Por (Dan Alatorre) on November 24, 2008 (Suggest removal)

I can tell you why attendance was down LAST night:

It was cold.
It was a school night (lots of folks take their kids).
it was a work night.
It was an 8:15pm start, which means an 11:30pm finish.
The team was on a losing streak.
Everybody’s sick.

I guess we just figured out who the DIE HARD BULLS FANS ARE! For a decade, if it was threatening rain or the Gators were playing, you could count on a sparce crowd. But despite last night’s display, that IS all changing…

Por (Joey Buttafuoco) on November 24, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Hey Dan…

You forgot these two items on your reasons for the high school like crowd last night:

THE TEAM SUCKS

IT’S LIKE WATCHING PAINT DRY

Por (Evan) on November 24, 2008 (Suggest removal)

This just in,

USF wins are down by 22%...

So I guess that’s not too bad of a drop off.

Por (Chris Smith) on November 24, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Gee, I didn’t think attendance had gone down based on looking at the empty seats.  Thanks for the scoop Brett!  Say, I don’t recall the Rays in the playoffs last year during the Bulls games.  You forgot to mention that in your “analysis”.

Just curious, what exactly is the “announced subscribers” of the Tribune versus actual readers?  I’d find answer that equally fascinating.

Por (Don G) on November 24, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Brett, I have to agree w/Dan re: lack of attendance Sunday night. I too had tickets, but could not make game due to the time it played and would finish. Re: weather, to me, it wasn’t a factor, but game time of 8:15 and when it would finish and factor-in drive back to Madeira Bch, it didn’t make sense to me.  In fact, I had to give away four tkts & parking pass just to make sure tkts were used. Not sure who in Big East/NCAA thinks Sunday night 8PM college games are a good idea, but for people who work and/or have kids on a school/work night, it’s not convenient at all!

Por (Allen Brown) on November 24, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Crowd looked good until halftime.

Por (Bud) on November 24, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Here is the deal. Usf won’t be successful till they have a fan base, a real fan base. The type that goes out a day before the game and pregames(food and so on)  Most bigtime college teams sell out season tickets in minutes. Oh yea, fans show up no matter what time or what temp it is.  Usf fans need to step up and support their team, instead of being such cry babies and front runners.

Por (bud) on November 24, 2008 (Suggest removal)

http://www.mgoblue.com/football/page.aspx?id=84112 Michigan, worst year in 70 years, but yet they sell tickets.  Get with it and support your team.

Por (Don G) on November 25, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Bud, re: your statement: “Here is the deal. Usf won’t be successful till they have a fan base, a real fan base. The type that goes out a day before the game and pregames(food and so on),” I understand where you’re probably coming from (FAN LOYALTY), but I think one needs to realize just where local USF football racks & stacks against real-life priorities. While I really enjoy seeing the Rays & Bulls in person, they are not my highest priority. Sorry, but family and job rank higher than USF football. Lastly, USF football doesn’t have the long history and associated large numbers of alumni that generate the fan support you’re talking about.  That comes with time and it will eventually.

Por (Dan) on November 25, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Bud, this is Florida. not Michigan - there are still a LOT of other things to do here when it’s snowing up there. check out U of M’s attendance when they were winning National championships every other year: if it was a nice day or there was a concert at the beach, nobody showed up for the game. And as was mentioned, some of our home games fell during critical Rays games this year. Which should you attend, a possible once in a lifetime baseball game or a regular football game? Not to mention, in a tough economy a lot of people have less discretionary $$$ this year.

Por (Dan) on November 25, 2008 (Suggest removal)

For a decade, if the Gators were in a big game at the same time we were playing, or if the World Series was on, we had poor attendance. For MANY years, not a lot of students were in the student section. But now we usually have good attendance over the past, say, 5 years. Why? Well, a winning team draws more people - ask the Bucs, the Lightning & the Rays. WIN and they will come. Lose, and there are other things to do. Last year we were on a winning streak and ranked as high as #2 in the country! How high of an increase in attendance was that? We were mentioned on Jim Rome and on Fox NFL Sunday by Terry Bradshaw! That didn’t happen this year. Last year was special. But, hopefully, not an anomaly over the next few years. Stay tuned.

Por (Harold Wheeler) on November 25, 2008 (Suggest removal)

This town was wound up about the Bulls last year. The same would have happened this year had they kept winning.
Fan base will continue to build over time. Takes generations to do that.

I missed Sunday’s game due to the date and time as well. I get up for work before 5am and my son has school. Not a good way to start the week. Thursday nights aren’t as bad not so bad.
Only the 4th game I’ve missed since they started and the first in about 7 years.
What generates more money, the TV cash or another 25K people in the stands? It’s all about the money.
Go Bulls beat WV.

Por (Mike Lakeland) on November 25, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Besides Kansas, our home schedule was not that good this year.  Expect it to peak again next year with Louisville, Cincy (BE Champs!), WVU and Miami.

Let’s hope for a noon kickoff on December 6th.  A night game in MoTown will NOT be good.

Por (DonG) on November 26, 2008 (Suggest removal)

Mike Lakeland, I agree about need to play at noon verses night @ WVA. It’ll probably be pretty darn cold up there for a night game and that usually doesn’t equal a good showing from USF. Noon games stink when they’re here, but when in WVA in December, noon games are perfect!