Charlie is 1,000% right!

[michibull]

17 minutes ago, MikeG said:

The difference is there are not a whole lot of competing pro and college teams for that attention in Michigan

You are correct on everything but this. Up here, sports are the #1 interest to most people here, we don't have much else. The Lions are #1 (even tho they suck) and the Tigers are HUGE as well as the Red Wings have a large following. Generally its split 50/50 on pro vs college sports fans. The difference is that generally, UM and MSU get equal publicity around Detroit compared to the pro teams; that's where Tampa needs to be. University of Detroit Mercy or Wayne State University is not a good comparison to USF in terms of city support. The point I'm trying to make is that Detroit has all 4 major sports and 2 Major universities that they cover and support better than Tampa does with its 3 pro and 3 college; and believe me, Tampa is such a better city than Detroit, it's not even close.

[puc86]

4 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

B12 knows that they are losing six schools in four years.

It would seem likely and Texas and Oklahoma know they will be just fine. I guess the others figured they should just make whatever extra money they can while they can but it would have seemed to make sense to try to insure some level of a safety net should they not follow Texas and Oklahoma to their greener pastures. Soon we will see how their gamble worked out but I’m willing to bet not very well for the Iowa States of the world.

[NewEnglandBull]

14 minutes ago, puc86 said:

It would seem likely and Texas and Oklahoma know they will be just fine. I guess the others figured they should just make whatever extra money they can while they can but it would have seemed to make sense to try to insure some level of a safety net should they not follow Texas and Oklahoma to their greener pastures. Soon we will see how their gamble worked out but I’m willing to bet not very well for the Iowa States of the world.

Which includes: Baylor, K-State,  and TCU

[MikeG]

9 minutes ago, michibull said:

You are correct on everything but this. Up here, sports are the #1 interest to most people here, we don't have much else. The Lions are #1 (even tho they suck) and the Tigers are HUGE as well as the Red Wings have a large following. Generally its split 50/50 on pro vs college sports fans. The difference is that generally, UM and MSU get equal publicity around Detroit compared to the pro teams; that's where Tampa needs to be. University of Detroit Mercy or Wayne State University is not a good comparison to USF in terms of city support. The point I'm trying to make is that Detroit has all 4 major sports and 2 Major universities that they cover and support better than Tampa does with its 3 pro and 3 college; and believe me, Tampa is such a better city than Detroit, it's not even close.

I was not trying to slight Michigan/Detroit as not having tons of sports options. But compared to Florida in general, we have so many more teams. 3 pro NFL, 2 NBA, 2 NHL, 2 MLB (plus Grapefruit league for spring training), 3 traditional NCAA powers in sports (UF, FSU, UM) PLUS the newer up and comers (mainly USF and UCF), NUMEROUS bowl games, Superbowls, Nascar, not to mention other sports and quite a different lifestyle. It is intense in terms of sports as I'm sure your aware. Fighting for space in the sports column can get really crowded.

But does that mean USF has to take a backseat so often? I think that guy said he considered UF "local"-- they are as local as UCF is to Tampa (farther away). That argument is telling in that take into account the large fan base of all the big three schools in Tampa. They do probably dwarf USF. But a little help would be appreciated or just some reasonable respect.

[ForestBull]

53 minutes ago, MikeG said:

Agreed-- the Ann Arbor example would best fit a comparison to Gainesville, not Tampa. But the reach of Michigan or UF extends well beyond their own city limits. The difference is there are not a whole lot of competing pro and college teams for that attention in Michigan-- or at least ones that rival the history of a Michigan. Now if you look at a school that is located somewhere in or near Detroit (not familiar with the area) and look at their treatment, you might find some comparisons that show the same situation we are dealing with in Tampa.

And on an unrelated (to the posts above) note- when we talk about the huge impact USF has economically on the community, we need to understand that the sports teams and specifically football are a very minor part of that number. I only mention that because it seems like some people are trying to leverage overall impact and equating that to under representation in one specific area.

More important going forward will be USF presence in electronic media circles as we see the decline & imminent death of newsprint on the horizon (kind of a sad thing for us old timers but realistically-- people want the information faster than printing can deliver). I agree with CCS that we need to have better coverage by home town news. I just am not sure that it is as impactful as it used to be- unless he is referring to their online content.

I think Georgia Tech is a good comparison. They are behind UGA, Falcons, and Braves in media coverage. Maybe behind the Hawks too

[MikeG]

IIRC UCF has the same problems with Orlando papers. At least the did back when my dad lived there and I would read the paper and see how little coverage they were getting. Just finding a USF score let alone an article (unless they were playing UCF) in those papers was very infrequent. Which is sad considering we are technically a local team based on that TBT guys loosely made definition.

[Guest PCBull14]

Its not that hard to start a simple news site... If they don't give it you, do it yourself. Everyone talks about what the program needs, but no one does it. They may laugh at you at first, but hey they  laughed at JL at first too. 

[michibull]

1 hour ago, MikeG said:

I was not trying to slight Michigan/Detroit as not having tons of sports options. But compared to Florida in general, we have so many more teams. 3 pro NFL, 2 NBA, 2 NHL, 2 MLB (plus Grapefruit league for spring training), 3 traditional NCAA powers in sports (UF, FSU, UM) PLUS the newer up and comers (mainly USF and UCF), NUMEROUS bowl games, Superbowls, Nascar, not to mention other sports and quite a different lifestyle. It is intense in terms of sports as I'm sure your aware. Fighting for space in the sports column can get really crowded.

But does that mean USF has to take a backseat so often? I think that guy said he considered UF "local"-- they are as local as UCF is to Tampa (farther away). That argument is telling in that take into account the large fan base of all the big three schools in Tampa. They do probably dwarf USF. But a little help would be appreciated or just some reasonable respect.

Fair enough, I can agree with that, and especially in the lifestyle point. I think that's the actual Florida issue compared to Michigan. Up here, at least in the urban areas where sports are big, there's not a whole lot to do outside of sports; whereas in Florida, there is so much to do, that sports often take a back seat to other activities with boarderline fans. 

[Apis Bull]

Just my two cents.  Florida's loss to Kentucky was front page worthy.  However, IMO, The recap story from a USF football game should always be on the front page and above the fold.  The columns can be back some.

[Apis Bull]

Also, their response is always, "If you want more coverage, read more, click more, etc", but who wants to read something from Jones and/or Fennelly when you know it's going to be loaded with backhanded complements and snark?  Even on generally positive pieces, they tend to take jabs at USF.  I don't need them to be cheerleaders, but for ***** sake, they don't have to slam USF at every turn.

Edited September 11, 2018 by Apis Bull