USF-West Virginia surge opens upper deck

For only the fourth time in its short history, USF has opened the upper deck of Raymond James Stadium. A steady stream of calls on the first day of individual-ticket sales convinced Bulls officials to open the east side of the upper deck for USF's Sept. 28 game against Big East preseason favorite West Virginia.

The three previous times the upper deck has been opened -- all in 2005, against Florida A&M, Central Florida and West Virginia -- produced the three largest crowds since USF's very first game, all getting at least 43,000 fans. The lower level is not completely sold out, but sales have been enough that USF is freeing up more seats. The excitement isn't just on USF's end, either: opponents are typically allotted 3,000 tickets to sell to their fans, but West Virginia has already requested 4,000, with nearly two months until kickoff.

-- I've gotten a few e-mails from fans curious about USF's family plan (two adult and two children's season tickets for $300) and how the Bulls will ensure that kids are using the kids' tickets. Assistant athletic director Jim Louk tells me USF is having special tickets made for this promotion, so that the "child's ticket" will be marked as such, and ticket-takers will be asked to eyeball ticketholders accordingly. (I'm thinking you could sneak a 10-year-old in with an adult ticket, just not vice versa).

-- Expect news on Thursday on Alabama transfer running back Jamar Taylor, who is eagerly waiting to hear if he's been accepted into USF. I'm hearing a fair amount of optimism that'll work out, but pulling off a hardship waiver to allow him to play this season could be another challenge, if only from the logistics of the season starting in four weeks. USF went 3-for-3 on those last year, so don't rule anything out.

Comments

[cee]

the UCF homegame brought in 43,000 people and people are begging to cancel that rivalry.. pretty sad, considering it's one of our biggest moneymakers. it is the same people that do not believe we can finance an on campus stadium.. and you wonder why we cant finance the stadium [supposedly]: we cancel meetings like those vs. UCF that sell out the lower bowl in favor of snoozefests against 1-AA opponents who dont bring in money whatsoever.

[G.A.]

Cee, here's where both sides are consistently wrong. USF isn't replacing UCF with a I-AA game, as the critics say, and USF isn't replacing UCF with Miami, as some say. They're replacing UCF with another non-BCS opponent, one with likely no geographic or rivalry significance, but with less risk of damage from a loss. Don't exaggerate the financial implications of losing UCF: let's say that game draws 10,000 more fans than its replacement. You're talking about a loss of $200,000 in revenue for USF every two years. Good money, sure, but that's a third of 1 percent of USF's annual athletic budget.

[Claudel]

Great work Greg. I appreciate you putting the uninformed in their place.

[Sandro]

Great news Greg. Hopefully we will get close to 55,000 against WV.

[Jim Johnson]

Greg -- Great reply to Cee. Hopefully more people will finally understand the implications of the "UCF series".

[Michael Harding]

gj Greg. Did someone say "0wn3d"?

[G.A.]

Didn't really mean to get anybody 0wn3d -- or pwn3d, for that matter -- but I just think both sides are a little off in defending their position.

The UCF argument will come back when USF announces its next batch of non-BCS I-A opponents. I'm guessing it'll be a MAC team, since a different C-USA opponent would just be flagrantly slapping UCF and too much Sun Belt would look bad. Losing to (just as an example) Akron would hurt USF, but not as directly in image and recruiting as losing to UCF would.

[Mack]

A little pause in any good streak is a great marketing strategy...

Look at Puff Daddy... I mean P Diddy, I mean Diddy... or Prince, or artist formarly known as prince or thingymagig.

I think USF is doing the right thing and can ultimately use UCF as a home opener once USF becomes part of the big 4 in 2010. Then the recruiting implications won't be as severe.