Tampa won't pursue ACC title game

The City of Tampa will not pursue hosting the ACC Championship Game beyond the next two years in order to give USF the right to play at home in the first week of December, according to an agreement informally reached at a meeting called by Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio on Friday.

"The two are in the long term incompatible,'' Iorio said after meeting for nearly two hours with representatives from USF and the Tampa Sports Authority, among other local leaders.

USF has committed to negotiate a more long-term lease of Raymond James Stadium in return for having secondary priority for scheduling, behind the Bucs. The current agreement is a five-year contract with a five-year extension and a clause that allows USF to opt out at any point with two years' notice.

A longer lease with Raymond James Stadium would push back any effort from USF to build an on-campus stadium, though such a move would require significant fund-raising efforts. Asked if Friday's agreement pushed an on-campus stadium to the back burner, USF athletic director Doug Woolard said: "I don't know what burner it's ever been on, quite honestly. ... It was there, but I don' think (this) changes what burner it was going to be on."

Woolard declined to specify how much longer a new lease at Raymond James Stadium would be. USF president Judy Genshaft declined to comment, saying that Iorio was designated as the spokesperson from the meeting. Rob Higgins, executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, who helped bring the ACC game to Tampa, also declined to comment, deferring to Iorio's statements.

Tampa will host the ACC title game on Dec. 6 and again in 2009, and those dates preclude USF from playing home football games in the final week of the regular season. USF lost an opportunity to play a Thursday night ESPN game against Rutgers that week as a result of the contract signed by the ACC.

"We'll be very fortunate that that week will be preserved for future football nights, Thursday night ESPN nationally televised events," Iorio said. "We are accepting of the '08 and '09 schedule with the ACC football (game) and recognize that is something we will go with because that is the arrangement. Our emphasis today has been on long-term and how the (USF) football program fits into the priorities of this community. It is a large priority of this community, and I think that was accepted by everyone in this room."

-- GREG AUMAN, Times Staff Writer

Comments

[JoeB]

Good riddance ACC, go back to Cigarette Country.

[Griggsy]

"USF has committed to negotiate a more long-term lease of Raymond James Stadium in return for this concession."

What a disaster. A bad situation has just gotten worse. RJS crowd screws USF and USF decides to guarantee them more money in retaliation.

[Rich]

Does the contract extension really matter? we have a 2 year opt out anyway. Even if we sign a 50 year contract, as long as we have a 2 year opt out, it wouldn't matter.It's not like we are going to move the team to Orlando. Does this give us a right of first refusal on dates during the season?

[KB]

It takes 2 years to plan and build a stadium. Nothing has changed.

Ba Bye ACC.

[KB]

It takes 2 years to plan and build a stadium. Nothing has changed.

Ba Bye ACC.

[Sailingbull]

Hey Greg,

Did any heads came out of that meeting unattached? Sure would like to see some of these TSA guys out of a job for this. How about an old fashioned tar and feathering? Run em out of town on a rail?

[RR]

And there you have it, folks.

Woolard's / USF's response to getting totally "dissed" by TSA: "Will you accept more money and a longer tenure of us being at your mercy, please?"

Wonderful.

Get real, President Genshaft & Mr. Woolard. The public doesn't need to hear about how "big-time" this football program anymore.

Big-time programs don't get punched in the gut repeatedly like this and just take it. They do something about it.

Woolard's "what burner was it ever on?" line really tells you where there head is.

[Norb]

It looks like it's going to take something drastic like CJL putting OCS in his contract for those talks to even start :(

[Season Ticket Holder]

RR,

How many season tickets do you have? The more season tickets, the more money to the program, the more need for an OCS.

Support the program before you complain about it.

[CR]

I think that USF will end up with better terms from TSA after all this.
The facts are that building an OCS at this point are out of the question unless USF goes ala UCF and builds a cheap quick fix. Having a facility like RJS to play in does mot make that move a smart one, getting better financial deal at RJS is more important.

[RR]

Season Ticket Holder:

Why would I have season tickets when I live 800 miles away from Raymond James Stadium? Not that it's any of your business (or has any impact on your argument whatsoever), but I purchased season tickets the season after I graduated until we moved away.

So there goes that theory, huh?

[Cee, Jr.]

Season Ticket Holder is right. The Fan Authentication Center of America (FACA) does not recognize one as a fan until said person owns a season ticket.

From FACA's website:

"Under bylaw 109.6b, any fan who claims to be such without being a current season ticket holder is an impostor and shall be eligible for flogging at the hands of any season ticket holder...and may God have mercy on their souls."

[Ken]

That sounds like as good an outcome as was possible. The contract will be renegotiated and under better terms for USF. We've definitely got people's attention. Will anything (or anyone) change at the TSA, my guess is yes, but not right away.

[DELdaBULL]

I think that is really sad for USF football. We better get first refusal rights until the contract is done.

[J]

Does anyone else think that maybe the TSA was trying to force USF to leave RayJay with this deal. If you think about it, they know that if we build a stadium right now, it won't be great and will not compete w/ RayJay for other events. If they keep things nice for us and we wait, we'll be able to build a much larger/nicer stadium and compete with RayJay for other events.

[Ken]

I don't think it is at all reasonable to think that we even could build a stadium now. We have bigger needs, and a great stadium is at our disposal. Were we getting any sort of break, any home team advantage, absolutely not. That's going to change now.

[Bulls Club Donor]

RR,

Please tell me you at least give money to the program. There are a lot of Bulls that buy season tickets even though they live out of state. They don't make every game, but they support the program.

Let me guess, you are a small time fan wishing for a big time program.

Nice, now stop complaining until you support the program.

[Cee, Jr.]

Bulls Club Donor is right.

The Fan Authentication Center of America (FACA) also weighs in on "small time fans wishing for a big time program."

From the official FACA website:

"Under bylaw 274.06c, any self-described 'fan' that does not contribute large amounts of capital to said athletic program shall be described as a 'small-time' fan. If said 'small-time fan' has an opinion on the direction of said athletic program, he or she shall be described as a 'small-time fan wishing for a big-time program,' an offense FACA deems worthy of flogging at the hands of 'big-time fans' [covered under bylaw 274.06b], and may God have mercy on his/her soul."

[Donor]

Cee,

For once you are right.

Great job.

[Joe]

This has to be the stupidest thing the city has ever done. An ACC Championship game will bring in a lot more money than just another USF game. There will be millions lost in the hospitality industry. 10,000 hotel nights. That is a lot of money into the local economy, instead of the Glazer's pockets as it is with USF games. This is a bad decision.