Thoughts on the USF Football Fan Experience

On September 24, I went to the Florida State University versus University of South Florida football game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. It was my first time seeing a Seminoles road game and my first time seeing a USF Bulls home game.

Although the Noles eventually won 55-35 and I walked away a happy alumnus, I was not impressed by the USF Football experience.

Not because of the grueling 90+ degree midday Tampa heat or because I spent $20 on water bottles throughout the game. I wasn't impressed because it didn't feel like college football.

Perhaps because the Bulls play in an NFL stadium, their game experience felt more like a minor league event than a college. The in-stadium entertainment was not centered around the band and school spirit but an in-game host and pumped in DJ music. There was a t-shirt cannon that drove around, fan contests, and Dance Cam segments on the scoreboard.

College football is marching bands, cheerleaders, and school spirit. It is chants and school songs and group involvement.

Being my first USF game, I can't say if this was the norm, but it seems like a strange way to win a fanbase.

USF does have cheerleaders and a marching band and cheers and chants, but they are a minimal part of the experience. Sitting by other FSU fans across the stadium, I never once heard the USF Band play. I'm sure they did, but perhaps there weren't enough of them to be heard throughout the stadium.

What I did hear was top 40 dance club songs. Over and over and over. These songs not only artificially tried to hype the USF fans, they even played over the FSU band when the Marching Chiefs tried to hype up the FSU fans. Drowning out the opposing band should be the job of the home team band, not an anonymous DJ. School songs should drown out school songs. School songs shouldn't be drown out by Flo Rida or whatever else they were playing.

Imagine stadium music playing over the Florida A&M Marching 100 or the Bethune Cookman band at the Florida Classic. That would never happen.



The above video is how you create school pride.

Unfortunately, recently philosophies in sports marketing have been focusing on the wrong ideas. Sports business minds believe a stadium visit should be all about experience. They think a great stadium experience will bring fans, that top-40 club hits and Dance Cams and free t-shirts will entice people to want to come back.

Give them a good time and they will forget about the score. They will be buyers of the experience forever.

That's a not a good idea, especially for college football. Attracting fans through bells, whistles, and shiny objects is great until another event comes around with bigger bells, louder whistles, and brighter shiny objects. It is an arms race to the bottom of short attention span hell. It creates loyalty to the experience, not to the brand.

College football fans are defined by their passion to the brand.

In the weeks since the game versus FSU, USF has struggled to get fans to Raymond James Stadium for home games. According to reports, they drew less than 17,000 fans to their homecoming game against ECU. As expected, this lead to blog posts calling out the fanbase for not showing up.

The problem with these hot take articles is that fan shaming never works. Ever. Ever. Ever. No fan has ever felt so embarrassed by an editorial that they immediately bought tickets to the next available game. It doesn't happen.

What does help is looking at the product and the message being sent about the product. That is what I do regularly in regards to Tampa Bay baseball on my blog TampaBayBaseballMarket.com. And that is also what one USF sports writer finally did. He asked if there was enough media coverage, enough communication between university groups and athletics, and enough marketing to the student body to make USF football appealing.

Winning over the student body should be low hanging fruit. Winning over the general public is much more difficult. When local non-alumni residents walk through Tampa wearing USF gear, then the Bulls will have made it. When people move to Tampa and buy USF gear to fit in, that's when the Bulls will have won the market.

That's the case in Tallahassee and Gainesville with FSU and UF. Admittedly, those are small towns with far less to do and where Saturday game day becomes THE event in town. Winning the market is a lot harder in Tampa, where the Bulls compete not only with the Bucs, the Storm, the Lightning, the Rays, and the Rowdies, but also the alumni presence of FSU, UF, and UCF. Alumni of those schools are too busy watching their own teams to follow USF football. At best they will casual supporters.

USF football sells something unique in Tampa. It sells college football. College football is something special. It is a small town feel for big time games. It is College Gameday signs, tailgates, and pep rallies. It is grandparents wearing the same school colors as parents and students. It fills a unique niche between hyper-local high school sports and national professional sports.

Even though they play in an NFL stadium awash with advertising opportunities, Bulls football should not try to sell the NFL game or Arena League game experience. Tampa already has the Bucs and the Storm for that. USF should sell a sense of community. It should sell school pride.

Selling school pride in a relatively new university known more as a commuter school is difficult. Despite it's size, USF is not a place where a majority of students live around campus. There is also a large amount of international students who are not used to the American football experience. Engaging the student body is the number one task.

Unfortunately, tradition takes time. USF opened in 1956 and didn't begin playing football until 1997. There are UF and FSU alumni who graduated before USF was opened. There are former FSU and UF players in the College and NFL Halls of Fame. There are players such as Derrick Brooks, who played for Florida State then made the NFL Hall of Fame as a member of the Tampa Bay Bucs and current Bucs QB Jameis Winston, another former Seminole. Former Seminoles and Gators play a big role in Bucs, Storm, and even Rays history. The same cannot be said yet for the USF Bulls.

There is also old money flowing into the accounts of FSU and UF that USF does not have. USF needs a few generations to pass before their legendary players, booster donations, and alumni count is equal to the other big colleges in the state.

The USF athletic department has a lot of work to do win local hearts and minds and pack the seats for USF football. Some local writers have good ideas the administration and sports marketing department should explore. USF has to turn USF football into a college football event, a thing-to-do in Tampa on Saturdays in the Fall. An event that pulls the same emotional strings of other college football events across the country.

An event without DJs, t-shirt guns, club music, and in-game hosts.

Business Communications Lessons

I am currently taking an MBA class in Business Communications. One of our assignments is to create a blog, a twitter account, and a LinkedIn account. Then we have to write a blog post and share some professional insights and lessons learned in business communications.

Since the first day of class, I've been able to check most of these boxes. A welcome respite from classes where had to put a lot more work in, such as in Finance, where I was in the library three hours a night every other night. Some things come easier to some people than to others.

(To be honest, that's something I have become very conscious about since I started my MBA work. Nothing bothers me more than when a Finance professor or classmates says "this is easy" when discussing a math problem I am struggling with. I have worked hard to get my math skills up to par. Saying something is easy while I struggle with it is insulting. So with that in mind, I definitely watch when talking about writing, communications, and social media with people who don't have those experiences. What is almost second nature to me might not be to others. I guess that's a communication lesson learned, right?)

But on to actual lessons I have learned from years in the workplace. As mentioned in my Professional Highlights tab on my site, most of my experiences have been in a military environment. But as you can see from my blog, I don't exactly fit the military mold. So that leads me to my first lesson learned:

Know your people

I've worked in Bosnia, Qatar, and Afghanistan. I've worked for senior military people and in military command centers. But I've also done stand-up comedy, posed for pictures with pro wrestlers, and done freelance writing on local DJs. Although I am successful in the environment, my mind doesn't fit the military mold. To reference Gordon MacKenzie, I tend to "orbit the hairball". And few hairballs are denser than the military-industrial complex.

I have been a challenge to many managers. I have worked for a few that tried to keep me in a box. I worked for an older manager whose attempt led to my departure. I worked for a younger manager who was in charge only because he worked for the government and I was a contractor. Our differences led to me moving to a night shift where our only interaction was when we passed notes on our respective shifts. It was a happy compromise.

But a few managers recognized my thought process and let me run. One of my managers in Afghanistan compared me to Michael Jordan and said "I'm going to give you the ball. If you miss too often, I am changing the game plan. But as long as you succeed, you can run how you want."

That's knowing your people. It takes effort and it takes talking with your people and understanding their thought process and creating an environment where they can do their best. If I had that support in the high-pressure environment of Afghanistan, it is possible everywhere.

Establish Credibility

Credibility is incredibly important. More time than not, no one listens to the new guy. So the faster you can establish credibility, the easier communicating will be. Credibility can be established by mentioning experiences and relating with people. Be sure to be likeable, and do not come off as a braggart. Don't claim your experiences, education, or skills make you better than anyone else. Just mention how they can help the situation.

Sometimes appearance helps to establish credibility. In Afghanistan, for example, I grew a long beard. Not only did the locals admire the beard, as beards are looked at positively in their culture, but US military members also recognized the beard as a symbol of my tenure in Afghanistan. It established immediate credibility as a veteran of the environment.

Understand Resistance

As important as it to communicate, sometimes even your best efforts fall on deaf ears. Or ears with fingers in them. Even if your credibility is recognized.


One of the most important communications lesson to learn is when people don't want to cooperate, especially if you want them to. Some managers might not feel it is their best interest to work with you. Or they feel you are giving them unnecessary work to do. The difficult solution is to try to see things from their perspective. Are they busy? Are they being stubborn to make a point? Are they just being lazy? Is your request ruining what they think is a good thing?

It is best to try to talk people and gauge their concerns when faced with resistance. People usually push back for a reason. The goal is to prevent them from doubling down. Once they are entrenched in their position, there is little you can do except bring in someone with more credibility or authority.

Know when to call in the Big Guns

One of the underrated skills in Business Communications is when to call in the big guns. No manager likes when subordinates can't solve their own problems. But some problems require more power than a subordinate is able to muster. Especially if there is resistance.

Knowing how to tell your manager you are facing a problem is also a skill. You don't want to sound like you didn't try or give your best effort. You want to tell your manager your attempts and the result. Then you want to ask them for help. Sometimes you receive that help. Sometimes all it requires is for them to send an email or make a phone call to grease the wheels of progress. Sometimes they have to fight the battle at their level. And sometimes they determine the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Granted, most of my experience has been in a conservative-minded military environment, where information is held close and sharing isn't a priority unless it has to be. I am sure there are environments with less difficulties. On the other hand, I am sure there are companies with more communication complications.

But these are my experiences. With any luck, they will come in handy when I move into a position in the corporate world.

Since I returned from Afghanistan

Has it really been that long?

Seems like yesterday I was flying back from London to Miami - 13 hours cramped in an airplane over the Atlantic. I remember I watched "Wreck It Ralph" on the flight. I watched other movies as well, but I don't remember which.

A year and a few months ago, a TSA security guy in Miami gave me a hard time. I had a long beard and a one-way ticket from Afghanistan. He asked what I did over there. I told him I couldn't tell him. He didn't like that.

Then I told him I wanted to get to Orlando to see my family. He finally let me go.

Jerk.

It was over a year ago that my parents and my nephew greeted me with "Welcome Home" balloons, big hugs, and smiles. My nephew grew a lot over the 14 months I was gone. Unsurprisingly, he has continued to grow since I've been back. I'd be more worried if he stopped.

It was over a year ago that I pulled in to the Sea View Motel in Melbourne Beach, Florida. That was the perfect place to bring life back down to the lowest gear. My only regret is that I didn't spend longer there. The owners were great, the room was great, and the view on the beach was phenomenal. I need to go back.

I would like to make an annual trek to the Sea View Motel, at least for a weekend, just to unwind and reflect on everything I accomplish in a year's time. Sort of like a growth chart. Maybe I will go from one night in the cheapest room to a week in the most expensive as the years go on. That would be growth.

The first months after my return, I lived a nomadic existence. One relative called me a "gypsy". I had everything I needed in my trunk. That was of course, after I traded in my pick-up truck of six years. People ask me how I like driving a smaller car as compared to a full size truck.  To be honest, had I not been gone for 14 months the transition would have been more awkward. But as it was, I only drove my truck for two months before trading it in.

I felt good about that deal as well. Which still strikes me as weird. I am so used to getting fleeced by companies and for a car dealer to give me almost exactly the deal I wanted was an accomplishment. I only had to go up $1,000 or so from my low offer, which was about $5,000 off the marked price. So I walked out with a deal and a new car.

After a summer in over a dozen hotels, several weeks at my grandfather's house, and assorted nights and weekends at other friends' and family's homes, I eventually ended up back in Tampa by the University of South Florida. It was finally time to start my MBA.

I moved into a small student-area apartment in August of 2013. I hadn't lived in a place this small since I was an undergrad over 10 years ago. It was a big step back lifestyle-wise, and the furniture and belongings I had prior to leaving remains in storage. But while I was stepping back with my lifestyle ...

I jumped back into school with both feet, taking six classes in the fall. It was my first semester in college since 2005 - almost eight years. Needless to say, I needed to re-learn how to study. But my skills eventually returned. After a few shaky first tests, I made it through my first semester with 2 A's and 4 B's. Not bad. Especially considering I had never even been introduced to some the material before. And here I was learning at the graduate level.

On a related note, maybe I should have taken a few more business classes as an undergrad. The only class I could identity with was Marketing. I did well in that class. Other classes, such as Accounting, caught me by surprise. The material was so new. I don't want to call myself an old dog, but I am no young pup. I was learning new tricks.

After the fall came the spring semester. More classes. This time I took Finance. Finance killed me. I thought Accounting was hard. Finance was impossible. I got my first ever "C" in college. I know for most, that's not a big deal, but I had never gotten a "C". That's my standard. But Finance just murdered me. But more on that some other time.

Now I am finishing up the summer semester. This semester has been chock full of "analysis". I am taking Financial Analysis, Competitive and Business Intelligence, Digital Marketing, and a CitiGroup Seminar course focusing on anti-money laundering processes. I am also taking an online course through EdX on statistics, basic databases, and baseball analysis. So there is definitely overlap in my coursework with things I have done in the past, whether at work or in my personal time.

At the close of this semester, I will be about half way done with my Master's in Business. I have learned a lot. I'm sure how much is common sense for people in the private sector, but to me, it's been a whole new world.

Hard to believe how much my world has changed since I got back from Afghanistan a little over a year ago.

(And for those curious, I eventually cut the beard.)