is the center of the universe but for the 1M of us who live in Pinellas county and the masses in west Tampa and Sarasota, and East Pasco and South Tampa the big new stadium that is blocks from the airport and centrally located is kind of nice.