USF preparing for UCF game sellout!

[mulheap]

per Greg's web log!!!!!!  Is this getting crazy or what!

Start the plans in motion for the SuperBowl bleachers behind the student section!

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/

[Guest]

That is awesome... USF football has arrived!!

[E.T.]

Selling out this stadium for the final 3 home games will really push the OCS talk to a back burner on simmer, but selling out must continue for 2008 with a big increase in Season Ticket sales increasing dramaticly.

REMINDER: Buy the 3 Pack of the remaining games and you will get an extra few months to save for 2008 season tix because you will be renewing.

Go BULLS !!!

[Griggsy]

Not to go the OCS direction with this, but I think one of the big considerations in building a stadium is HOW BIG?

With the drastic disparity in fans from our low points (low 30s) to these unprecedented sellouts (67k), I think waiting is wise to see just what we're putting together here.  Wouldn't want to build a 40k stadium if we're going to be selling nearly 50k for most games in the future, etc.

After we ride out this current Ray Jay contract as well as this sudden emergence into the national spotlight for the next few years, we'll have a much better feel for WHAT we need in terms of size of an OCS.

If Ray Jay is like Friday for every game, Im fine with staying there for the foreseeable future!

Back to the topic at hand, Im very excited about this UCF game. Im skeptical, but its a distant possibility they could be ranked before we play them. They only have one loss, you know.  USF student section will be bloodthirsty to beat up on some iFers.  Can't wait. But lets take care of business in FAU this weekend. Stampede Bulls!

[Rays]

Not to go the OCS direction with this, but I think one of the big considerations in building a stadium is HOW BIG?

With the drastic disparity in fans from our low points (low 30s) to these unprecedented sellouts (67k), I think waiting is wise to see just what we're putting together here.  Wouldn't want to build a 40k stadium if we're going to be selling nearly 50k for most games in the future, etc.

After we ride out this current Ray Jay contract as well as this sudden emergence into the national spotlight for the next few years, we'll have a much better feel for WHAT we need in terms of size of an OCS.

If Ray Jay is like Friday for every game, Im fine with staying there for the foreseeable future!

Back to the topic at hand, Im very excited about this UCF game. Im skeptical, but its a distant possibility they could be ranked before we play them. They only have one loss, you know.  USF student section will be bloodthirsty to beat up on some iFers.  Can't wait. But lets take care of business in FAU this weekend. Stampede Bulls!

I agree with you about the size being a huge issue... Who wants a 45-50K seating capacity when we probably could be getting 75-80K in the gate right now... Obviously we don't know what will happen when the buzz settles down a bit, it's got to, at least the suprise factor of it...

I think it's got to be several years before we can figure out the proper size for the thing...

[Guest]

We also have to think what happens when, heaven forbid, USF has a rebuilding season... 2004 was a tough year for a lot of us here -- we hadn't been through a rebuilding year... EVER ... made it hard to watch a lot of the games (Army, Memphis, Pitt, among others).

Outcomes of games -- positive and negative -- can have an effect on the ticket buying fan base.

[Griggsy]

We also have to think what happens when, heaven forbid, USF has a rebuilding season... 2004 was a tough year for a lot of us here -- we hadn't been through a rebuilding year... EVER ... made it hard to watch a lot of the games (Army, Memphis, Pitt, among others).

Outcomes of games -- positive and negative -- can have an effect on the ticket buying fan base.

Exactly my point. Amidst the newfound bandwagoneers, there are sure to be some lifelong fans in the making.  In a couple of years when we're rebuilding and the attendance drops off, we'll have a better idea about the fan "base".  Stadium size should be fan "base"+ maybe 10k for "hot" games. Before this season I would have said 45k (35 avg attendance+10k for big games), but now that seems insufficient

[MikeG]

[Guest]

We also have to think what happens when, heaven forbid, USF has a rebuilding season... 2004 was a tough year for a lot of us here -- we hadn't been through a rebuilding year... EVER ... made it hard to watch a lot of the games (Army, Memphis, Pitt, among others).

Outcomes of games -- positive and negative -- can have an effect on the ticket buying fan base.

Exactly my point. Amidst the newfound bandwagoneers, there are sure to be some lifelong fans in the making.  In a couple of years when we're rebuilding and the attendance drops off, we'll have a better idea about the fan "base".  Stadium size should be fan "base"+ maybe 10k for "hot" games. Before this season I would have said 45k (35 avg attendance+10k for big games), but now that seems insufficient

I think the best formula would be the average number of season tickets over a two or three year span, times two, then add enough for the student sections.  Right now that would be around 48-50 K...

[windbane]

We also have to think what happens when, heaven forbid, USF has a rebuilding season... 2004 was a tough year for a lot of us here -- we hadn't been through a rebuilding year... EVER ... made it hard to watch a lot of the games (Army, Memphis, Pitt, among others).

Outcomes of games -- positive and negative -- can have an effect on the ticket buying fan base.

Exactly my point. Amidst the newfound bandwagoneers, there are sure to be some lifelong fans in the making.  In a couple of years when we're rebuilding and the attendance drops off, we'll have a better idea about the fan "base".  Stadium size should be fan "base"+ maybe 10k for "hot" games. Before this season I would have said 45k (35 avg attendance+10k for big games), but now that seems insufficient

First of all, there is no reason we will have a "rebuilding year" any time soon.  The reason we sucked in 2004 was an average QB.  In 2005 we made up for it by improving a little bit in most areas.  In 2006 we had a QB and every position has gotten better since then.  We lose some players this year but not much on offense and we have quality defensive backups to step up at CB, DT, and MLB.

Our RBs should continue to get better, and when Grothe graduates we'll have Voss or someone else we recruit by then to come in.  The fact that we're the 6th ranked team in the country with very few high star recruits says a lot about our recruiting ability.  It can't get any worse with the success we're having and the money we're getting.

All that being said, I wouldn't be happy with an OCS unless it was as big or bigger than Ray Jay.  Selling out all 4 home games this year proves that we can handle that capacity.