Bulls beat FIU, 74-66.

[79 Bull]

I think there is more than 800-900 season tickets total.  There has to be...  each section is 20 seats wide and at least 15 rows up.    300 per section, 4 lower level sections.  I don't know the actual # though.

I was talking about the first level where all the no shows are.  There are 1500 seats in the first level - 500 are allocated to students leaving 1000 for season ticket holders and corporate/sponsor types.  I was guessing that 800 or 900 of these are the "sold out" season tickets we hear about that appear to have about a 40 - 70 % show rate.

Regardless, I am puzzled.  I guess many of those tickets go to major donors that feel they are supporting USF by buying season tickets and are not really into going to the game.

[Velcro]

Ok, i'll take your word on it, my #'s were just guesses.  

There is no high expectations... taht means people won't show... period.

If we start putting together a product with hype... those seats will fill up fast!!!!!!!!!

That was one double edged sword with Seth... he got butts in the seat, but his hype aggrevated some people because of the expectations.  

Either hype and attendance, or no hype-no attendance.  Hopefully we can get some excitement back and then meet expectations that are associated with it.  

Until that happens... attendance will be low, and we have to accept that... it WON'T change.

[79 Bull]

Velcro, totally agree with you on the product and hype have to go hand in hand to get people there.  God, I miss the early 80's with consistent crowds of 6 - 7,000.  It was a tough place to play for opponents.

[Velcro]

It'll happen again, but we may not see it for a while... hopefully sooner than later.

[79 Bull]

One more thing and I'll shut up.

I think ticket prices are WAY too high for the product.  $16 has to be turning the casual fan away unless it is a name team.  An $8 or $10 ticket with $2 or $3 for kids would bring out a lot more folks.  We are turning USF Bball into another event families can no longer afford.  USF has to realize Bball is competing with going to the movies for many people in Tampa.

[Velcro]

Would it really bring more poeple out?  that is questionable.  Maybe if the hype was there, lower price tickets would, but at this point, it is just the die-hards anyway.  not sure if there would be enough affect to justify a price decrease.

[RHBullsFan]

$16 for a nonconference game is rediculously high when there is such a problem with attendance. Also, students being out on Xmas break contributes to the bad attandance as is usually the case with mid-late December games. Attendance should grow once we are in conference.

[Velcro]

but lets say the tickets are $10 each, instead of $16... how much would that affect turnout during a low expectation low hype season?

Extra 500 maybe?  That might be generous now as that would be a 50% increase over current attendance... but i'll run the #'s anyway...

16$ x 1000 season tickets + 16$ x 250 walkups = $20,000 per game

vs

10$ x 1000 season tickets + 10$ x 750 walkups = $17,500 per game

x 16 games (not including concessions)

rough guess of ticket revenue:

$320,000  @ $16 / ticket

vs

$280,000 @ $10 / ticket

So we'd lose $40 k before concessions/parking.

All my #'s are rough guesses and assumptions.

I'm sure there are ways to skew these #'s either way.  But i tried to favor the $10 ticket increasing attendance considerably... which i truthfully don't think would happen during our current situation.

[Velcro]

just for comparison...

lets use the same #'s but boost attendance to the 6000-7000 level that people said we had night in night out..

lets say the tickets are $10 each, instead of $16... how much would that affect turnout during a high expectation, high hype.

Id guess we might be able to get an extra 1500 or so based on this ticket price change, since more people are interested.

16$ x 1000 season tickets + 16$ x 4000 walkups + 1500 student x 0$ = $80,000 per game

vs

10$ x 1000 season tickets + 10$ x 4000 walkups = $50,000 per game

x 16 games (not including concessions)

rough guess of ticket revenue:

$1,024,000 @ $16 / ticket

vs

$800,000 @ $10 / ticket

So we'd lose $224,000 before concessions/parking.

These #'s assume only 1500 of the 6500 attendance is accounted for by students.

[Bull94]

$10 might not increase attendance all that much but they have to consider this when talking about walkups. I don't mind paying $16 because I am a donor (heck- I donate $2k per year and can't even get a seat in the lower bowl-not even when there are tons of empty seats). Give the donors who pay $16 the ability to use the empty seats in the lower bowl.The gators tickets are only $10 and they put a much better product on the floor. Charge $5 for the first say 200 walkups. Then go to $10 for the next 500. Then go to $15 for the remaining tickets. Start selling to walkups 1 hour before gametime. First come first served. Run this as a continuing promotion. The hot games will bring in the most revenue(not to mention lines at the ticket booth). When we play no name opponents we can still draw a crowd (we just won't make much money- rightly so).