News From the Other Side...

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Article from the Tampa Trib...

USF-WVU Game A Sellout
The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2007

TAMPA - If you're looking to purchase a ticket to Friday's University of South Florida-West Virginia contest, you'll have to find a scalper.

The Big East opener between No. 18 USF and No. 5 West Virginia sold out Tuesday afternoon, a first in the Bulls' 11-year history.

Tickets already have been put up on sale on the Internet, including a suite at Raymond James Stadium for $5,083.

'We want to thank our fans, especially our season ticket-holders and students for their participation with our football program and for driving our ticket sales to capacity,' USF athletic director Doug Woolard said.

While the game is officially a sellout, the school made 400 student tickets available, beginning Thursday at 5 p.m.

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Bulls Game To Be A Cash Cow For Bucs
By BAIRD HELGESON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2007

TAMPA - The University of South Florida Bulls' first ever sellout for Friday's game against West Virginia will guarantee a tidy profit for the 10-year-old football program.

Athletic officials estimate that filling the 65,657 seats in Raymond James Stadium will generate $1.3 million in ticket sales, about twice as much as normal and plenty to cover the team's base rent of $105,000 per game.

But USF athletics won't enjoy the good fortune alone.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the marquee tenant of the taxpayer-built stadium, could make nearly $300,000 in profit from the sale of concessions and parking. The team will even get a cut of the Bulls' merchandise sales.

'The Bucs are really going to be happy that we are filling 65,000 seats,' said Bill McGillis, USF's senior associate director of athletics for external affairs.

The Bulls are an example of what happens when a college team shares a stadium built for a pro franchise, said Jim Grinstead, who runs Revenues From Sports Venues, a Nashville, Tenn.,-based company that researches college and pro sports venues.

The professional team gets the lion's share of the profit from rental of the stadium, leaving the college program with a big rent payment and few ways to make money in the facility other than ticket sales, he said.

Often, a school's inability to make money in pro stadiums prompts athletic officials to campaign for their own facility, Grinstead said.

Parking Is Big Moneymaker

The Bucs' deal is spelled out in the 91-page contract with the Tampa Sports Authority, which runs the stadium and three public golf courses.

Under the agreement, the Bucs get all profit when the professional team plays at the stadium. But the team also gets the first $2 million of profit from parking and concessions at non-Buc events annually, such as concerts and USF games.

The Bucs and the sports authority split any profit beyond $2 million, which happened for the first time last year, thanks to strong turnout for a concert by country singer Kenny Chesney. The Bucs and the sports authority each got $15,781.

The Bucs' contract is seen as one of the most lucrative in the National Football League.

Forbes magazine, which tracks the value of pro teams, credits the Bucs' stadium lease as a key reason the value of the team has soared to $963 million.

At the same time, the nine-year-old stadium runs a deficit of about $3 million a year, largely due to maintenance costs and a property tax bill that was never budgeted.

The county pays $2 million and the city pays the rest.

USF generally makes about $600,000 per game selling tickets, averaging about $20 per seat, McGillis said.

Attendance usually hovers at about 20,000 and 30,000 per game, peaking at 40,988.

The athletic department expects to make about $4 million a year from ticket sales.

This year, the sports authority agreed to give the school 3,000 parking spaces during home games. The school sells each space for $15 per game, which would bring in another $45,000, McGillis said.

The Bucs own the naming rights to the stadium and control all permanent advertising in the facility. USF has a $2.2 million a year deal with ISP Sports to provide temporary advertising on game day.

The school's revenue sharing agreement with cable network ESPN brings in several million dollars a year, McGillis said.

If ESPN broadcasts a Bulls game, as it will Friday night, the school gets an additional $101,000.

In late June, the sports authority approved a new lease that raised the Bulls' base rent to $105,000 per game this season, up about $19,000 per event from previous years.

But that only includes rental of the stadium's lower deck, which seats about 40,000.

The costs go up dramatically if ticket sales require the second deck to be opened, as it will for the game against the Mountaineers.

The Price Tag Gets Bigger

Additional costs include added security, the use of the large video boards and other stadium amenities.

Athletic officials generally choose which stadium features they want, but the sports authority dictates security staffing levels.

Sports Authority spokeswoman Barbara Casey said it's impossible to know how much extra it will cost to host the upcoming game because the team has never sold out before.

'We are just thrilled they are having so much success,' she said. 'But it's expensive to open the whole building.'

McGillis said he is prepared for a big bill.

The Bucs, however, won't have any extra costs on game day, just profit.

Stadium staff figure that every ticket holder for Friday's game will spend an average of $9.02 on food and drinks.

The company that runs the concession stands gets about 60 percent of that and the Bucs get the rest. If the game is a sellout, the Bucs could make $236,890.

The USF Bulls do not share in the profit from concessions.

The Bucs also get the game-day profit from the sale of 6,000 parking spaces at $10 a piece, or about $60,000.

McGillis has no qualms about his team's contract with the sports authority, which runs through 2011, with a five-year renewal option.

'We think it's a fabulous stadium,' he said.

He described the facility as a first-class recruiting tool, and praised the excellent playing field.

The challenge will be to keep fans in the stands.

McGillis hopes to see opposing teams come to Raymond James Stadium and be overwhelmed with the feeling that they are in Bulls country.

'We want to have a terrific home field advantage,' he said.

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Uncommon Success
By BRETT McMURPHY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2007

TAMPA - Before last year's game at West Virginia, University of South Florida coach Jim Leavitt stepped into defensive coordinator Wally Burnham's office one morning.

Leavitt was concerned about how the Bulls would slow the Mountaineers' vaunted offense.

Burnham drew up the defense on the blackboard and discussed the game plan. But Leavitt, a former defensive coordinator at Kansas State, still had more questions.

Burnham then explained West Virginia ran a similar offense to what Nebraska used to run.

Then Burnham mentioned that while he was at Florida State from 1985 to 1993, the Seminoles were 5-1 against Nebraska, allowing only 20.3 points a game. During Leavitt's tenure at Kansas State from 1990 to 1995, the Wildcats were 0-6 against Nebraska, giving up 38.7 points per game.

Finally satisfied with Burnham's explanation, Leavitt left Burnham's office.

Three days later, USF held West Virginia to 132 yards rushing - 171 yards below last year's 303-yard average - in pulling off the biggest upset in school history with the 24-19 win against the No. 7 Mountaineers.

West Virginia running back Steve Slaton was limited to 43 yards on 18 carries, while quarterback Pat White had only 17 yards on 15 carries.

'No one would ever dream you could do that,' Burnham said. 'A lot of things have to go your way.'

The No. 18 Bulls (3-0) host No. 5 West Virginia Friday at sold-out Raymond James Stadium, hoping to continue their success against the Mountaineers.

In the past two seasons against USF, the Mountaineers (4-0) are averaging 21.5 points and 352 yards, both are lows for WVU against Big East opponents.

'They've had a nice plan and they've executed well,' WVU coach Rich Rodriguez said. 'They didn't give up any big plays last year and created a turnover for a touchdown.'

While White blitzed the Bulls for 177 yards rushing in West Virginia's 28-13 win in Tampa in 2005, the Bulls have shut down Slaton the past two years.

In his career, Slaton is averaging 2.8 yards per carry against USF, compared with 6.6 yards against WVU's other opponents.

'They know how explosive Steve is,' Rodriguez said. 'They keep an eye on No. 10. Steve has played hard, but he hasn't broken loose for any big ones. Pat did a couple years ago. USF has good players and they've executed very well.'

Burnham said that facing West Virginia is certainly not easy, but the philosophy is 'very simple.'

'When you play against an option football team, it's assignment football,' Burnham said. 'Someone has the dive, someone has the option, someone has the pitch. Now against West Virginia you might have to put two people on the quarterback, two people on the dive and somebody on the pitch. You can't freelance. You can't do a lot of different things. You have to be patient and know they're going to get some plays.'

Besides White and Slaton, this year the Mountaineers will have highly touted freshman running back Noel Devine of North Fort Myers.

'They can run the ball, they're all good backs,' USF senior cornerback Trae Williams said. 'Pat White and Steve Slaton are up for the Heisman. We have our work cut out for us. We have to worry about your job, just do your job.'

Added senior cornerback Mike Jenkins: 'If you try to do more than you need to do, you're in trouble. If I play corner, I can't try to help the safety. You have to do your assignment and that's it.'

Defensive end George Selvie, who returned a fumble for a TD last year in Morgantown, said Burnham had demanded perfection in practice.

'We just play our assignment,' Selvie said. 'Coach Burnham had a specific thing we had to do and we had to do that to a 'T.' If we didn't do it right in practice, we had to do it over again until we did.'

USF safety Louis Gachette summed up the Bulls' strategy for Friday.

'Whatever we did last year,' he said. 'Obviously we'll do it again and see where we're at.'

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Gregg Becnel

Published: September 25, 2007

DILE UPDATE: LT Marc Dile, who missed the second half against North Carolina with a neck stinger, practiced for the first time this week Tuesday and will play Friday, Leavitt said.

ODDS AND ENDS: USF officials are planning a "green out" for Friday's game and are encouraging all fans attending to wear green. … Sports Illustrated will have four photographers at the game.

[cviller]

Wear all the GREEN you want!!! It will be the fans and theteam in Blue and Gold that will
WIN the game and PARTY in to the night!!!