Conference realignment "Rumors" "tweets" "etc"

[Rizman]

Start to build a stadium.   Get it going folks, the time is now to take a risk.   Make it 30K seat with burns for the students to sit on.  Freaking JMU has a nice stadium right off 81 you can see it.  

[BullsBoltsJagsRays]

We should start playing at Al Lang stadium.  We'd fill it on a good day.

[MMW]

3 hours ago, TallyBull said:

Our attendance looks worse than it actually is when compared to our peers because the stadium we play in was designed for a pirate-themed NFL football team and 60K+ fans.

If USF wants to ever play in front of exciting "sellout crowds" while still in the G5, the solution is to lower the number of seats in a smaller, expandable on campus stadium. We can always rent RJS if needed for larger games.

My point is that one important component (among others) to solving the attendance issue is increasing demand by lowering the number of available seats, plus creating a USF-centric, CFB-friendly atmosphere at an OCS. 

In 2007 we averaged  53,160 a game.  We did not make excuses about how the attendance looked or playing with supply and demand gimmicks.

Look I am on Team OCS but our attendance didn't just look bad, it was bad if you are trying to make a case for an OCS.  We won 10 games and averaged what 28,000?  (I am guessing since I can't find the numbers.)  If you are trying to make a case that the OCS after such a great season it just got harder.

 

3 hours ago, Bear said:

Hasn't our announced average attendance been somewhat decent (for the AAC)?

This is probably true but it would have to be decent for the B12.  They want someone that has their own built in demand.

 

3 hours ago, TallyBull said:

Yes, our attendance has been decent, but we're regularly criticized for our low (actual) attendance. Part of the problem is  demand; people don't go because they know they always can - turn on the TV and you see a half-empty stadium.

When the Bucs built a new stadium in the mid-1990s, they downsized from about 74K to 65K. Combined with a competitive team, the Bucs could suddenly tout regular sellouts and season ticket lists. Demand went up and stayed up until it became clear the product on the field was  deteriorating.

I agree with you. My point is that perception matters. We'd be more attractive to P5 conferences if we regularly sold 80% of available seats in a 40K stadium, than less than 50% in a 65K stadium. With increased demand comes improved gameday experiences and traditions. Plus a stadium that could grow with the fanbase over time.

 

The Bucs improved the product on the field in the late 90's and the increased attendance was all about that.  There may have been people staying home because the Sombrero was a dump but nobody was going to watch the Yucks in the cream-sickle days.  I am just not buying that attendance increased because there were fewer seats in the stadium.  They used to have a wait list billboard and it had over 20,000 people on it for years.

 

[CRBULL]

Think 10 wins against the teams we beat isn't enough to generate the momentum. I think if we had beaten FSU and gained momentum, including from the media, that would have done the trick.

We didn't see our attendance go up in the Big East until after being ranked number 2 in the 2007 season. If I remember right there were even threads in the BE years prior to that complaining about attendance.

[TallyBull]

24 minutes ago, MMW said:

In 2007 we averaged  53,160 a game.  We did not make excuses about how the attendance looked or playing with supply and demand gimmicks.

Look I am on Team OCS but our attendance didn't just look bad, it was bad if you are trying to make a case for an OCS.  We won 10 games and averaged what 28,000?  (I am guessing since I can't find the numbers.)  If you are trying to make a case that the OCS after such a great season it just got harder.

 

This is probably true but it would have to be decent for the B12.  They want someone that has their own built in demand.

 

The Bucs improved the product on the field in the late 90's and the increased attendance was all about that.  There may have been people staying home because the Sombrero was a dump but nobody was going to watch the Yucks in the cream-sickle days.  I am just not buying that attendance increased because there were fewer seats in the stadium.  They used to have a wait list billboard and it had over 20,000 people on it for years.

 

(1) You ignore the fact that in 2007 USF was in a BCS conference, and we beat ranked teams in Auburn and WVU. Clearly those were factors in attendance.

(2) I never said a new stadium would CAUSE an immediate increase in attendance. I did say that a higher percentage of occupied seats in the stadium looks better than a half-empty stadium, which is what we have now

(3) I don't agree with your suggestion that we'll be able to increase attendance if we remain G5 and continue playing in RJS. Hard to imagine having many years better than this one, and we see that our attendance remains the same. Ideally we would increase attendance while remaining in a larger stadium, but I sincerely doubt it. The better alternative is to downsize into a stadium that fits our 30K-sized fanbase.

[MMW]

6 minutes ago, TallyBull said:

(1) You ignore the fact that in 2007 USF was in a BCS conference, and we beat ranked teams in Auburn and WVU. Clearly those were factors in attendance. OK, but BCS is a label.  We still only had Rutgers, Syracuse and Pitt coming to town.  I think you can swap Rutgers for Temple, Syracuse for ECU (ECU probably has better fan support for football), Pitt for Navy/Memphis and UH for Louisville.  WVU was a loss but it was only one game and UCF helps somewhat.

(2) I never said a new stadium would CAUSE an immediate increase in attendance. I did say that a higher percentage of occupied seats in the stadium looks better than a half-empty stadium, which is what we have now

It would look better but if you are making a case for an OCS it is ticket sales not percentage of empty seats that is important, no?  I agree it looks better in a packed house.

(3) I don't agree with your suggestion that we'll be able to increase attendance if we remain G5 and continue playing in RJS. Hard to imagine having many years better than this one, and we see that our attendance remains the same. Ideally we would increase attendance while remaining in a larger stadium, but I sincerely doubt it. The better alternative is to downsize into a stadium that fits our 30K-sized fanbase.

If I gave you the impression that I was arguing this point I apologize.  

Good discussion. 

[TallyBull]

2 minutes ago, MMW said:

Good discussion. 

Absolutely. Attendance is a frustrating issue, and it's hard to know exactly what more we diehards can do to fix it (I already have season tix and encourage people to come). 

I used to think winning would bring people back, and maybe consistent winning over several years will, but after this year I'm afraid we may be stuck in this 25K-35K range for a while.

Assuming that to be the case, it may ultimately be better to "build the brand" by bringing football to campus and focus on improving the gameday experience/attendance peecentages, in the hope that doing so will stabilize and grow attendance over time. That might make the investment (an investment already made by schools in state that I would argue are not as wealthy or prominent as USF) worth it, even if as you correctly note ticket sales are stagnant. 

Tough nut to crack.

[CRBULL]

We averaged 37k this year, that's the same or better than BE 2005 & 2006 before our 2007 run.

[bulls phanatic]

Brett McMurphy ‏@McMurphyESPN 4h4 hours ago

Pac-12’s Larry Scott on 16-team conferences: “I think it’s likely, I don’t know timeframe"

14 replies 59 retweets 85 likes

 

  Brett McMurphy ‏@McMurphyESPN 4h4 hours ago

• Pac-12’s Larry Scott doesn’t expect Power 5 expansion “for foreseeable future. When might it happen again? Perhaps when TV contracts are up"

[Flowers4Heisman]

Don't let the thread die!

I mean after something crazy like this (below), anything can happen! What about the ACC?

http://www.goducks.com/roster.aspx?path=football#sidearm-roster-coaches

I can't believe that within the next 5 years something doesn't change with our conference affiliation.