When Stephanie Cruz heard the 2014 lineup for Gator Growl, she screamed.
“It kinda brings me back to the music we listened to in middle school,” said the 20-year-old UF computer science junior.
Gator Growl’s 2014 lineup of Foster the People, Ludacris and Brooks Wheelan has UF students and Gator fans alike excited.
The annual pep rally will be Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. on Flavet Field, a new venue for the event that has taken place in the Swamp for the last 82 years.
The event, the nation’s largest student-run pep rally, will include local food trucks, the traditional fireworks display and a six-foot wind screen around Flavet Field, said Devin McDaniel, executive producer of Gator Growl.
Attendees will also be asked not to bring lawn chairs or umbrellas, so as not to obstruct the view for others, she said.
Tickets are available on the Gator Growl website and run $15 for students, $25 for nonstudent general admission and $40 for bleacher seating.
Student Government Production and Florida Blue Key did not provide information about the specific fees for each performer.
“SGP is a headline sponsor of the show and we sponsored all of the talent and associated fees up to $242,000,” wrote Bradley Wheeler, SGP co-chairman, in an email.
Cruz has not been to any of the other Gator Growls during her time at UF, due to scheduling conflicts and acts that did not interest her.
But the new lineup “definitely motivates (her) to go,” she said, if only because she may have the chance to interact with the performers. The move to Flavet Field is meant to create a more intimate environment with the talent, but it also reflects a decline in ticket sales over the years and is a cheaper venue for Gator Growl organizers.
Although the stadium can seat 90,000, ticket sales plummeted to about 20,000 in 2012 and fell to 15,000 in 2013, according to Alligator archives. In order to drive those numbers back up, McDaniel said her group wants to “reinvent the wheel” in terms of Gator Growl as an event.
“A typical pep rally is something you get involved in,” she said.
McDaniel said her team wants to make Gator Growl more of an event than a show.
“We have a few more tricks up our sleeves,” she said.
[A version of this story ran on pages 1 - 4 on 7/22/2014 under the headline "Gator Growl lineup, new location excites"]
