Football Oracle: USF football losing student support

[Brad]

USF football losing student support

 

By Jacob Hoag, ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

On September 17, 2014

 

Though USF Athletics has worked tirelessly to fill Raymond James Stadium, those who attended Saturday’s game against N.C. State could see that not even students are coming out to see the Bulls play football.

 

When the Bulls burst through the fog of the tunnel and entered the field for Week 3, they saw a season-low 3,615 fans in the student section – a number that only decreased as the Bulls went on to finish the game with a 32-point loss.

 

According to USF Athletics, fewer students have been coming to the games as the season progresses.

 

While the Bulls’ season opener had a visibly crowded student section of 6,392 and resulted in victory against Western Carolina, the next game against Maryland had about half the turnout, with 3,965 students.

 

This year’s average actual attendance of 19,540 is the lowest since 2006, according to Tampa Sports Authority.

 

USF is past the glory days of Jim Leavitt, when the Bulls reached a peak of No. 2 in the nation in 2007, and as USF’s record dips to new lows in recent years, so does its student attendance. According to a national analysis by the Wall Street Journal, USF’s student attendance has sunk 69 percent between 2009, when the 8-5 Bulls averaged 9,100 students per game, and last year, when the 2-10 Bulls averaged 2,784.

 

“I don’t think during the game we’re really looking over, seeing how many people are in there and how many are not … those things we can’t worry about,” coach Willie Taggart said in response to the low attendance numbers, at Tuesday’s press conference.

 

Whether it is the team’s recent inability to win, or any number of reasons, students are deciding not to make the trip to Bulls games.

 

Itay Hashmonay, a sophomore majoring in chemistry, said he used to go to games with friends but now it’s “embarrassing to lose every game.”

 

Hashmonay said he would rather ....

 

Rest of story

 

[WoolyBully]

 

...The distance from campus to the stadium seems to be too far for the students to travel when the team is performing at such a low level.

 

Seems fair, given that when the team was winning...

 

 

...USF’s student attendance has sunk 69 percent between 2009, when the 8-5 Bulls averaged 9,100 students per game, and last year, when the 2-10 Bulls averaged 2,784.

 

So, perhaps winning does indeed cure everything. It's not like the distance or time necessary to travel has changed. The only thing that I can see that has changed is the mounting losses. Now, the question that pops into my noggin...s'pose USF had had an OCS all along. Would attendance fall by a similar percentage? Is proximity an issue or an excuse? 

[GaUSFBull]

I think proximity is definitely an excuse. And winning cures all. We start winning consistently, we will get butts back in seats.

[GaUSFBull]

People will drive the 11 miles to watch a winning football team.

[psteazy]

if we lose out straight through Cinci, is > 5000 total attendance a realistic possibility for UH? 

[RedBull13]

As a student I saw this all over campus in the Oracle boxes and it made me sick and genuinely just sad at how far we've dropped. When your own newspaper is putting the lack of support of the students on the FRONT page you know you've hit rock bottom. And it really really sucks.

[RedBull13]

...The distance from campus to the stadium seems to be too far for the students to travel when the team is performing at such a low level.

Seems fair, given that when the team was winning...

...USF’s student attendance has sunk 69 percent between 2009, when the 8-5 Bulls averaged 9,100 students per game, and last year, when the 2-10 Bulls averaged 2,784.

So, perhaps winning does indeed cure everything. It's not like the distance or time necessary to travel has changed. The only thing that I can see that has changed is the mounting losses. Now, the question that pops into my noggin...s'pose USF had had an OCS all along. Would attendance fall by a similar percentage? Is proximity an issue or an excuse?

It wouldn't be a complete 180 but I definitely think more students would go for sure. Bein able to walk to the stadium from your dorm room would do wonders for attendance. Yeah RayJay is only 12 likes away but to a student that's actually a decent drive especially when you have to pay $20 when you get there just to see your team get pummeled. There's way more things they could be doing on a Saturday/Friday night. Trust me, I'm a student who has tried to convince people to go. It isn't easy.

[MikePhillips]

Well the one thing unfortunately we forget is that Tampa is NOT a "college town"

 

There is quite a bit to do here for college students, other than attending football games. 

 

Beaches, theme parks, South Howard, etc

 

When I was in school at USF, I just wanted to be entertained on the weekend. The drive to the Old Sombrero wasn't bad. Take Nebraska to Busch, Busch to Dale Mabry, Dale Mabry south to the stadium. You are there in 20 minutes, parked by 30 minutes. I've never found the parking situation to be anything but extremely reasonable and efficient. I've never had a single issue with parking since 1997 when I attended the first game. It's always been easy and hassle free

 

If the program can just bat .500, they'll fill the stands again. But this is brutal to watch, it's truly soul crushing to sit in the stands and experience this, weekend after weekend, year after year

[BuckeyeBull9257]

It definitely helps get students to show up when we are winning, especially considering the distance from campus to stadium.  OCS might get 200-1000 more students in that section with this team right now, but winning does so much more.  If they have 8-win seasons again we can have a 6000 strong student section on a consistent basis (considering competition in the AAC).  But you also have to establish yourselves at home.  Can't keep getting blown out at home. 

[snarling Bull]

Our son is a USF St Pete senior who has been to every home game since the1998 season.  He drives his car and pays to park and we live much farther from the stadium than the students who live on the campus. If students want to go they will  When we were winning they came.. An OCS would be a better game day atmosphere but our constant losing isn't going to put more butts in the seats no matter where the game is played.

Edited September 18, 2014 by snarling Bull