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Game Crowds Beef Up With Bulls' Rankings

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By RICH SHOPES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

TAMPA - The Bulls crowd is getting Buccaneers-sized.

Parking and traffic around Raymond James Stadium are taking on NFL proportions now that the University of South Florida football program is attracting national attention and legions of Bulls fans.

The team's popularity has police and traffic officials prepping for game day as if it were a Sunday with 60,000-plus Bucs ticket holders poised to stream into Raymond James.

At least today's matchup against the University of Central Florida, with kickoff at noon, is happening on a Saturday. The sold-out West Virginia game occurred on a Friday after rush hour.

'The West Virginia game was the perfect storm,' said Sgt. Jimmy Meier, who heads traffic enforcement at Raymond James.

Bulls fans sold out the stadium for that game, too. Tailgaters streamed into parking lots hours ahead of the 8 p.m. kickoff, tying up commuters heading home.

As game time neared, thousands more fans - many of whom had never attended a Bulls game - started arriving and wondering where to park.

On southbound Dale Mabry Highway approaching Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, 'that left lane was backed up all the way to Hillsborough Avenue,' city traffic engineer Debbie Herrington said.

MLK was similarly choked as westbound drivers met a throng turning east from Dale Mabry. The sides converged at the same parking lot, causing a bottleneck, even though plenty more parking was available off Tampa Bay Boulevard and off Columbus Drive.

'At most games there are 30,000 people, 40,000 tops, but all of a sudden now you've got double the crowd,' said Meier, noting that many fans didn't know where to turn.

Police coped by doubling the traffic detail to 50 officers.

The same amount is expected for today's Bulls-Golden Knights game, which has been sold out for days.

Police and those in charge of managing the traffic grid are trying to be proactive by making sure more people are aware of the best options for getting to the stadium and finding parking once they get there.

Today, electronic signs on Interstate 275 will direct fans to Dale Mabry.

Herrington advises motorists to consider exiting at Howard Avenue and taking Columbus west or exiting at Lois Avenue and going east on Boy Scout Boulevard. Traffic officials want drivers to avoid MLK because of backups that could result near the stadium.

Fans should get there as much as 90 minutes before kickoff, officials said.

Tom Gerberding, class of 1971, is only too happy to oblige, given the exploding enthusiasm for the fifth-ranked Bulls.

'Everybody's got the flags, the Bulls paraphernalia,' said Gerberding, who lives in Seminole Heights. 'Before, it was almost like going to a movie. Now you get excited about going. It's kind of contagious.'

He's been attending USF football games since they started 11 years ago. Until recently, Gerberding could leave his home and find a stadium parking space in 15 minutes.

'For the West Virginia game we thought we better leave a little earlier. We left an hour ahead of time,' he said. 'It took an hour.

'It was crazy.'

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or rshopes@tampatrib .com.

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