St. Pete bowl update: 22,000 tickets sold

How big a crowd will be on hand at Tropicana Field on Saturday to see USF and Memphis in the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl? Bowl officials gave their first ticketing update on Thursday afternoon, saying that 22,000 seats have been sold for Saturday's game -- two-thirds of the stadium's 33,000-seat capacity for football.

What remains unclear is how they arrived at that 22,000 total -- USF and Memphis are each responsible for selling 10,000 seats, so the figure could simply account for those seats, plus an additional 2,000 tickets sold. USF has been given an additional 1,000 tickets beyond its original allotment, but Memphis sold less than 2,000 tickets, returning the rest for sale to the general public. Brett Dulaney, the bowl's executive director, did not explain how the 22,000 figure was reached.

For a bowl to keep its license from the NCAA, it must maintain a three-year average of at least 25,000 fans. The other first-year bowl, the EagleBank Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., announced Wednesday that more than 30,000 tickets have been sold.

Comments

[Don G]

Al, hopefully in a couple years, the SPB will contract with another BCS conference verses C-USA / Sun Belt? When this bowl contract cycle ends after next year, I hope it's a Big Ten or Big-12 team vs Big East. That would make a huge difference with the quality and attendance of this bowl.

[Bull Daly]

Good news for the BIG EAST in that the Meineke Car Care bowl is sold out. Thanks to WVU and North Carolina, this bowl may be increasing its pay-out according to the ESPN BIG EAST blog.

[Bull Daly]

Al,

Thanks for bringing up the womens' program. They are really doing well this season, so I hope they get the support that they deserve.

[Al]

USF isn't exactly a winner either after going 2-5 in the Big East. I bought tickets, but I'm not going to the game.

The teams suck, the venue sucks, and it's the Saturday before Christmas. I'm going to the Sun Dome to see USF vs Northern Arizona (WBB) and then getting together with family.

[Greg Auman]

The bowl almost got East Carolina, which would have had better name recognition and likely a stronger showing.

I think part of the apathy from Memphis is just the kind of season they had -- starting 0-3, needing three wins in the last four games to be bowl eligible. Add in the economy, and it's not that surprising that they wouldn't travel well.

[Al]

From Greg's article

"I think this bowl is going to be tremendous," Memphis coach Tommy West said. "It's a can't miss, and it's not going to be 10 years down the road getting there, it's going to be two or three more. The exposure for us of playing in a Florida bowl game, I don't know how you can put a price on it, from a recruiting standpoint and the overall perception of your program"

Right Tommy, with a CUSA team that sold less than 2000 total tickets (including the band,and staff, ect) it's going to be a real show place for your bottom feeder program (ranked # 101 by Sagarin). Amazing, simply amazing!

To go anywhere this bowl need to bring in teams better than yours, coach.

[Al]

Is there a way to check out the word on the street that Chalko is actually GOL in drag.

[Common Sense Bill]

For the most part, Sports fans in FL are fairweather (See Marlins, Heat, Rays, Bucs, Bulls, heck even the lightning)

[Al]

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but UCF didn't sell out it's own on-campus stadium for the CUSA Championship game.

[Al]

Chalko...Aren't you from that school up in Oviedo that can't keep the stores/restaurants on it's own campus busy?

[Rob]

Chalko loves USF! Too bad you went to UCF!

[Chalko]

Al, you're still an idiot. USF should have sold out that stadium by itself! Don't fool yourself, USF blows!

[RR]

P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C

[Al]

"As Steve said, where's the rundown of bowl events and coverage in overall media in this area?" Don G

****************************************

Why didn't the Tradewinds Resort, where many of the events associated with the bowl are being held AVERTISE them heavily??? They are after all a business enterprise that will be profiting from those events and the hotel guests that are coming for the game.

It seems to me that everyone who is going to profit from the game just expected to sit back and rake in the dough. I didn't see a single freaking sign in St Petersburg...not even at or around the Trop.

USF (BEast) has done it's part by selling MORE than it's allocation.

Memphis (CUSA) rates a big fat "F".

ESPN Regional rates a big fat "F".

The Sponsors (magicJack and others) also rate "F".

BTW, Greg Auman's article - "Bowl gets no respect-yet" is on page 1B - The Tampa Bay Section - of today's St Pete Times.

[Don G]

B, I applaud your support of the state's college football (both UF & 12yrs for USF). Good on you, my friend. In defense of attendance for UCONN game, a Sunday night 8PM game is not the best day/time for a college game. These network types forget that people have other lives outside of football. Why does Big East schedule games on late Sunday night (school/work night)? I'm against Friday night & Sunday night college games. It's not fair to high school football & families and Sunday night games are ridiculous to me. Colleges are filled with students who's priority should be academics rather than drinking beer and getting home at 1AM on a Sunday night. College football is getting worse than the commericalization of Christmas!

[B]

Spoiled Gators fan? I was a Gator fan before you were probably in diapers. Been a season ticket holder to UF for 34 years and for USF for 12.

If the USF fanbase needs advertising to get their fans to their bowl game they are in a lot of trouble.

After that UConn game, the USF fan base has deserved every bit of criticism it gets.

[Genius]

I heard that the bowls are not only affiliated with specific conferences but shoes as well. The St. Pete Bowl is tied in with Under Armour. That's why USF is in that bowl.

[Don G]

Al, I'm glad to see someone else - incl Greg & Steve - who've seen (in this case, not seen) the lack of ads for the SPB. Like Greg said, finally a print ad for the game today (Times Sports Section, pg 3), but it's a little too late to really make any real impact. As Steve said, where's the rundown of bowl events and coverage in overall media in this area? Unless you're someone who's Internet savy and then make the effort to find that info, you don't know that a bowl or assoc events are scheduled. Al, Steve, & Blig, I'm not a big fan of all of these nearly meaningless bowls, but I'm a Bulls' fan/supporter and I will attend the game anyway. I don't begrudge others who've decided against going, because it appears that ESPN, SPB, USF & local media simply don't seem to care very much either, so why should anyone else care? I known that USF feels that SPB is responsible for promoting this game, but USF has done a poor job of promoting this game and other games in the past, as well. However, with that said, why are all seats $30 when all seats are NOT the same quality of view of playing field? Why should people pay the same price for a seats at 300 Level as someone in 100 Level & at the 40 yd line? This whole thing has been run poorly in my opinion, and maybe people are just sending a message of discontent & frustration with current bowl setup, ticket process and lack of promotion? If that's the case, then I'm all for the local revolt! We need to send the proper message so it'll be improved in the future. Sadly, the real story of how this bowl has been run will be overshadowed by either lack of attendance and/or the quality of teams playing or some other reason/s. Sorry for length of this rant.

[RR]

Daly,

You're right. But as little as this nation cares about the bigger bowl games, the JackCrap.com Bowl has exponentially less appeal.

[Bull Daly]

RR,

Just like nobody cares about many of the other bowls. The way the BCS is set up, it really takes away from the old bowl system. Look at how bad the Orange Bowl is doing?? You think VT is excited about playing in another Orange Bowl?? Look at their ticket sales. Look at the Outback Bowl this season. It used to sell out pretty quick, but I now can get two tickets from Ticketmaster in section 140 for $65 a piece. The economy is bad, so you will have a lot less Memphis fans travel down for this game. Also, Memphis has a bigger basketball game at home against Syracuse. I already mentioned that I would rather have Southern Miss than Memphis based on the fact that the bowl game would conflict with Memphis basketball.

[Steve O'Neal]

Maybe you are right, Al. It's not like ESPN couldn't afford to advertise if they really wanted to fill the seats. As far as the ad today, it probably won't bring in enough ticket sales to cover what it cost to run the ad.

[RR]

NOBODY CARES ABOUT THIS GAME.

Yeah, Blig, Daly, and the Sunshine Gang do, but they're nobodies.

[Greg Auman]

Al, it's a good question. Others have pointed out the lack of advertising in area newspapers, radio, TV, etc.

There's a quarter-page ad in Friday's Times, but it almost seems a little late to start advertising -- I'd think most people know what they're doing this weekend by now.

[Al]

It's the ESPN/magicJack Spt Petersburg Bowl not the USF Bowl. The onus to promote and sell the game/tickets is on the promoters/and both teams not just USF.

USF sold more than it's allocation (10,000) of tickets.

Memphis sold less than 2,000.

ESPN and MagicJack has done little to nothing to promote the game. Very little advertising was done in the print media and as far as I have seen nothing on TV...nada, zip zilch!

Driving around St Petersburg earlier last week I saw nothing to indicate that a bowl game was going to be played at the Trop or that any other bowl festivities were going to take place. There was nothing on ornear the Trop to even remotely suggest that the magicJack St Petersburg Bowl was going to be played there.

It looks like ESPN thought that either they could just sit back and do nothing and the Trop would fill up or that they really don't care about bodies in the seats, they only care about filling a spot in their TV lineup.

So the real question is...What has ESPN or magicJack done to sell/fill the 13,000 of 33,000 seats that they held back from the schools?

[Steve O'Neal]

I open the sports pages and buried on page 4 in the trib is the SP bowl report. The lead story, some RB from Memphis. I thought that maybe he had some tie to the area. No, just a story on trhe other teams player. The trib is not expected to advertise the game for free, but damn the game is a local event and OUR HOMETOWN team is playing. The trib gave more buildup to the ACC championship game. The one that drew less fans than the SP bowl will probably end up with. There has been no coverage of any team or fan events. There have been beach events that would look pretty good with the great weather we have been having. Why not do some reporting on the GOOD side of this event instead of doom and gloom. Brett is probably hoping for a bad turnout so he can gloat about it. I don't know why the trib and McMurphy dislike Leavitt so much but I din't give a damn. The Bulls and CJL will still be here when the trib is no longer in print. Screw the trib. GO BULLS!

[Bull Daly]

KC,

I believe what Joe G was getting at that he believes that B is a bandwagon Gator fan. Of course UF has a lot of bandwagon fans since they have been winning. That is how it works. Bucs get the bandwagon fan when they win. Rays get the bandwagon fans after they win. Watch how the bandwagon falls off the Rays if they start to lose again this season. Miami, Tampa, and Atlanta are known for their terrible fan base that never support their teams when they are going through bad times.

[KC]

The Gators arent a real team? Huh?

Which team is playing in the Trop this weekend and which is getting ready to play for their second title in three years, third overall.

Yeah, thought so.

[Joe G]

F you B, you spoiled Gators fan. You wouldn't last one season rooting for a real team...

[Real sports fan]

People in FL are awful sports fans look at the examples:

Miami Heat- Win a championship, lose alot of games next year and nobody is around.

Marlins- Fans only show up when the are in the WS

Rays- team did some amazing things this year and people only cared once playoffs started

Bucs- Nobody was at the old sombrero watching the creamsicles

USF- Everyone is a bulls fan when we are top 10, until another mediocre season, then we all just forget about it...

BE LOYAL TO TEAMS, IT WILL PAY OFF. SO WHAT IF THE BULLS HAD A DISAPPOINTING YEAR? THIS IS A HOME GAME! Absolutely No reason it should not be sold out....

[Don G]

At least the SPB isn't the Humanitarian Bowl. Both schools (Maryland & Nevada) haven't sold more than "dozens" of tickets so far. And Orange Bowl tkts are going for less than $5.00 due to lack of interest. Typically, for a school the size of USF and with bowl in Bulls' backyard, normally, there should be 30K minimum for this game. However, maybe there's valid reasons why people don't want to attend what is essentially a meaningless bowl game? As some have noted in the past, there's more important things in life than football - believe it or not. I think this is a healthy sign for the people of this area. Why should people automatically be expected to support an event, or anything ele for that matter, that isn't worthy of their time or money or both? Lastly, it's still too early in USF football history to have a solid fan base that will attend or travel to any game regardless of where it is or level of the game's importance. That's a few years and a few 9 and 10-win seasons away from happening.

[Blig]

RR, what is your problem? Why do you care? Is this game a burden for you? YOU DON'T HAVE TO WATCH!

To say that "NOBODY is interested in" this game is simply false. The fact is, there are people that DO care. I, along with thousands of other USF fans who are going to the game would rather watch our team play than the semi-pro college teams that ESPN tells us to care about. Are all games pathetic until they are blessed by Lee Corso?

Your ignorance shines through with your comment, "This is worse than no bowl". Please explain how USF would be better off refusing to play for a guaranteed payday AND not incurring the huge costs associated with long-distance travel. Do you think the seniors on the team would rather not play at all?

Think before you write....

[Bull Daly]

RR,

Blig said it right. USF will never amount to anything without a fanbase. You can cry for the OC or head coach to be fired all you want, but the reality is that USF will never upgrade because they have a pathetic fan base. Now that this bowl is going to be a bust, USF can count on not being invited to any bowl games in the future.

[RR]

Speaking of jackasses, Blig...

[USF95]

Saying a particular bowl game sucks. That's like calling a particular terrorist a bad guy. All bowl games SUCK! Why do you think Fox dropped the BCS games because the ratings SUCK! College football needs a playoff and what's the difference of Memphis playing USF in some worthless bowl game versus Cincinnati playing V-Tech in the Orange Bowl or Utah playing Alabama or 2 loss Ohio State playing Texas or Penn State and USC. They are all meaningless in the great scheme of things. They are just another meaningless game that ends a typical lame college football season.

[Blig]

Wah, wah, wah. Shut up you whining babies!

If you're an Alum, support your school and team regardless of what bowl they are in. Be grateful that you don't have to incur the expenses that other schools' fans do to see their teams during this economic downturn. If you can't support our team when they have a winning record, you most likely have a closet-full of Notre Dame, Yankees, Celtics, or Tebow jerseys to choose from to wear around town. Oh yeah, and you're a jackass.

If you're not a student, Alum, or USF (Tampa Bay sports teams) fan, shut up and quit wasting our time. Nobody cares to hear the opinions of people who don't give a damn anyway. Oh, and you're a jackass too!

GO BULLS!!!

[Blake]

Dave makes a great point, the venue sucks. The seating chart on Ticketmaster looks horrible. While I think the Trop is okay for a baseball venue, the way they have it set up for the bowl game is horrible. I'm sure the ticket amount will probably come out about 25k, but I think it is fairly understandable why people aren't coming out for the game. The matchup is not attractive at all, a great deal of the students have gone home, and the economy sucks. I wouldn't expect any bowl game before Christmas to be more than 2/3 full.

[Ken]

It is pretty sad that USF alone can't sell 22K in tickets for essentially a home bowl game, even in a crappy stadium, against a nobody opponent, that we have to drive across the bay to get to.

[Dave W]

It just isn't an interesting match-up and it's in a crappy venue. I'm not surprised non-USF affiliates have much interest in it. I would hope the students could pick up the slack- the prices for the at-large seats aren't too bad and no one gets to use the "I have to study" excuse.

[erick]

http://tbrowdies.com/

[erick]

http://tbrowdies.com/

[B]

What is more pathetic is that USF couldn't get 30,000 people in house for this game.

What a crappy fanbase.

[RR]

P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C

This is what you get for manufacturing another worthless bowl game that NOBODY is interested in.

You reap what you sow.

This is worse than no bowl.