Central Florida Future article

Quote:Orlando is looking to become a better sports town, and UCF's upcoming jump to the Big East will play a key role in making it so.

Quote:Following the success of landing this weekend's NBA All-Star Game, these leaders are looking to develop Orlando into a destination where more high-profile events can take place.

Quote:Hitt understands that UCF, two years removed from a Liberty Bowl victory in football, on the bubble of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament and nationally ranked in baseball, must have continued success in order to attract such support.

"When you have a winning team, people come watch you play," Hitt said. "When our teams win, we are happier [and] we come together."

UCF's jump to the Big East Conference in 2013 will also help bring in more recognizable competition, with the likes of Boise State for football and powerhouse basketball programs such as Connecticut, Georgetown and Notre Dame for basketball visiting the campus regularly.

I might personally add, this is one of the reasons why I think UCF will be huge in the Big East. Orlando is one of the most attractive destinations in the country (for obvious reasons). The commissioners know this, the Bowl's know this, the City of Orlando knows this. If Orlando jumps on board and gives UCF every advantage it legally can, to bring bowls, championships, top name OOC games to Orlando, they stand to profit greatly, year round, extending tourism seasons to even beyond summer / holidays.

Take from that what you will.

If we can get the city fathers (and mothers) of town like Orlando, Tampa, and San Diego working to advance the conference their hometown schools are members of, this won't exactly hurt the Big East.

(02-26-2012 08:34 PM)SmallVoice Wrote:  If we can get the city fathers (and mothers) of town like Orlando, Tampa, and San Diego working to advance the conference their hometown schools are members of, this won't exactly hurt the Big East.

Who knows, maybe after our success when Orlando throws it's support behind us 100%, our little sisters in Tampa may follow suit

I would really love for the Cure Bowl to become a thing.

Just what we need ...another bowl game. Woohoo! LOL

It's going to be interesting to see what happens to bowl games once a playoff system is enacted.

(02-26-2012 08:34 PM)SmallVoice Wrote:  If we can get the city fathers (and mothers) of town like Orlando, Tampa, and San Diego working to advance the conference their hometown schools are members of, this won't exactly hurt the Big East.

Attitudes in Memphis are vastly improved these days also due the excitement of UofM finally joining a major conference. Football season ticket sales are way ahead of past records for this early.

It would be nice to see that kind of civic support in Dallas. If SMU is to succeed, it will have to do it on its own.

Our city government is always too busy with racial politics and dealing with a bridge that will cost two or three times what it was projected to cost.

Yes, the true bridge to nowhere. But it was designed by someone famous, so that's good enough for the City Council.

What bridge? You're not even on a real river are you?

Orlando leaders actually showing some cooperation and interest with UCF sports? I'll believe it when I see it.

(02-26-2012 11:43 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  Orlando leaders actually showing some cooperation and interest with UCF sports? I'll believe it when I see it.

Agree.

As of now...UCF (and most of East Orlando) is basically a college town...where most of the activity in the area revolves around the school.

Since UCF doesn't play in the city owned Citrus Bowl anymore...and since the Univ built mostly new on-campus facilities for a majority of their sports programs over the past few years...the City of Orlando is almost "out-of-sight, out-of-mind"...and in some cases, that's a good thing...as UCF actually got things DONE...while much in the City of Orlando, who's major basically kicked UCF out of the Citrus Bowl following the 2004 season because they were going to renovate the stadium (basically nothing as been done to date), has zero control of the University...which is probably the main reason why Dr Hitt has been able to accomplish so much (i.e. Medical School/Medical City, campus growth, national prestige/accomplishments and now BCS status).

While moving to the Big East will certainly help UCF...and yes, some business/corporations in the past that didn't support UCF will probably jump on board come 2013 at the start of the Big East...it will all be done with basically ZERO help from the City of Orlando/City "elected" leaders, and that's ok.

(02-26-2012 11:36 PM)SmallVoice Wrote:  What bridge? You're not even on a real river are you?

yeah and we've been trying for 45 years to get a new Ohio river bridge built. Hell We even just had the one on I-64 crossing the Ohio river shut down for 6 months and just reopened a week ago. Horrible mess.

(02-26-2012 11:43 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  Orlando leaders actually showing some cooperation and interest with UCF sports? I'll believe it when I see it.

:iagree:

(02-27-2012 05:45 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  As of now...UCF (and most of East Orlando) is basically a college town...where most of the activity in the area revolves around the school.

First of all, there's no such thing as "East Orlando." There might be "east Orlando," but there's no proper name "East Orlando."

Second of all, WTF are you talking about suggesting that "East Orlando" [sic] is a college town that revolves around the schools? Tens of thousands of people live near UCF and go about their lives without being involved with the school. Do UCF students help make places like Waterford Lakes a financial success? Yes. But let's not pretend that Waterford Lakes or Carillon, etc., are decked out in black and gold and everyone walks down the street together on the way to BHNS. There is nothing college town about the area.

(02-27-2012 09:59 AM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(02-27-2012 05:45 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  As of now...UCF (and most of East Orlando) is basically a college town...where most of the activity in the area revolves around the school.

First of all, there's no such thing as "East Orlando." There might be "east Orlando," but there's no proper name "East Orlando."

Second of all, WTF are you talking about suggesting that "East Orlando" [sic] is a college town that revolves around the schools? Tens of thousands of people live near UCF and go about their lives without being involved with the school. Do UCF students help make places like Waterford Lakes a financial success? Yes. But let's not pretend that Waterford Lakes or Carillon, etc., are decked out in black and gold and everyone walks down the street together on the way to BHNS. There is nothing college town about the area.

Yeah I agree. Saying "East Orlando" revolves around UCF is a huge exaggeration. I will say UCF's sphere of influence is getting larger, but it has alot to prove before you can say Orlando is UCF's town. I like the recent changes in UCF's marketing. They've reached out and advertised in the local media recently, which almost never happened with the old media dept. But east Orlando is not a college town.

The university being self-contained as far as land area goes probably doesn't help the college town thing. But UCF has been investing a lot and marketing more and more to the surrounding areas in order to increase the mind share.

Going to be awhile before "East Orlando" is all UCF. But it is getting there I think - and quickly.

(02-27-2012 09:59 AM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(02-27-2012 05:45 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  As of now...UCF (and most of East Orlando) is basically a college town...where most of the activity in the area revolves around the school.

First of all, there's no such thing as "East Orlando." There might be "east Orlando," but there's no proper name "East Orlando."

Second of all, WTF are you talking about suggesting that "East Orlando" [sic] is a college town that revolves around the schools? Tens of thousands of people live near UCF and go about their lives without being involved with the school. Do UCF students help make places like Waterford Lakes a financial success? Yes. But let's not pretend that Waterford Lakes or Carillon, etc., are decked out in black and gold and everyone walks down the street together on the way to BHNS. There is nothing college town about the area.

Actually...thats basically what I'm saying...no clue why you would get so upset over an opinion.

There are more current/recent UCF Grads that live in the Carillon/Oviedo/Waterford Lakes zipcodes than any other Univ, plus that area is home to the highest concentration of UCF Grads in the State of FLA.

More jobs in East Orlando are tied to much of the Univ growth (i.e. UCF's Research Parks, Univ employees, Grads, Students, etc...) than any other sector.

Sorry you get upset over the term "East Orlando", I guess I should have said "Eastern Southern Seminole County connected to Eastern Northern Orange County" instead.

My bad....just thought East Orlando was quicker/shorter.

(02-27-2012 11:26 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(02-27-2012 09:59 AM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(02-27-2012 05:45 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  As of now...UCF (and most of East Orlando) is basically a college town...where most of the activity in the area revolves around the school.

First of all, there's no such thing as "East Orlando." There might be "east Orlando," but there's no proper name "East Orlando."

Second of all, WTF are you talking about suggesting that "East Orlando" [sic] is a college town that revolves around the schools? Tens of thousands of people live near UCF and go about their lives without being involved with the school. Do UCF students help make places like Waterford Lakes a financial success? Yes. But let's not pretend that Waterford Lakes or Carillon, etc., are decked out in black and gold and everyone walks down the street together on the way to BHNS. There is nothing college town about the area.

Actually...thats basically what I'm saying...no clue why you would get so upset over an opinion.

There are more current/recent UCF Grads that live in the Carillon/Oviedo/Waterford Lakes zipcodes than any other Univ, plus that area is home to the highest concentration of UCF Grads in the State of FLA.

More jobs in East Orlando are tied to much of the Univ growth (i.e. UCF's Research Parks, Univ employees, Grads, Students, etc...) than any other sector.

Sorry you get upset over the term "East Orlando", I guess I should have said "Eastern Southern Seminole County connected to Eastern Northern Orange County" instead.

My bad....just thought East Orlando was quicker/shorter

I think he was just saying use lowercase "east" instead of uppercase "East" because the uppercase implies that there is a town called East Orlando that is distinct from the City of Orlando, when that is not the case. What you really mean is that UCF is influential in eastern Orlando. I'm not sure why he got all worked up about it though, seems like it's barely more than a grammatical mistake.

The administration has done a really great job of building loyalty among the students. Just over the last several years you can really tell the difference when walking around campus. There are far fewer Gator, Seminole, and Hurricane shirts and hats, and far more UCF shirts and hats than in 2005 or 2006.

So now the University has a solid base of students to draw on for support, and those students are going to be graduating the joining the local economy very quickly. They will be showing up at the games, watching in TV, buying UCF merchandise, telling friends, family, and co-workers about UCF, and eventually raising UCF kids.

The fact that the the Orlando Magic and the UCF Athletic Administration are working together brings up some interesting ideas. Is there any precident for joint marketing or ticketing packages between professional and college teams? Maybe we could sell packages where you get tickets for the Friday Magic game and the Saturday UCF game. Maybe we could put up joint billboards or TV ads in Orlando, Daytona, and Melbourne telling people about their local teams.

If we really want to think outside the box, maybe we can even get our new conference mate USF in on it. Maybe bring in the Tampa pro teams, too. Tell all 7 million people on the I4 corridor to forget about the jerks in Miami and the hicks in the panhandle, and support the Knights, Bulls, Magic, Bucs, Rays, and Lightning!