Should we care about spring scrimmage attendance numbers?

[Paul Wall]

I think we honestly try to stay under the radar for the spring game. We don't want to show too much and its just a chance for us to go through the motions. I think the event is really just to get those without seasons tickets, the opportunity to go and pick out there seats and such. The game is not really worth going to especially when every other play is a sack. Comparing to other schools (OSU) there games have the teams wearing uniforms and the games i saw i didnt see anything on the QB. They played a legit game, filled with deep passes and scores of like 37-20. For a free event its only worth trying to get new season ticket holders.

1) The "What else is there to do" argument is a red herring.  The fact that those towns have nothing else to do means nothing.  Parents still have kids. Honey-do lists still exist, and husbands have to go to Home Depot.  They play little leagues in small towns.  There are malls, and restaurants, and other things to do.  Sure, they don't have professional sports... but out of 4+ million in the bay area, less than 40,000 combined went to see the Rays and the Tarver fight.  So it's not like we pack 'em in, either.

Moreover, fans of those schools drive just like it's a home game... they come from "all over" to see the game.

Oh, and Florida had a "fan fest" that day... autographs and photos with players... that obviously helped draw fans.

2) You can tell what kind of fan base we have when you look at the student attendance.  Spring game -- lots of stuff in the Oracle -- and 40,000 students... yet I would say half the crowd (at least) were older than traditional-age students.  Homecoming had an event, including free pizza -- and in the end they were giving whole pies away because not enough people stopped by.

The spring game should be included in the student-ticket policy going forward... Extra points for attending the game.

---

My only real thought about the attendance numbers, tho, is whether or not we are improviing year-to-year.  USF may have been #2 in the nation last year, but after losing 4 of the last 7 games -- including getting blown out in El Paso... and I can understand why all that luster wore off.

[WoolyBully]

The point of the exercise is to sell more season tickets. Just opening the stadium won't quite do the trick, so we couple it with the spring game.

It'd be interesting to see how many people who show up for the spring game are already season ticket holders. Walking through the parking lot, looking at the tailgating....these are people who are ready for game day, not just someone casually kicking around the idea of maybe buying season tickets.

Thang is...it's just practice.

[BullsWinBucsWin]

Almost nobody that I know that goes to regular season games knew that this game was even being played.  I don't know if they are not advertising it on purpose or what, but the Spring Game truly is for die-hard fans.  I almost think that if a newcomer were to go to a USF Spring Game, he/she might get the impression that all of the games are that boring and never want to come back.  If we continue to post good attendance figures during the season, I won't be all that bothered with Spring Game attendance.

[Guest]

I think we honestly try to stay under the radar for the spring game. We don't want to show too much and its just a chance for us to go through the motions. I think the event is really just to get those without seasons tickets, the opportunity to go and pick out there seats and such. The game is not really worth going to especially when every other play is a sack. Comparing to other schools (OSU) there games have the teams wearing uniforms and the games i saw i didnt see anything on the QB. They played a legit game, filled with deep passes and scores of like 37-20. For a free event its only worth trying to get new season ticket holders.

The Ohio State game was only 21-7... and the Sports Center announcer actually said ... "With games like this on TV for opponents to study for months, you expect defenses to dominate and offenses to not show very much."

[smazza]

I just read that Nebraska had 80,149 in attendance (corn harvesting must be all done now).

The ba$tard gators had 59,000 rednecks show up.

Our numbers seem so paltry. I guess it was a little of 4,000. There are that many squirrels and gophers on campus!

Can we read anything into our own fan base based on spring game numbers, or is it just that there's so much going on in Tampa?

usf needs to wn conference

and usf needs a more exciting offense to show off florida type speed and qucikness

ouroffense is boring

leavitt was never community friendly keeping practices closed to public and not embracing young families and young football players

bulls should own the area--THEY DO NOT

[smazza]

I think we honestly try to stay under the radar for the spring game. We don't want to show too much and its just a chance for us to go through the motions. I think the event is really just to get those without seasons tickets, the opportunity to go and pick out there seats and such. The game is not really worth going to especially when every other play is a sack. Comparing to other schools (OSU) there games have the teams wearing uniforms and the games i saw i didnt see anything on the QB. They played a legit game, filled with deep passes and scores of like 37-20. For a free event its only worth trying to get new season ticket holders.

1) The "What else is there to do" argument is a red herring.  The fact that those towns have nothing else to do means nothing.  Parents still have kids. Honey-do lists still exist, and husbands have to go to Home Depot.  They play little leagues in small towns.  There are malls, and restaurants, and other things to do.  Sure, they don't have professional sports... but out of 4+ million in the bay area, less than 40,000 combined went to see the Rays and the Tarver fight.  So it's not like we pack 'em in, either.

Moreover, fans of those schools drive just like it's a home game... they come from "all over" to see the game.

Oh, and Florida had a "fan fest" that day... autographs and photos with players... that obviously helped draw fans.

2) You can tell what kind of fan base we have when you look at the student attendance.  Spring game -- lots of stuff in the Oracle -- and 40,000 students... yet I would say half the crowd (at least) were older than traditional-age students.  Homecoming had an event, including free pizza -- and in the end they were giving whole pies away because not enough people stopped by.

The spring game should be included in the student-ticket policy going forward... Extra points for attending the game.

---

My only real thought about the attendance numbers, tho, is whether or not we are improviing year-to-year.  USF may have been #2 in the nation last year, but after losing 4 of the last 7 games -- including getting blown out in El Paso... and I can understand why all that luster wore off.

WERENT WE UNDER RADr foi oregon,ru,uconn and cinnci games??

[smazza]

usf's bizarre offense doesnt featur great receivers or a great runner

no sex appeal

[IncrediBULL]

Bad advertising...it was worse than last year.  So a 300 person increase is pretty good.

PLUS, they don't want to advertise it because more people = more workers/security at RJS that have to get paid. 

Basically, we get billboards,commercials, posters and events on campus leading up to the spring game...then we will get AT LEAST 10,000 people there...minimum.  But no one ever knows about it...or finds out about it TOO LATE!!!

Those are the facts...

GO BULLS!!!

Bingo, advertising was pi$$ poor.  We did not get the word out.  In fact, the ad I saw in teh times was a small 1/4 or 1/8 page buried in the back of the sports section. 

Consider USF had a lot of HS Junior Recruits in attendance, you'd think they would want a better showing.  If I were a HS kid and saw a paltry 4500 people, about what may show up for a large HS game, then I'd wonder if that was a good place for me.  I know we bring these kids back later in the year to a real game, but it was dissapointing to have them see a boring game with no butts in seats.  I don't think I'd bring the recruits there....

[Bullpride08]

Bad advertising...it was worse than last year.  So a 300 person increase is pretty good.

PLUS, they don't want to advertise it because more people = more workers/security at RJS that have to get paid. 

Basically, we get billboards,commercials, posters and events on campus leading up to the spring game...then we will get AT LEAST 10,000 people there...minimum.  But no one ever knows about it...or finds out about it TOO LATE!!!

Those are the facts...

GO BULLS!!!

Bingo, advertising was pi$$ poor.  We did not get the word out.  In fact, the ad I saw in teh times was a small 1/4 or 1/8 page buried in the back of the sports section. 

Consider USF had a lot of HS Junior Recruits in attendance, you'd think they would want a better showing.  If I were a HS kid and saw a paltry 4500 people, about what may show up for a large HS game, then I'd wonder if that was a good place for me.  I know we bring these kids back later in the year to a real game, but it was dissapointing to have them see a boring game with no butts in seats.  I don't think I'd bring the recruits there....

The turnout was fine, 4,600 isn't bad for spring games with the few noticable exceptions like a Bama, or UF, or Braska, but should we really be whining about comparing ourselves to them?  Some fans could go berzerk looking at schools like that and wondering why we're not matching them.

Also, USF doesn't want to get to crazy advertising for it because the costs could shoot through the roof, and quite frankly Leavitt is very, very resistent to playing to the crowd and treating this as a fun scrimmage.  In fact, he opens up more offense during off-limits scrimmages then at the spring game.

If USF wanted 10k or more it'd be easy, but also costly.  In a few more years and those little details matter maybe we'll see them make spring game attendance a priority but for now it's just a fan **** measuring contest so what does it matter?  We've already proven we can put 67k in the stands when the game means something.  Continue to do that and we'll be fine spring, summer, or fall.

[JoeB]

You can't compare USF to Nebraska or Florida.  End of discussion.  How many did Louisville have?  How about Cincinnati or Pitt?  Those are the teams we have to compare ourselves to at this point.  After we win a few National Titles and exist for over 50 years with football then we can compare our spring numbers with these other giants.