Build a stadium on campus

[widerberg]

To be honest, I sort of dropped out of USF fandom (except WBB) the last few years, only to return when the realignment news started kicking off a few days ago. Part of this was just exhaustion from USF football, part of it was my kids got into sports (bball and recently football) and that ate up most of my time and disposable income. I will say, though, that earlier this summer my youngest son attended a football camp at UCF and it was the first time I'd seen their stadium. I was impressed. No, it's not huge, it's not historical, it's not objectively amazing. But, the stadium, indoor facility next door, and the outside practice fields made a hell of an impact. And that was just for a high school football camp. I'm sure during college game day it's even better. 

I've been to RayJay several dozen times to watch USF and, personally, I would be more excited to watch football on campus. RayJay is too big for USF, it's red, it's branded wrong, and there's a frickin' pirate ship at one end. I know all these things have been said ad nauseam for the past 10-15 years. But, it is what it is. It doesn't mean they're not truths.

I'll be 50 this year, and I don't know if that's young or old in our demographic, but for me, I'd rather be on campus than on Dale Mabry.

[MaltLiquorBull]

56 minutes ago, widerberg said:

To be honest, I sort of dropped out of USF fandom (except WBB) the last few years, only to return when the realignment news started kicking off a few days ago. Part of this was just exhaustion from USF football, part of it was my kids got into sports (bball and recently football) and that ate up most of my time and disposable income. I will say, though, that earlier this summer my youngest son attended a football camp at UCF and it was the first time I'd seen their stadium. I was impressed. No, it's not huge, it's not historical, it's not objectively amazing. But, the stadium, indoor facility next door, and the outside practice fields made a hell of an impact. And that was just for a high school football camp. I'm sure during college game day it's even better. 

I've been to RayJay several dozen times to watch USF and, personally, I would be more excited to watch football on campus. RayJay is too big for USF, it's red, it's branded wrong, and there's a frickin' pirate ship at one end. I know all these things have been said ad nauseam for the past 10-15 years. But, it is what it is. It doesn't mean they're not truths.

I'll be 50 this year, and I don't know if that's young or old in our demographic, but for me, I'd rather be on campus than on Dale Mabry.

I agree with this.  I'd rather be on campus than on Dale Mabry.  I was at all of those games games in 2007 at Raymond James with the electric USF atmosphere.  Those were good times.  They would have been just as good and probably better on the USF campus.  More over, these boring games against Tulsa and Tulane would not be so boring if they were on campus in a smaller stadium right on campus.  Look how crazy NCState was last Thursday for their "tune-up" game against the last-place-in-the-AAC Bulls.

[Rocky Style]

59 minutes ago, MaltLiquorBull said:

More over, these boring games against Tulsa and Tulane would not be so boring if they were on campus in a smaller stadium right on campus.

This is an underrated factor.

[Triple B]

1 hour ago, MaltLiquorBull said:

Look how crazy NCState was last Thursday for their "tune-up" game against the last-place-in-the-AAC Bulls.

As a point of order, that stadium is not on campus ....... but it is all theirs ..... and they do have special parking foe students close.

[USFBULL_08]

Is the 100% private funding thing some kind of state law or a self imposed sanction?

Edited September 10, 2021 by USFBULL_08

[puc86]

1 minute ago, USFBULL_08 said:

Is the 100% private funding thing some kind of state law or a self imposed sanction?

They had said changes in state law, if it was just self imposed I wouldn’t have been concerned and removing that would be completely under our control. I never bothered to fact check them though.

[hm101]

Most people don't realize it's not about us old fans it's about getting the students that are there NOW into the whole college football culture. Do I personally care much? No. Is it good for students? Yes. Hell, it will even drag alum and the community to the physical campus which is good. 

[michibull]

4 hours ago, Triple B said:

and why would you have built a 30K stadium 10 years ago when we were averaging over 40k?

Supply and demand my friend. You want your supply to be a little below demand to keep your demand up. Typically there would be a study on season tickets sold and student attendance and balance that with typical single game ticket purchases. This will help balance out down years. I know Michigan State has a waiting list for student tickets and season tickets, and that was during the rough years in early 00’s. 

Edited September 10, 2021 by michibull

[CousinRicky]

5 hours ago, Gismo said:

 

As others have mentioned, we are also losing out on potential students who get sold on the gameday fun at FSU, Florida, and UCF. 

 

Other than UF our students are doing just fine.  They just aren't into USF athletics.

[Sellular1]

7 hours ago, Triple B said:

Which, like everything here, is pure conjecture. Traveling to RayJay for students wasn't a big problem back when we were in a relevant conference and it's not a big problem for other programs where stadiums aren't on campus ..... and why would you have built a 30K stadium 10 years ago when we were averaging over 40k? Bottom line is all this 20/20 second guessing. We know what ever we did didn't put us where we want to be right now but nobody knows if there was something we could have done to change this.

Trip, why do you think it’s not a pain for students to get to RJS?  It ALWAYS has been a problem.  When you’re ranked in the top10 it’s not “as big” of a problem, but when you’re 5-7 students aren’t going through the hassle.  If you could just walk down the street it would be a totally different deal.