Clarifying misunderstandings about Doak Campbell Stadium project and price

The Doak Campbell Stadium renovation is the project the fans interact with most and is the engine that drives the funding for the Dunlap Football Operations Building as well as helping to fund athletics operations. Yet, the sales process for the new seating is currently misunderstood by many season ticket holders. The Osceola wanted to help provide clarity on those topics by going deep with Seminole Booster President and CEO Stephen Ponder about a project which will impact Seminole Athletics for decades to come.

“When you talk about the football project, it is exciting what’s going on but with it there’s also a very personal and emotional aspect because there is history involved with it,” Ponder said, referring to the emotional attachment fans develop to their seat location and to the fans around them.

“Whether it is literally families sitting together or people who have been sitting together who have become family, that part is hard about this project,” Ponder said of a project that will require a reseating of the west sideline, displacing friendship groups.

Ponder has heard and felt many heartwarming stories of generational experiences, and bonds formed between seat holders who became friends, vacation together, attend the weddings of each other’s children who are now uncertain about their ability to afford the seats or to sit together again.

And it's largely driven by price confusion.

The source of much of the consternation among fans is secondhand information about west sideline seat prices.

“When someone goes to a meeting and hears what it is going to cost for (those premium seats), they repeat it and then everyone thinks that every seat is that price and that just isn’t true,” Ponder assures. “We have many options for everybody and we’re trying to get face to face with everyone (to explain) pricing.”

The secondhand misinformation is the unintended consequence of a very deliberate, priority rollout where Seminole Boosters representatives are providing the highest-tier impacted donors with the first opportunity to select from the highest-tier premium seats.

The price for the Zone 1 club seats, the first seats offered, required a $15,000 one-time capital campaign gift per seat plus an annual seat price of $4,000 per seat for the premier seats surrounding midfield which also have access to a high-end stadium club.

Naturally, when those early donors told their friends they were quoted a $15,000 capital campaign contribution per seat and $4,000 for the club seats, their friends falsely assumed that would be the price for all the west sideline seats.

While we could not coerce Ponder to share what the price will be for the chairback seats, it’s safe to say the ask will be considerably less than for Zone 1, 2 or 3 club seats. Once FSU sells the last club seat and begins to share the chairback prices, it will alleviate some of the current consternation.

“During football season I had someone reach out to me and his letter started out with ‘My aunt told me,’ ” Ponder said. “It was a long letter about how mad he was about all this stuff and what he put in the letter wasn’t accurate. I just replied to meet me on Saturday. When it was over, he said, ‘OK, I get it now. It’s not what I thought it was. It is going to cost more. I will have to move but at least it’s not what I thought it was.’

“People are not necessarily going to like everything we have to say but at least we want to give them the facts and let them know there are options.”

Another misunderstanding is the pricing model, which creates sticker shock for some people because the new pricing includes both the season ticket price and the Booster annual fund contribution bundled into one price.

For example, the first and most expensive club seats offered were priced at $4,000 per seat, which includes both the season ticket price ($750) with the other $3,250 going toward the Booster contribution level. A person who buys those two premium seats is paying $1,500 for his club seats and is credited with $6,500 towards his Booster membership, which makes them a Golden Chief level member, so the buyer does not have to write an annual fund contribution check to the Boosters each year.

When Zone 1 club seats sold out, the Boosters began selling Zone 2 club seats (mid-sideline), which had a lower capital gift requirement, a lower seat price with a lower credit toward a Booster membership. The Boosters have sold out Zone 2 and are now selling the last 500 club seats in Zone 3 at an incrementally lower price than Zone 2.

Once the Zone 3 club seats are sold out, the Boosters will begin selling 10,000 or more “Chairback Seats” across the west sideline that will have multiple price points based on yard line and row and the Champions Club seats, which will offer a broader array of seating options and price points.

Once they sell out the Chairback Seats, they will release the final bleacher seating on the west side at yet a lower price point.

It's important to note that while the prices asked for the chairback seats and many of the Champions Club seats will be less than the club seats now being sold, they will also be a bundled price with the seat price and the Booster contribution included.

Ponder said he found people who thought the prior system was too complicated and who wanted to write one check rather than two.

“We did that just for simplicity purposes.” Ponder said. “We’ll break out the ticket cost and that money goes to the athletics department and the other goes toward the annual fund. But you are right, when people hear it they go, ‘Oh, my gosh, I have to do that plus?' No, it’s one number times however many seats you want.”

FSU has been moving toward a per seat model in recent years, so the per seat model in Doak is consistent.

“The football stadium, the basketball arena, baseball, softball, we are trying to get on the exact same pricing model,” Ponder said, “so let’s say someone bought seats in three venues. The Boosters would total up the per seat contribution in football, basketball and baseball and that would be the ticket holders’ Booster donation level unless they wanted to round it up to the next higher donor level to enjoy those benefits.”

The priority point process, a loyalty program designed to provide benefits to the donors who have given the most/longest requires a modicum of patience to get through all the various products but it’s an essential process and benefit of membership.

The sales process for the new seating is a continuous loop, where each product is offered to the highest-tier donors first until that product is sold out and then the Boosters begin selling the next product by offering it to the Tier 1 donors first and working through the list to Tier 2 and 3 until the product is sold out. For example: the highest-value seat product – eight mid-level Founders Suites – were the first product offered to Tier 1 donors in priority point order. When the eight Founders Suite were sold, the sales reps began selling the next product – 28 Founders Loges.

“We started back through Tier 1 donors in priority point order until the 28 Founders Loges were sold out and then we went back and started with the club seats,” Ponder explained. “We are selling the club seats in three different zones with different price points. Midfield, mid sideline and then closer to the goal line and that’s where we are now (in Zone 3). We are 75 percent sold out in club seats.”

The Loge boxes in the Champions Club is the next product to be offered along with the chairback seats along the west sideline. “If we have reached out to you but haven’t talked, please call the staff back. We don’t want to pass anybody,” Ponder said. “We want to have a face-to-face conversation because we don’t want to do it through email.”

In years past, the Boosters would have emailed all the products and prices and allowed donors to request the seats they preferred, and the seat allocation process would have been in priority order. So why did FSU choose to spend so much staff time and effort to do this so intentionally?

“We could do that, but it is still going to create confusion,” Ponder said. “Even if we do that it’s not going to provide all the answers because then everyone is going to ask what about me? Where do I fit? And what’s going to happen with my specific seat? So that’s why we want to go through a very specific process here in Tallahassee at the preview center, which takes about an hour, or you can do a Zoom meeting.”

Once the last of the club seats are sold, which Ponder estimates to be in three months, FSU will open sales of the chairback seats, and the Champions Club products. beginning with Tier 1 donors and work their way through the Tiers. The process is expected to go much faster as people have been through the presentation once already. Once through all those people, the staff will resume making calls to those who they have yet to speak.

“Just be patient and not get frustrated by what you are hearing, which is hard, very hard,” Ponder said, especially when you get a call from a buddy with information that doesn’t apply to you. “It will take us another year to get through the sales process and talk to everyone face to face … all 5,000 people impacted.”

Another misconception noticed during the sales process is that some fans believe they are going to be charged more for essentially the same experience.

As a result, Ponder said it has been important to show ticket holders the distinctions between the old stadium experience and the new, something hard to do through an email.

For the 6-foot-5 Ponder, the most welcome distinction is the legroom fans will notice. All the seats on the west sideline, except the club seats, will have 33 inches of legroom between each row, six inches more than the old experience. The club seats will have an extra seven inches of leg room as they are spaced 34 inches apart.

“The tread depth is 27 inches so I can’t really sit in those seats,” Ponder said of the old stadium. “The person in front of me will have my knees going into their back. When we come back, (the tread) will be 33 inches, which is a six-inch-per-row increase. That’s huge. It’s not the same experience.”

There are many other distinctions, including wider seats. Seats on the west side, which were as narrow as 15 inches, will be widened to 20 inches with the club seats going to 22 inches.

Even the west side bleacher seats will have 33 inches of leg room and have access to many of the west side improvements. Selection for those seats will come after the chairback process is complete, likely just before the 2025 season.

From the time a person passes through the gate and walks to their seat, the experience will be improved. In years past the dimly lit space under Doak Campbell Stadium was cluttered with buildings, steel columns and cross bracing.

“When you walk in the gate you will have that concourse opened up, with (new) restrooms and concessions on the outer part and you will be more free flowing,” Ponder said. “Dead center, you will walk into a field club and if you are going to the seats above, you’ll have access to go to the chairbacks and other seats in other places. It will be more open with more points of sale, more restrooms that are updated. In my mind, it is completely bright and open. Just a completely different experience.”

On the East Side, FSU is making enhancements too, widening aisles, adding handrails, and putting a mesh seat bottom on the benches that will define space and provide comfort. Lighting in the east side concourse will improve as will the ramps and access to the seating bowl. Ram Construction has begun work on the east side and will be completed in time for the 2024 season.

Two contractors, Manhattan and Culpepper, have begun work on the west side and will finish in August of 2025. Whiting-Turner is the contractor selected to work on the football operations building on the north side of the stadium and will also be done in the summer of 2025.

The Dunlap football facility and Doak Campbell Stadium are really on the same timeline to be completed the summer of 2025 as FSU hosts Alabama at home in 2025 and at Tuscaloosa in 2026, then faces Georgia in 2027 in Tallahassee and in Athens in 2028.

The 2024 season will be impacted by construction, but every 2023 west side season ticket holder will be accommodated either in 7500 temporary bleacher seats on the west sideline or in the Champions Club.

“Michael (Alford) believes in home-and-home so for our fans we want our stadium to shine, and we want to utilize our stadium for that. Regardless of whatever happens in the future with conferences, this stadium is designed for us to keep our place in the order of college football.”

There are 5,000 ticket accounts who purchased the 17,500 seats on the west sideline and of those 5,000 accounts the Boosters have contacted 3,000 thus far for a presentation. Of those, 61 percent have been through the presentation, either in the College Town presentation center or on a virtual Zoom presentation.

Ponder said that while 5,000 donors own 17,500 seats, 16 percent of those donors (800) own 40 percent of the seats (6,800) so there are people the Boosters can reach out to.

“We don’t know who is using those tickets beyond the ticket holder,” Ponder said. “Someone could be selling them, giving them to a neighbor, cousin or friend.”

The Boosters are dependent on the account holder to communicate with the people who are using those seats.

“We are depending on the account holder to make sure (they) are communicating with the people (they are distributing tickets to) and that hasn’t always happened,” Ponder said. “It is a puzzle to put together and we are dependent on everyone, so that’s (another reason) why those meetings are so important.”

If you have received a call to set up a presentation and haven’t done it yet Ponder said it is imperative that you reach out to a staff member to schedule a follow up and ask the questions you need answered, even if they are critical.

“We may have to agree to disagree on whether this is the right thing to do but at least people can have the actual, factual information and we can find a place for people to sit,” Ponder said.

In terms of the Champions Club, the major design change will be to separate the 4th and 6th floors to improve customer flow.

“Depending on the game, we either get loaded up in the fourth floor, or we get loaded up on the top floor,” Ponder said. “And from the bars/restaurant/concession/restroom perspective, they can get kind of overloaded.”

So, ticket holders with seats on the 4th floor will need to stay on the fourth floor and people on the 6th floor will need to stay there. The Boosters will also add multiple seat options throughout the fourth and sixth floor, which will be presented to ticket holders in the presentation process.

“It will change the capacity from what it currently is,” Ponder said. “And I think it'll make the experience for everyone a little bit different in terms of being able to move around in the clubs.”

Ponder also thinks the changes will be noticeable from the stands. “Looking at the Champions Club, I think you'll see fuller sections,” he said.

The Champions Club changes will begin after the 2024 season and be completed in time for the Alabama game to kickoff the 2025 season.

The Champions Club will be used to help offset some of the lost capacity on the west sideline for the 2024 football season.

Ponder has an intimate relationship with this question.

“In my career, this is the third time I’ve gone through this at an institution and it’s the exact same conversation,” he said. “I can remember the names of the people from the other schools who I had a conversation with because you don’t forget when you hear people’s stories about who they sit with, their families and how they grew up together. Those are real.”

Ponder said he doesn’t have an easy answer for it.

“I can’t solve that,” he said. “I can’t sell that about changing a person’s mind because that’s real and I get that. From a loyalty standpoint what I would say is that a season ticket holder, Booster members who have been around a long time, have a point priority. In our tiered structure, a point priority system, all of those years (of giving) and all those years of season ticket purchases count, so there is an equity built up that will show. Now if someone is sitting on the 50-yard line, and they expect to sit on the 50-yard line again because of loyalty, that part I can’t solve because we are going through a sales process and our goal is to raise money and the way we are doing that is to sell these products.

“The Founders products – the eight Founders suites and 28 Loge boxes are providing 50 percent of the total amount of revenue that will be produced on the west sideline.”

As noted earlier, the revenues generated from the 2,000-plus club seats, of which nearly 1,600 have been sold, will provide another 25 percent of the revenue necessary to fund the project, so just 3,000 premium seats will fund 75 percent of the west sideline improvements, which will be enjoyed by some 17,500 patrons.

“It’s a small group of people who are providing a large benefit for everyone,” Ponder said.

“While that loyalty question comes into play, and it is real, point priority does matter. As we shift everyone around, that loyalty number comes back into play when we begin finding a seat for people,” Ponder said. “If you’ve been a season ticket holder for this many years and given this much as compared to someone who has given less for less time, you are going to get to choose your seat before the other person does.”

Every time Ponder talks to someone about loyalty, he feels how personal the concept is for them, so he says he listens intently.

"Intellectually, I understand that people want us to maintain the same pricing for loyalty of being a season ticket holder and Booster. I understand that idea, but I also know that everything costs more for us, as well as we try to provide the best student-athlete experience, provide our coaches the best chance to compete and provide our fans the best gameday experience possible."

Once FSU finishes with the 5,000 donors who have seats on the west side and Dunlap Champions Club, they will follow up with all remaining donors in priority order, tier by tier. Those 5,000 affected account holders will still be prioritized over someone coming in brand new, which is another form of loyalty.

The general public can join Seminole Boosters now to be factored into the tiers but they will start off with zero priority points. Or they can wait until FSU gets through the list of 5,000 affected account holders and begins marketing to the public. FSU will also look to launch a waitlist to keep those who are not donors yet informed of timeline/progress.

“There will be people who didn't go to their appointment, or we missed them or whatever happened, and they are going to watch the game from some seat (in 2025) and then they're going to be like, ‘That seat is what I really want right there,’” Ponder said. “And then we'll have to go through a process of upgrades and other things with people shifting based on what they see. Even after the 2025 season, we'll have people moving around, but it's going to be interesting to watch everybody when we get to that first game.”

Follow The Osceola on Facebook

Follow The Osceola on Twitter

Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple