USF Sarasota-Manatee sells tickets at “football ticket frenzy” to sold out game vs. West Virginia 

 

Caption: USF students mill about awaiting their names to be called to pick up tickets to the USF Bulls football game against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Over 800 student tickets were available at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus for the first-ever sell out of a USF Bulls football game. This game, which is a match up of the Big East conferences’ only unbeaten teams – 18^th ranked USF against 5^th ranked West Virginia, will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

SARASOTA, FL (September 25, 2007) – Students from the University of South Florida started lining up before noon Tuesday at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus to get student tickets for this Friday’s football game versus the West Virginia Mountaineers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.  Tickets went on sale at the regional campus at 3:00. 

Friday night will mark the first stadium sellout for the Bulls in their 11 years of football, an accomplishment that means a lot to the students at USF.  More than 200 students waited for up to five hours to pick up first-come-first-serve tickets at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus on Tuesday. 

The game Friday between # 5 ranked West Virginia and # 18 USF will be only the second Friday night game broadcast by ESPN’s networks in which both teams are ranked.  During the 2006 football season, unranked USF upset # 7 West Virginia 24-19 in Morgantown.  The teams are potentially competing for the Big East championship, as they are the only undefeated teams in the conference. 

“They’ll be looking for redemption, and we’re going to beat them anyway,” said Martin McHugh, 22, a senior business major at USF Tampa who waited in line for tickets at USF Sarasota-Manatee Tuesday afternoon.  “This is a big game.  If we win we could shoot to the Top 10, that would be awesome.” 

Raymond James stadium has over 65,000 seats, and the stadium at games in the past has averaged about half full.  Past ticket procedures had students show up at the game with their student ID in order to get tickets, but with the Bulls doing well this year, competition for tickets has become fierce.   

University Athletic Department officials announced Friday, September 21 that students would have to wait in line on Monday, September 24 on the Tampa campus to obtain the tickets and that a certain number of tickets would be allotted to the regional campuses.  When tickets sold out in one day on the Tampa campus, many Tampa students rushed to the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus on Tuesday in an attempt to get tickets there. 

Football tickets are free for USF students.  An armband gets them into the stadium and many students, like McHugh and his friends, will camp out Thursday night at the stadium in order to get prime seating in the student section. 

“We tried to get tickets in Tampa and they were sold out so we came here,” Martin’s friend Ryan Jackson, a 22-year-old finance major said.  “As soon as class ends on Thursday we’ll be camping out at the stadium.  We want to get the best seats.” 

Students were given the opportunity to purchase two additional tickets for friends or family, and some even hoped to sell the extra tickets to make money. 

“Tickets are being sold on the internet for hundreds to thousands of dollars,” said Crystal Rothhaar, spokeswoman for USF Sarasota-Manatee.  “Scalping tickets in Florida recently became legal, so some students will take advantage of that.  There are a lot more people who want to go to the game than will be able to.” 

Rothhaar expects that the upcoming Oct. 13 game against UCF will be sold out as well.  Last year’s match-up was held in Orlando and sold out the stadium.  There are 12,501 student tickets allotted for each home game. 

“USF is the ninth largest public university in the nation and has over a $3.2 million economic impact on the Tampa Bay region,” Rothhaar said.  “The Bulls aren’t just the team of USF students and alumni, they are the team for all of Tampa Bay and the surrounding areas.  Students at USF Sarasota-Manatee are proud to be Bulls, and the university is only getting bigger and better.”

USF Sarasota-Manatee is an upper-level campus for those with an associate's or bachelor's degree interested in pursuing a baccalaureate or master's degree, professional certification, or continuing education credit. The regional campus offers the prestige of a nationally ranked research university with the convenience of a hometown campus, including classes in south Sarasota County at Manatee Community College Venice.