St. Petersburg Bowl - Bullspen Party - Co-Organizers Wanted

[IncrediBULL]

I wasn't at Jaxon's last year, but I was at Dreamland a couple of years ago.  It truly is a great thing.  My thoughts on this in no particular order:

This night is about USF fans and the team, so we don't need a place like Fergs.  There won't be any sports on anyway except for possibly the NBA or NHL, so a sports bar isn't a necessity.  

As long as the place has some A/V type hookups it should work.  

Since its the St. Pete Bowl, do we need to just focus on restaurants in St. Pete, or is Tampa and Clearwater possible locations?  With a number like 200 it'll need to be a pretty big place.  What about helping out some of our Watch Party locations that have helped us out throughout the years?  Selmon's or Capogna's would love to have that Bulls business I'm sure.  And they'd probably work with us on some drink and food specials.

Just a few thoughts.    

For people who are from out of town, they may not want to drive so far and have beers then drive back to St Pete.  As for Selmons, if you are talking the one in Largo, then I think Selmons may be out of biz.... 

[Brad]

Glad to see this thread and UEI's initiative at work again.  Talk about tradition building!

First, I'll say this.  I tried to run something similar in our first bowl season in Charlotte.  We had a decent crowd, maybe 30, but my poor organization skills shone through.  Too many N.C. State people there - not a great secure/secluded area for Bulls fans.  I missed the bowl game and party in Alabama, but I attended the Sun Bowl party that UEI and BullyPulpit put together and it was top notch, first class - a great experience.  I had so much fun meeting different people from the board - the time just went too quickly.  It was a great time.  This might sound bad, but I'd almost make the trip to a bowl game just for the party!  It's great to get together with so many Board Members/Bulls Fans in a bowl setting.

My travel plans are not yet made for St. Pete, but this certainly pushes me closer to committing the funds to get there. 

One suggestion I have as you pick the venue is to be sure to get a large room.  There were so many people there in El Paso, as I recall, some had to sit in an overflow room.

Some of the sports bars that have segmented rooms, etc. would make it hard to get everyone together for the announcements, highlight videos, multimedia, special guests, etc.  With projections nearing 200 attendees, it might be time to leave the restaurant/bar setting and get a banquet hall or ball room at a hotel.  Any room on campus?

Again Bullspenners - this is a must attend event! 

[flsportsfan83]

Glad to see this thread and UEI's initiative at work again.  Talk about tradition building!

First, I'll say this.  I tried to run something similar in our first bowl season in Charlotte.  We had a decent crowd, maybe 30, but my poor organization skills shone through.  Too many N.C. State people there - not a great secure/secluded area for Bulls fans.  I missed the bowl game and party in Alabama, but I attended the Sun Bowl party that UEI and BullyPulpit put together and it was top notch, first class - a great experience.  I had so much fun meeting different people from the board - the time just went too quickly.  It was a great time.  This might sound bad, but I'd almost make the trip to a bowl game just for the party!  It's great to get together with so many Board Members/Bulls Fans in a bowl setting.

My travel plans are not yet made for St. Pete, but this certainly pushes me closer to committing the funds to get there. 

One suggestion I have as you pick the venue is to be sure to get a large room.  There were so many people there in El Paso, as I recall, some had to sit in an overflow room.

Some of the sports bars that have segmented rooms, etc. would make it hard to get everyone together for the announcements, highlight videos, multimedia, special guests, etc.  With projections nearing 200 attendees, it might be time to leave the restaurant/bar setting and get a banquet hall or ball room at a hotel.  Any room on campus?

Again Bullspenners - this is a must attend event! 

It would be cool if we could use the Big East room at the Athletic Facility.

[Guest]

Glad to see this thread and UEI's initiative at work again.  Talk about tradition building!

First, I'll say this.  I tried to run something similar in our first bowl season in Charlotte.  We had a decent crowd, maybe 30, but my poor organization skills shone through.  Too many N.C. State people there - not a great secure/secluded area for Bulls fans.  I missed the bowl game and party in Alabama, but I attended the Sun Bowl party that UEI and BullyPulpit put together and it was top notch, first class - a great experience.  I had so much fun meeting different people from the board - the time just went too quickly.  It was a great time.  This might sound bad, but I'd almost make the trip to a bowl game just for the party!  It's great to get together with so many Board Members/Bulls Fans in a bowl setting.

My travel plans are not yet made for St. Pete, but this certainly pushes me closer to committing the funds to get there. 

One suggestion I have as you pick the venue is to be sure to get a large room.  There were so many people there in El Paso, as I recall, some had to sit in an overflow room.

Some of the sports bars that have segmented rooms, etc. would make it hard to get everyone together for the announcements, highlight videos, multimedia, special guests, etc.  With projections nearing 200 attendees, it might be time to leave the restaurant/bar setting and get a banquet hall or ball room at a hotel.  Any room on campus?

Again Bullspenners - this is a must attend event! 

It would be cool if we could use the Big East room at the Athletic Facility.

[ZeroBullChip]

sounds like we have reached a critical mass, like everything else related to our rise.  If  you keep the menu simple I think you can keep the costs down at a banquet facility  I'm not familiar with any on the StPete side, but 4th st and central ave are loaded with all sorts of dining establishments...  The place that comes to mind is the pier, I wonder if the columbia has banquet space?  The gonzmarts are big USF supporters

[ZeroBullChip]

The other thing I was thinking is that we are competing with company holiday parties if we try to book at banquet halls during this time of year.

[Sitting_BULL]

capogna's is out.  waaayyyyyyyyy tooooooooo small.

there is some type of hall on the st pete campus.  i think that's where  the alumni had a casino night?

othwise, the pier would be the best bet.  cha cha's has the entire top if i'm not mistaken.  they've had live bands so they will have a/v hookup.

[BullsWinBucsWin]

I have emailed a buddy of mine that is a VP for a food services company that puts on events like this to see if he has any suggestions regarding venues.  I will pass any info along that he might have.

[BullyPulpit]

I am in it again Matt. I had a blast last year as well and getting the party organized was half the fun, albeit quite a bit of work.

[BullyPulpit]

The first step is to determine the number of guests that we can expect. I believe that we drew about 120 to Jaxon's last year, which was all the way out in El Paso. I would imagine that our numbers for this year's event could be much higher than the 200 that people are stating.

If our numbers get high enough one great venue is the Coliseum Ballroom located in downtown St. Petersburg. I believe that we can bring in our own catering. I have a great connection with the guys at Ciccio and Tony's in Tampa. They also own the restaurants The Lime and Daily Eats.

The first step is to get a rough estimate of the amount of people expected so that we can get an appropriately sized venue. I am already working on the approximate cost with the Coliseum Ballroom.