Record-Shattering Student Demand Prompts Opening of Upper Deck for USF Football’s Clash With Miami

TAMPA, SEPT. 15, 2024 – Record-shattering student demand to cheer on the resurgent University of South Florida football program has prompted the opening of the upper deck of Raymond James Stadium for the Bulls’ clash with No. 10-ranked Miami Saturday.

Student tickets, which are provided free to the 50,000 students enrolled at the University’s campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, were first made available Friday morning and saw a record of 13,179 claimed in the first 24 hours. That shattered the old mark of 8,409 claimed in 24 hours for South Florida’s battle with No. 10 Alabama last year, a game that saw more than 10,000 total student ticket claims.

As of Sunday morning, the student tickets claimed for the Miami game stood at 14,535, far surpassing the previous record for total student ticket claims, which had stood at 12,549 for the Bulls clash with No. 13 Florida in 2021.

“We are thrilled to see all the excitement surrounding Saturday’s game against Miami and are grateful for the high demand, particularly with the record level of requests we’ve seen so far from our students,” said Vice President for Athletics, Michael Kelly. “It’s a great time to run with the Bulls and we are excited to offer additional inventory for our fans to attend this Sunshine State showdown!”

South Florida had previously planned to open only the 45,000-seat lower bowl at Raymond James Stadium for the game, a configuration that can accommodate 8,700 student seats in the north endzone. The publicly available seats in the lower bowl for the Miami game also sold out before South Florida’s game Saturday at Southern Miss.

The west deck of Raymond James Stadium will be open, increasing capacity to 55,000 seats and accommodating a total student ticket capacity of more than 15,000 seats while increasing the inventory of publicly available tickets for purchase.

• Students are encouraged to use the HerdPerks app or visit GoUSFBulls.com/studenttickets .

• The general public are encouraged to call 1-800-Go-Bulls or visit Ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets.

In their second season under head coach Alex Golesh, the Bulls opened the 2024 campaign with a 48-3 rout of Bethune-Cookman in Raymond James Stadium before playing No. 4 Alabama in a one-score game late in the fourth quarter in Tuscaloosa. The Bulls ran past Southern Miss, 49-24, with 562 total yards, 369 on the ground, Saturday. USF is building on a six-game turnaround in 2023 that culminated with a 45-0 rout of Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl.

Single Game Tickets

2024 Season Tickets: www.USFBullsTix.com

Group tickets (10+): Call 1-800-GoBulls

Future schedules can be viewed HERE

ABOUT USF FOOTBALL The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed the 2023 season with a program-best six-game turnaround and Boca Raton Bowl victory under first-year head coach Alex Golesh. USF completed construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $340-million on-campus stadium and football operations center is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 16 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), and 32 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and the Bulls have made 11 bowl game appearances (going 7-4), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. USF posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016, while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.

Follow @USFFootball on Twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.

– #GoBulls –