There is a small core of us that buy tickets, donate money and attend events. That small core is tapped out. We need new donors and new people. If we canāt get that then there is no point in expanding the stadium.[/quote]
Itās mostly tapped out. We definitely need more participants.
How mch would the mid level bleachers cost? They should be easy installs.
There is a small core of us that buy tickets, donate money and attend events. That small core is tapped out. We need new donors and new people. If we canāt get that then there is no point in expanding the stadium.[/quote]If there is no point in expanding the stadium, then we donāt deserve to be in an FBS conference.
We can overcome recruiting to our tiny stadium right now since weāre a new program and can promise expansion in the near future, but over time, they pitch no longer works.
There is a small core of us that buy tickets, donate money and attend events. That small core is tapped out. We need new donors and new people. If we canāt get that then there is no point in expanding the stadium.[/quote]If there is no point in expanding the stadium, then we donāt deserve to be in an FBS conference.
We can overcome recruiting to our tiny stadium right now since weāre a new program and can promise expansion in the near future, but over time, they pitch no longer works.[/quote]
Itās true though - we just donāt have a big huge population of people buying FSLs, tickets and donating at a decent level. Go to baseball, soccer, basketball, football - itās the same small group of people. How many people do we have above Green Jacket status? We need more people donating at a higher level, more people buying tickets and FSLs. I want a bigger stadium as much as anyone else - I just also want people donating, buying FSLs and buying tickets.
There is a small core of us that buy tickets, donate money and attend events. That small core is tapped out. We need new donors and new people. If we canāt get that then there is no point in expanding the stadium.[/quote]If there is no point in expanding the stadium, then we donāt deserve to be in an FBS conference.
We can overcome recruiting to our tiny stadium right now since weāre a new program and can promise expansion in the near future, but over time, they pitch no longer works.[/quote]
Itās true though - we just donāt have a big huge population of people buying FSLs, tickets and donating at a decent level. Go to baseball, soccer, basketball, football - itās the same small group of people. How many people do we have above Green Jacket status? We need more people donating at a higher level, more people buying tickets and FSLs. I want a bigger stadium as much as anyone else - I just also want people donating, buying FSLs and buying tickets.[/quote]We canāt adopt an FSL strategy for expansion IMO.
The people that stayed on the sidelines the first time were people that did not want to buy FSLs. Using the same model a second time will be a failure.
How many people were on the waiting list last year for tickets? All I ever heard was thousands. Tells me demand was there for tickets but not FSLs. My fear is that we pushed those people away and will have a very difficult time capturing them back again after we take some lumps in the move to FBS.
I donāt think we need to do fslās again for the expansion but we definitely need to be growing the 49er club and fan base in general. This has been a complaint of mine for a while and I know NWA has been saying it for a while as well. We need as many alums as we can donating to move this athletic department in the direction it needs to go. If that means changing the leadership in the 49er club/AD so be it.
There is a small core of us that buy tickets, donate money and attend events. That small core is tapped out. We need new donors and new people. If we canāt get that then there is no point in expanding the stadium.[/quote]If there is no point in expanding the stadium, then we donāt deserve to be in an FBS conference.
We can overcome recruiting to our tiny stadium right now since weāre a new program and can promise expansion in the near future, but over time, they pitch no longer works.[/quote]
Itās true though - we just donāt have a big huge population of people buying FSLs, tickets and donating at a decent level. Go to baseball, soccer, basketball, football - itās the same small group of people. How many people do we have above Green Jacket status? We need more people donating at a higher level, more people buying tickets and FSLs. I want a bigger stadium as much as anyone else - I just also want people donating, buying FSLs and buying tickets.[/quote]We canāt adopt an FSL strategy for expansion IMO.
The people that stayed on the sidelines the first time were people that did not want to buy FSLs. Using the same model a second time will be a failure.
How many people were on the waiting list last year for tickets? All I ever heard was thousands. Tells me demand was there for tickets but not FSLs. My fear is that we pushed those people away and will have a very difficult time capturing them back again after we take some lumps in the move to FBS.[/quote]
Fair enough - but we need $, real money. Doesnāt matter to me if itās FSLs or donations - but we need more people across the board - more donating, more buying tickets and more coming to games. If we are going to expand the stadium the cost has to come from someone and since we are at 70% for our subsidy and our AD doesnāt appear to have a clue in how to expand the foundation and our current givers are tapped out - things look difficult unless they can pull in another Big Cat style gift. Look at the number of Green Jacket and above donors. We consider them anything over $1500 a big donor, at most schools that doesnāt mean squat. Just need more people and more money and leadership.
You know, unless thereās a consistent increase in season ticket demand then the U has no real motivation for expansion. Itās not like they canāt play the occasional ābig gameā 10 miles away from campus and leave The Rich for āregular gamesā. They already do this in basketballā¦
If the U embraces the excuse that a couple lower level endzone sections arenāt selling out for not adding on to the stadium, then they are really short sighted. Iād love to see more seats added between the 20ās. You get a much better feel for the game. Elevation doesnāt hurt the experience. Iām sure that quite a few people would forego section 112 for section 206ā¦myself included.
[quote=ā49RFootballNow, post:108, topic:28757ā]You know, unless thereās a consistent increase in season ticket demand then the U has no real motivation for expansion. Itās not like they canāt play the occasional ābig gameā 10 miles away from campus and leave The Rich for āregular gamesā. They already do this in basketballā¦[/quote]Maybe.
Two issues with your statement from my perspective.
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Weād have the smallest FBS stadium with few amenities. Itāll limit our ability to recruit well. Other programs will certainly use this against us when pitching a prospective recruit. Our stadium was awesome for FCS level. Itās pretty pathetic and puny for FBS, whether we consistently can fill more than our current capacity or not.
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We donāt know the details of the cityās contract with the Panthers. The city gets 6 free uses of the stadium every year, but Iām sure there are a number of clauses in there that limit when the field can be used. It almost certainly cannot be used the day before a home game. There may even be restrictions against the number of football games that can be played on the field during football season. Have to imagine the city will continue trying to lure two major programs to play here during the regular season every year + the bowl game. Squeezing a third game in there may be a problem. Football scheduling is a lot less flexible than basketball scheduling.
Also, we can only have a consistent increase in season ticket sales if we have seats to sell to people. Last year we had a wait list. Hopefully we will this year as well. At a certain point though, people will stop putting their names on a wait list if there is no imminent plan that will give them access to tickets.
I think the demand is there, but I also think many fans either think tickets are unavailable or they only want tickets to a few games a year. IMO a 15,000 seat stadium will hamper recruiting in FBS. We need to do something, even if it requires thinking outside the box.
What is wrong with pre-selling season tickets for temporary seating (this may require advertising we are expanding and have a few additional seats)? If we sell 1500 additional season tickets, we can add between 1500 and 2000 temporary seats. Thatās at least a start. If the demand does not increase to more than 7500 non-student seats, we have some major problems.
Anyone know how many season tickets were available this year vs last?
[quote=ā49r9r, post:111, topic:28757ā]I think the demand is there, but I also think many fans either think tickets are unavailable or they only want tickets to a few games a year. IMO a 15,000 seat stadium will hamper recruiting in FBS. We need to do something, even if it requires thinking outside the box.
What is wrong with pre-selling season tickets for temporary seating (this may require advertising we are expanding and have a few additional seats)? If we sell 1500 additional season tickets, we can add between 1500 and 2000 temporary seats. Thatās at least a start. If the demand does not increase to more than 7500 non-student seats, we have some major problems.[/quote]
Judyās remarks on temporary seating from a year ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdIP_ygZTUA Basically, she wants a full stadium before adding temp seats, thinks the stadium wonāt look nice with them, plus will need porta-a-jons.
[quote=āemf, post:113, topic:28757ā][quote=ā49r9r, post:111, topic:28757ā]I think the demand is there, but I also think many fans either think tickets are unavailable or they only want tickets to a few games a year. IMO a 15,000 seat stadium will hamper recruiting in FBS. We need to do something, even if it requires thinking outside the box.
What is wrong with pre-selling season tickets for temporary seating (this may require advertising we are expanding and have a few additional seats)? If we sell 1500 additional season tickets, we can add between 1500 and 2000 temporary seats. Thatās at least a start. If the demand does not increase to more than 7500 non-student seats, we have some major problems.[/quote]
Judyās remarks on temporary seating from a year ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdIP_ygZTUA Basically, she wants a full stadium before adding temp seats, thinks the stadium wonāt look nice with them, plus will need porta-a-jons.[/quote]Well, the stadium was full last year. It will be full again this year. If the students donāt show up, they need to adjust their ticketing policy. Putting tickets on sale a day or two before the game with no promotion that tickets are available is not good policy.
There is pent up demand for season and single game tix. I know too many people casually, at work, and around town who only didnt buy tix because they didnt want to commit to FSLs.
We should have a waiting list for season tix. That # will tell us a lot. You have to market the tix first before youāll get a real number, and yes people will want upper deck over corner endzone seats. Better angles.
[quote=ā49r9r, post:111, topic:28757ā]I think the demand is there, but I also think many fans either think tickets are unavailable or they only want tickets to a few games a year. IMO a 15,000 seat stadium will hamper recruiting in FBS. We need to do something, even if it requires thinking outside the box.
What is wrong with pre-selling season tickets for temporary seating (this may require advertising we are expanding and have a few additional seats)? If we sell 1500 additional season tickets, we can add between 1500 and 2000 temporary seats. Thatās at least a start. If the demand does not increase to more than 7500 non-student seats, we have some major problems.[/quote]
Agree - but again it goes back to funds. We donāt have enough donors to finance an expansion - the money has to come from somewhere. We have too many people that want the world but wonāt help make it happen. Not you 49r9r - just speaking in general terms. Our AD has to go find the money somewhere.
I doubt there is still a waiting list. There are season tickets for sale right now.
I did a quick count yesterday when I got mine, and there only appeared to be 350ish left. That is pretty strong for it just being June and only having opened it up to the general public for a week.
That is even stronger when you consider that most football fans and most of our alums think they have no way of obtaining tickets. Most folks do not receive those emails from the school.
How are we supposed to get new fans when we tell them they are not welcome? I would love for our campus to be the place to be on Saturdays in the Fall. That may be the only chance we have to jump to a better conference. A measley 15,000 a game will do nothing but keep us looking small time. I think Judy feels her job is over with now that she has brought us football.