Location, location... What if USF were located in Gainesville?

[Flowers4Heisman]

There's too much to do in Tampa, so people don't attend USF sporting events.

 

But what if USF were located in Gainesville and switching places with that school?

 

I think it's winning (first in football and men's basketball, then the rest) that brings the crowd and attention. And the same goes for making people care about the program.

 

Personally, I think being in Tampa helps USF with all the intangibles of running an athletics program.

 

More than where USF is located, I think this is why:

 

1) We got into football so late: 1997 (no 100-year + of tradition)

2) We haven't won enough. (Look what a little attention did for FL Gulf Coast.)

 

[Fold FB Invest in BB]

From a demographic standpoint, I think that the majority of people in Gainesville are either students or somehow associated with the University of Florida. The same is not true in Tampa which is the 22nd largest metro area in the US (surprisingly less people than Orlando area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_of_the_United_States). Point being that a larger percentage of people in Gainesville have some tie to UF than people in Tampa have to USF. I would even venture to guess that there are more people in the Tampa area that have ties to UF than to USF, but it's probably pretty close.

 

The Bay Area needs to be won over by USF first and foremost. Being in Tampa definitely helps when you're talking about the academic/research side of a University, but not the greatest sports town IMO. Lots of people live there, but many are not from there and have allegiances elsewhere.

[370Bull]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...........

[Bull Martin]

The city of Gainesville itself does not fill Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.  A lot of people travel from Tampa, Orlando, etc...

 

If the USF were in Gainesville, would we expect the majority of people to be driving 2, 3, or even 4 hours to get to a game on Saturday?  We can't get people to drive 1-2 hours or less to get to Ray Jay.

 

It's UF's tradition and winning that pack the stadium.  USF can achieve the same in Tampa, but needs to develop a culture of winning.  Can we do that with the relegation?  It'll be harder, but if we can keep getting better at recruiting and winning, anything is possible, but it's going to be a lot tougher than when we were in a BCS conference.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Bull Martin

[chrisdashley]

If USF were in Gainesville, we'd get more grief for not being in South Florida.

[Fold FB Invest in BB]

The city of Gainesville itself does not fill Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.  A lot of people travel from Tampa, Orlando, etc...

 

If the USF were in Gainesville, would we expect the majority of people to be driving 2, 3, or even 4 hours to get to a game on Saturday?  We can't get people to drive 1-2 hours or less to get to Ray Jay.

 

It's UF's tradition and winning that pack the stadium.  USF can achieve the same in Tampa, but needs to develop a culture of winning.  Can we do that with the relegation?  It'll be harder, but if we can keep getting better at recruiting and winning, anything is possible, but it's going to be a lot tougher than when we were in a BCS conference.

 

I see your points and agree, but just for the sake of being factual, Gainesville population is 126K and Ben Hill Griffin capacity is 89k

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=gainesville+population&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb

https://www.google.com/search?q=gainesville+population&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb#channel=fflb&q=ben+hill+griffin+capacity&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

[Jewbull]

I have always said this, if USF switched spots with UT & had an OCS,  we would be one of the best from a location standpoint, no questions.......

[charsibb]

[Who'sYourData?]

I was expecting to see:

 

Would Durden have been arrested?

Edited January 20, 2014 by ShadowBull

[Skingraft]

Lol, I saved that pic