Hype Not Reflected In FSU Season Ticket Sales
Posted by NoleCC
The Pensacola News Journal has an article today from the Tallahassee Democrat’s own Corey Clark (I love syndicated content) indicating that when all is said and done by September 4, the first game of the Jimbo Fisher era, the Seminoles will have around 35,000 season ticket holders.
That number is exactly the same as last year.
It’s not all doom and gloom as you can read in the article linked above. The renewal rate is improved and the decline of sales stopped, but all of the hype out there in the FSU media and blogging worlds (myself included) talks about renewed energy in the program and how many things look rosy headed into the season. Evidently that’s not translated to the paying fan.
So what does that tell us? I’m not sure, but I have a couple of theories.
- First, the economy continues to be unsteady and the unemployment rate remains high. Many Noles have to travel to Tallahassee for the games which requires hotel stays and food purchases. Basically, the total cost to attend games is much higher than the cost of the season tickets for many fans. Until the economy improves a boost in sales won’t occur unless the Noles have tangible results on the field.
- Second, I think there are many fans that are pissed about how the Bobby Bowden era ended. Winning and time will fix those opinions. I’ll never know how anybody thinks anybody else is entitled to anything, but Bowden apologists think he was entitled to completely run the program into the ground like a kid that destroys his Lego castle. That’s wrong and what happened last year is ultimately for the better, but it doesn’t mean that there are probably some fans that are holding back their money.
- Third, value is beginning to be a problem. I blame HDTV and more than 6 home games. Years ago my seat provided a much better view of the game than my 32″ inch standard definition Sony at home. Years ago there were mostly 6 home games at $35 per game. Going to see the Noles, a 10 win team at that price was a steal for your entertainment dollar. Now at $50 per game (or more with booster contributions) and Jimbo’s desire to have 7 or 8 home games each season AND three 7-6 seasons over the last four years AND HDTV the value of attending a game doesn’t seem as high as it used to be.
- Fourth, there is a lot more ticket package variety. Because of weaker ticket sales, FSU is offering 3 game packages, discounted Family Zone tickets and plenty of single game tickets. During the late 90′s when there were 46,000 season ticket holders I remember feeling so lucky that I had my tickets to a Miami or Florida game. Now it seems like it wouldn’t be a big deal to find some reasonably priced tickets for a game like that.
- Finally, I think the overall feel of games is starting to drive the average fan away. Years ago, I was a NASCAR fan before it was overly corporate. It was fun to watch a race, enjoy the “Average Joe” crowd and take it all in. Eventually it went too corporate and I lost my taste for it. When I went to my first FSU football game I had the same feeling. The stadium was still being renovated, we still had a Lite Brite scoreboard and there were a lot of regular fans. Thirteen years later the crowds have changed, much like the cars driving around campus. With that a new attitude has arrived and I can see some people might not enjoy that and decide to follow the Noles away from Doak Campbell Stadium.
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Jdogg on 
Chauncy on 
Redman on 
I agree that the economy is the major contributing factor in this. An uptick in this area, combined with tangible results on the field, should lead to a significant increase in years to come. Do you really think that there are that many people upset about Bowden? More to the point, do you think that this number dwarfs the number of people who were so frustrated with him that they dropped their tickets?
DK,
I think the Bowden number / Frustrated fans number is probably tiny on both accounts. Let’s remember that the vocal minorities on both sides of that argument are represented by many folks that don’t attend the home games. I think the majority of ticket droppers were much more about economy / value / lack of a good product to watch so they spend their dollars elsewhere either because it’s better entertainment or they were forced to cut back. That probably explains why things are even right now, with some frustrated fans coming back, some old money Bowden fans reducing or pulling out totally and the economy still in the crapper for everyone else.
DKfromVa has a good question about the balance of Bowden blind supporters & Bowden weary supporters; however, since moving to the Tallahassee area, I can assure you there is a stubbornness and arrogance of the GOOD OLD BOYS AND GOOD OLD GIRLS here that blurs any normal vision of FSU Football.
Our Tallahassee TV stations, with the blessings of the Boosters’ marketing, are promoting the football tickets with an Ad that features Bowden introducing Fisher to the team, then Fisher on the podium in a sound bite with a few words of acceptance. GIVE ME A BREAK! What a lost opportunity!
If the marketing department wasn’t so blindly loyal to Bobby Bowden and really listened to Fisher’s initial speech or some of the ones that have followed, there was enough material for any Ad agency to submit for awards.
Combined with the flat or failing economy, and the nostalgia for a time gone by, as well as myopic marketing, I am not surprised at the situation with the tickets at this time.
I agree with your marketing comments Luv. It’s improved over previous years, but the current commercial is silly. The changing of the guard is over, the commercial should feature Jimbo and the “New Noles” not the changing of the guard.
Obviously, sports marketing thinks they should wringing the Bowden cloth as long as possible, which sucks and is unfair to Jimbo Fisher.
On the bright side winning will take care of all of those issue.