How to get more students to attend the games?

[Mag Pie]

People are always complaining about the students and it pisses me off.  I think we had a fair amount of people there.  The student section was crowded most games, I know, I sat there and people were always pushing each other trying to get better seats.

You can't really blame the entire student population.  How many students are at USF part time?  How many are older students?  How many go to other branches?  When you take it down to traditional college students we're out there representing.

Like Rezz said, it's the alumni that people have to try and reach.  At USF we know when there's a football game.  It's on the Oracle, people talk about it, blah blah.

Seriously, think back to football season.  The student sections were fine, the rest of the stadium however, wasn't always so great.

[SeaBull]

Back to the original topic...how to get more students to attend the games??

I don't think there is one answer. You can 'win', you can make it 'cool', and you can keep selling beer. But I think it has to do more with 'time'. All the schools that have been listed about as having 1/2 of the student population attending games have been around a long time. They have anOCS, tradition, and big beautiful clock towers. Our campus is beautifully landscaped in some areas but 75% of the buildings are oogly . I know that will slowly change but that all has to do with TIME. So does instilling a sense of school pride.

Students will come if it's cool...just like at UF. Students will come if we win...just like at RU.

USF is so young that expecting to sell out games is ridicules at this point. Marketing around tampa is nearly non-existant, and almost rightfully so. No one cares enough yet so why would marketers want to aim towards a moot audience? This will change over time. I'm seeing more 10 year olds wearing bulls hats and the jump to the big east will change things.

[Guest BasketBull.]

Funding:

Personally, I think USF athletics need to take some of the fund that the students pay toward the athletics fee and reinvest in attracting its own student populating.  This takes care of whatever budgeting problems for student promotion.

Promotion:

I think the on-campus students need to be targetted by each sport. On every program, there are non-starters, why not work with those athletes/walk-ons in promoting the games?

For example, before a home football game, on Friday, why not have some non-starters go around the dorms and the campus to promote the game? There are a ton of things the programs can do on campus to wake students up. Apathy breeds apathy...

Information:

Believe it or not, students don't keep up with campus information that well. It is the job of athletics promotion to make sure our students know what is being offered. (I'm a student and I didn't even know that USF offered bus rides to the stadium...)

Wanna get rid of those non-USF gear that people wear on campus? START A CAMPAIGN!

How about interviewing some key people and get quotes from them? "Matt Grothe: What do you think about USF students wearing other schools' stuff?" "Coach Leavitt, if someone comes into the athletic facility to see you while wearing another schools' logo, would that bother you at all?"

I tell 'ya, there is hardly a pulse of school spirit on campus. It might have been in bad taste and a poor way to show it, but that chalk drawing regarding the need for a new basketball coach was the first sign of a heart beat I that I saw in quite some time.

When the football team came back from the WVU victory, who were out there? Mostly odies like me... Sad.

When the Sheriff was at USF, he camped out in the Sun Dome parking lot... What has anybody done lately?

Yeah, get your education, get your walking paper(s), then get a job and get old... Let all the fun just fly by...

[note: I'd like to say that there is a small group who paint themselves up for games, etc. I'm proud of you guys!]

[elonfirefighter]

Hide homework passes in the bleachers.  Its a hard issue to deal with, Elon went through the same problem.  Winning is #1 but have the current students get the freshman involved early is also a plus.  Each year as our freshman fan level grows our fan retention grows.  Now were putting up high attendence level in all sports.  IE selling out every home conf game last year and getting 1500 for our home game vs. S.C.  Well all i can do is wish you luck with this issue

[CoolBull1]

Turn the question over to a few enterprising marketing students...make it worth their while.  Our own little version of hte Apprentice....

Students need to realize they are the real fans....their particpation is the most important fan support there is.

[Don Toro]

People are always complaining about the students and it pisses me off.

The complaint is about those that don't show up, not about the ones that do.

[Paul Wall]

As USF moves away from being a commuter school the more students will go. As well, we need get people excited about games. Also, many people aren't aware about USF athletics either. If people get excited and know they will have a good time then the fanbase will grow.