Trib: Hiring Holtz hasn't helped USF ticket sales

[Matt]

I agree that if we win they will come but more people will buy individual game tickets. The economy is still recovering and there are many in our state that dont have the luxury to fork over for season tickets.

I also thiink that the administration will have to rethink its thinking for future scheduling, lets face it

a 1AA team, WKU and FAU are NOT an attractive OCS for home games.

The 1AA game is going to stay and I understand the financials of it, but at least one of the others WKU,FAU has to be replaced with alower BCS squad. Lets try to get Vandy, MissState, Iowa State etc

I'm still of the thinkiing that season ticket sales really don't have that much to do with your schedule. Either you want to come watch the Bulls play 6 or 7 games, or you don't .... exception may be if you get a really high profile program (UF, OSU, Texas, etc) in here for an ooc game and people wouldn't want to get shut out. The economy, coupled with the relative youth of the program, doesn't make season tickets an automatic expense for enough fans right now.

triple b, you are right to some extent but you are forgettting that without any marque home games on the schedule, there arent a lot of people calling USF for tickets which allows the USF sales reps the chance to UPSELL into season ticket packages by offering better seats, discount packages, give-a-ways, etc.

Wasnt there a situation last year where the only way you could by lower bowl tickets is if you bought season tickets?  is that still in play?

I'm sure Miami fans made the call to USF last year, found out they cant get lower bowl tickets without being season ticket holders so for like $200 more they bought season tickets and put them on stubhub or whatever.

[Triple B]

I agree that if we win they will come but more people will buy individual game tickets. The economy is still recovering and there are many in our state that dont have the luxury to fork over for season tickets.

I also thiink that the administration will have to rethink its thinking for future scheduling, lets face it

a 1AA team, WKU and FAU are NOT an attractive OCS for home games.

The 1AA game is going to stay and I understand the financials of it, but at least one of the others WKU,FAU has to be replaced with alower BCS squad. Lets try to get Vandy, MissState, Iowa State etc

I'm still of the thinkiing that season ticket sales really don't have that much to do with your schedule. Either you want to come watch the Bulls play 6 or 7 games, or you don't .... exception may be if you get a really high profile program (UF, OSU, Texas, etc) in here for an ooc game and people wouldn't want to get shut out. The economy, coupled with the relative youth of the program, doesn't make season tickets an automatic expense for enough fans right now.

triple b, you are right to some extent but you are forgettting that without any marque home games on the schedule, there arent a lot of people calling USF for tickets which allows the USF sales reps the chance to UPSELL into season ticket packages by offering better seats, discount packages, give-a-ways, etc.

True ... that kind of falls in line with my "exception" up there. Although your scenario would work for even the non-marquee, but higher profile, games like the aforementioned Miss State, Vandy, Iowa State .... but then it does all fall back on the "Win" factor. Get them in there for one year and be successful enough to get them back and that's what we really haven't done yet because of the mid to late year swoons.

[Bullsheaven08]

USF's still a young football program.

I highly doubt any college program was close to being sold out of 13 years of playing.

While Holtz may have brought in new season ticket holders, some Leavitt fans may have not renewed. This is what's happened at FSU, they're currently floating around where they were at this time last year, but they lost a bunch of season ticket holders when Bobby left, and Jimbo's brought in a bunch of new, equaling each other out.

[Cow Pie]

:Duh

The Florida unemployment rate is around 17% over all and in 3 surrounding counties the rate is at 15-16%+... the true number is much higher since what the government reports is false because it does not account for those that no longer receive unemployment.

Thus the economy has more to do with USF ticket sales then Skip could ever...

First of all, your statistics are not correct. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in April 2010 - the most recent month for which the department has made figures public - the unemployment rate in Florida was <a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&idim=state:ST120000&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate+in+florida">11.2 percent</a>. At that same link, you can see that the numbers for Pinellas and Hillsborough counties are very close to the overall state number, while Pasco and Hernando counties are higher - but all are below 15 percent.

Second, in order to make the claim you did here, you'd have to compare it to last year. Has it gone up a great deal in the past year? According to that chart, the April 2010 unemployment rate is up about 2 percent from April 2009, but is actually exactly equal to the rate from August 2009. And as of April 2010, the unemployment rate was trending down - meaning by now, it is probably less than it was at this time last year. I don't think the numbers support your argument.

DISCLAIMER: If there has been something in the news recently that would refute that last sentence, then I wouldn't know about it, so it's possible unemployment has gone up since April 2010. All I know is the figures that I found from the Department of Labor.

EDIT: Also, your claim that "the true number is much higher since what the government reports is false because it does not account for those that no longer receive unemployment" is false - at least, according to the government it is. <a href="http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm#unemployed">Click here</a> for more info:

<blockquote><i><b>Who is counted as unemployed?</b>

Persons are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work.</i></blockquote>

The number of people collecting unemployment benefits has nothing to do with the unemployment rate. Did you really believe that more than one in every five people in Florida was unemployed?

Allow me to correct you, You have been lead astray by the media who fails to understand that once you stop receiving unemployment you are no longer counted in the figures, thus the numbers are waaaay higher then we are mislead to believe. Many people have not yet found a new job and have given up the search... those people are not counted and there is a lot of them.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/how_nation_true_jobless_rate_is_N4E6MjtfhnMcCi537pucaJ

http://seekingalpha.com/article/117296-true-unemployment-rate-is-not-reflected-in-government-numbers

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

[gobulls83]

:Duh

The Florida unemployment rate is around 17% over all and in 3 surrounding counties the rate is at 15-16%+... the true number is much higher since what the government reports is false because it does not account for those that no longer receive unemployment.

Thus the economy has more to do with USF ticket sales then Skip could ever...

First of all, your statistics are not correct. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in April 2010 - the most recent month for which the department has made figures public - the unemployment rate in Florida was <a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&idim=state:ST120000&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate+in+florida">11.2 percent</a>. At that same link, you can see that the numbers for Pinellas and Hillsborough counties are very close to the overall state number, while Pasco and Hernando counties are higher - but all are below 15 percent.

Second, in order to make the claim you did here, you'd have to compare it to last year. Has it gone up a great deal in the past year? According to that chart, the April 2010 unemployment rate is up about 2 percent from April 2009, but is actually exactly equal to the rate from August 2009. And as of April 2010, the unemployment rate was trending down - meaning by now, it is probably less than it was at this time last year. I don't think the numbers support your argument.

DISCLAIMER: If there has been something in the news recently that would refute that last sentence, then I wouldn't know about it, so it's possible unemployment has gone up since April 2010. All I know is the figures that I found from the Department of Labor.

EDIT: Also, your claim that "the true number is much higher since what the government reports is false because it does not account for those that no longer receive unemployment" is false - at least, according to the government it is. <a href="http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm#unemployed">Click here</a> for more info:

<blockquote><i><b>Who is counted as unemployed?</b>

Persons are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work.</i></blockquote>

The number of people collecting unemployment benefits has nothing to do with the unemployment rate. Did you really believe that more than one in every five people in Florida was unemployed?

Allow me to correct you, You have been lead astray by the media who fails to understand that once you stop receiving unemployment you are no longer counted in the figures, thus the numbers are waaaay higher then we are mislead to believe. Many people have not yet found a new job and have given up the search... those people are not counted and there is a lot of them.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/how_nation_true_jobless_rate_is_N4E6MjtfhnMcCi537pucaJ

http://seekingalpha.com/article/117296-true-unemployment-rate-is-not-reflected-in-government-numbers

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

I cite government reports. You cite the New York Post. And I am being "lead astray" by the media. Excellent.

"People not trying to find jobs are not being counted" is not the same as "people who are not receiving unemployment are not being counted." You obviously think you can judge the intent of every person who is unemployed - if they are unemployed but not trying to find a job, it doesn't count in government statistics because that would be misleading - and so more power to you. I'm going to continue not relying on you for information, however.

Also, it's still not the reason season ticket sales are down, for all the reasons I already stated. If your theory IS true, it didn't suddenly just become true in 2010.

EDIT: I don't mean to imply that the government is automatically more credible than the media. You obviously have a basis for your argument, though I didn't read them. And I have a basis for mine. I just still don't see, considering the government figures are about the same from this year to last, how you can blame this on economic factors. Unless you have reason to believe there are more people not being represented in the unemployment figures now than there were a year ago.

I think it has more to do with a weak home schedule and a history of poor play in-conference that goes all the way back to the Conference USA days.

[DELdaBull]

Wife and I did our part. We renewed even though both of us we not employed. Sometimes some things take priority.

Food or USF football season ticket? You know what we chose!!

[gobulls83]

I agree that if we win they will come but more people will buy individual game tickets. The economy is still recovering and there are many in our state that dont have the luxury to fork over for season tickets.

I also thiink that the administration will have to rethink its thinking for future scheduling, lets face it

a 1AA team, WKU and FAU are NOT an attractive OCS for home games.

The 1AA game is going to stay and I understand the financials of it, but at least one of the others WKU,FAU has to be replaced with alower BCS squad. Lets try to get Vandy, MissState, Iowa State etc

I'm still of the thinkiing that season ticket sales really don't have that much to do with your schedule. Either you want to come watch the Bulls play 6 or 7 games, or you don't .... exception may be if you get a really high profile program (UF, OSU, Texas, etc) in here for an ooc game and people wouldn't want to get shut out.

Couldn't you only buy Miami tickets by buying season tickets at the start of the season last year? And then in mid-season it became, you had to buy three-game deals to get Miami tickets? I was out of the country all year, so I didn't really pay too much attention, but I thought I read that. If so, perhaps that accounts for some of the difference, as people bought season tickets to ensure Miami tickets last year and there is no such marquee game on the schedule this year.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

[LakeBull]

Things are very tough financially for many people right now.    Ticket sales are hurting because too many fans are finding the cupboard is bare or fear it soon will be. 

[Boomer]

I wonder what the impact has been on ECU's ticket sales now that Skip left? 

[Joe]

Ajus, most Florida season ticket holders live outside Gainesville. Weak excuse.

It's the economy vs. Demand. No biggie, we'll survive.