CatsClaw Wrote:Sir Galahad Wrote:Yes I have seen the books because the Tampa Sports Authority releases their attendance numbers. All you have to do is compare them to USF's numbers. It is not hard to figure it out, if USF really sold what they claim, their balance sheet would look a hell of a lot better than it does.
Yeah right. 
Anyone can see TSA's numbers.
Here's an article that mentions how USF and the TSA count attendance differently:
Bucs Profit From USF's Success
By TED JACKOVICS tjackovics@tampatrib.com
Published: Oct 21, 2003
TAMPA - ........................
The authority and USF report different attendance figures,
with USF counting sales and the authority counting ticket
stubs, or actual attendance.
This year's USF attendance is averaging 26,347, compared with
20,748 last year, the authority reported.
USF's figures show an average of 31,059 this season, compared
with 26,936 for last year.
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Here are figures from the TSA when looking at 2004 attendance (FYI...USF gave annouced attendance for both the Memphis and Pitt Game as over 21,000-22,000)
Dec 9, 2004
What's Up - Make That Down - With Football Attendance?
TAMPA - South Florida football fans either like to sleep in Saturday mornings or aren't interested in supporting a losing team.
Whatever the reason, the Bulls' average home attendance this year was 19,699, nearly 25 percent less than last season.
``We're not alarmed by it,'' said USF associate AD Tom Veit, the Bulls' marketing director.
Included in the Bulls' worst home attendance since 2001 were the fourth- and sixth- smallest crowds in school history, against Memphis (12,719) and Pittsburgh (12,832).
USF's other home games: Tennessee Tech (18,192), Southern Miss (23,770), Army (31,482) and East Carolina (19,201).
``We didn't have the usual winning tradition this year as past seasons,'' Veit said. ``We had every possible scheduling problem hit us. There wasn't any single reason why attendance was down and we're still building our fan base.''
The Bulls' attendance numbers were the second worst in the Big East.
Veit listed several factors, including the rescheduling of the Pittsburgh game because of Hurricane Frances, a hurricane watch within 24 hours of the Tennessee Tech game and the 11 a.m. kickoffs against Memphis and Pittsburgh. Oh, by the way, it was USF's decision to move those game times to get on ESPN.
USF athletic director Doug Woolard said the drop in attendance was in part to ``a unique year.''
Woolard also said Saturday night kickoffs, which USF historically has had, are a better fit.
``We'll try to give as much notice as possible [when moving game times],'' he said. ``But with a young program, national TV exposure helps with potential recruits.''
But as the Bulls discovered, it may draw recruits, but tunes out the local fans.
This story can be found at:
http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGBU3E5HI2E.html
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Here's a columnist article who was at the Memphis Game..and obviously didn't believe USF's announced attendance figure:
Nov 28, 2004
More Of The Same For USF, And That's A Bad Thing
JOE HENDERSON
TAMPA - This is a column about the University of South Florida's football game Saturday against Memphis. If you have followed the Bulls throughout this forgettable season you know what's coming next, but please bear with us.
The Bulls were beaten 31-15 by the Tigers, although it seemed more one-sided than that. Memphis, a superior team anyway, was helped along its merry way by USF's own maleficence - just like the Bulls have done too many other times against too many other teams. That's how you trudge off the field with a 4-6 record and the promise of only the second losing season in eight years of USF footBull.
There were the usual missed tackles, dropped passes, mediocre quarterbacking, a missed field- goal try. There was the failure, failure, failure - three times - to convert on fourth down. There was some joy in the gloom and props to USF running back Andre Hall, who gained 134 yards. But give bigger props to Memphis tailback DeAngelo Williams, who ran for 263 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
You already know this, but we have to say it anyway.
``We're just not playing very well,'' Bulls coach Jim Leavitt said.
We won't argue with that.
Memphis got a big early lead and the Bulls couldn't do anything about that.
You don't want to say this one lacked a certain electric air, but the ratings on ESPN2 - the network that, for reasons passing understanding, chose to televise this game - probably would have been better off airing ``William Shatner Sings Love Sonnets Unplugged'' than this post- Thanksgiving turkey.
They announced the attendance as 21,392, but that number was inflated more than Kirstie Alley. The actual gathering looked more like what you'd see at a high school game, provided it wasn't a big one.
The splotches of green USF T-shirts dotted against the sea of red seats gave it a little Christmas feel, but mostly the crowd seemed in need of caffeine. Maybe the 11 a.m. kickoff was a mitigating circumstance,
but the crowd was so flat you almost thought the International House of Pancakes had secured stadium naming rights from Raymond James.
