College football

USF raises price of season tickets

By GREG AUMAN
Published February 12, 2005

TAMPA - Call it five for the price of six.

USF season-ticket holders were mailed renewal forms this week and now know the cost for the five 2005 home games is the amount they paid for six in '04.

"Next year is our best home schedule ever," said Tom Veit, USF's associate athletic director for marketing. "We're in the Big East now. So the product warrants it, and we still think we're the best-priced value in the market."

USF's Big East debut includes home games against Cincinnati, Louisville and West Virginia. It also will host Florida A&M on Sept. 10 and Central Florida on Sept.17.

It amounts to a 20 percent increase per game, though three sections in Raymond James Stadium's south end zone will be kept at $20 per game and offered as a $99 season package.

Season tickets range from $120-$160 with the most expensive seat $32. Veit said USF's median ticket price is the fifth highest among the eight football programs in the Big East.

Despite going 4-7, their first losing record since the inaugural season in 1997, the Bulls are optimistic that moving into a Bowl Championship Series conference will help expand their season-ticket base, which was about 15,700 last season.

The Bulls averaged an announced 27,060 last season, though the actual attendance was significantly less.

USF's season opener against Pittsburgh was postponed until December by the threat of Hurricane Frances, and the attendance also was limited by two late-season 11 a.m. kickoffs to accommodate national TV broadcasts on ESPN2.

USF has been active in signing deals to bring BCS conference opponents to Tampa, with Miami coming in 2006 and North Carolina in 2007.

AUSTIN, Texas - A state lawmaker is getting serious about his bid to bust up the BCS.

Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale filed a bill that would prevent state-supported schools from playing in a BCS game. Texas played in the Rose Bowl on Jan.1, its first BCS game. He said he prefers a playoff.

"It offends the American sense of fair competition," he said.

BYU: Former receiver Antwaun Harris pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of making false statements to a police officer, down from a second-degree felony for making false material statements. Harris, who plans to transfer to Sam Houston State, was accused of falsely denying there was pornography in the apartment of two players Aug.8, when a 17-year-old alleges she was raped. Karland Bennett, Ibrahim Rashada, B.J. Mathis and William Turner, suspended for one year, are scheduled to go on trial June27.

KENTUCKY: Sophomore linebacker Brad Booker and redshirt freshman lineman Eric Klope dropped out of school, and sophomore guard Joe Brady gave up the sport. Booker played in every game last season and started two. Klope played in nine, mostly on special teams, and Brady one.

Information from Times wires was used in the report.

[Last modified February 12, 2005, 00:25:13]