10/11/2023 football Edit

Fans ensure fourth sellout, bringing in revenue FSU will put to good use

Fans have ensured that all four of FSU's ACC games will be sold out in 2023. (Mike Olivella)

Bob Ferrante • TheOsceola

Editor

Florida State hasn’t sold out all of its regular season football games since 2014. But the Seminoles’ on-field success have resulted in more sellouts this fall, which is unusual for an odd-numbered season.

Demand for the FSU-LSU game in Orlando exceeded the 29,000-seat allocation, which perhaps was an early indication of the excitement level Seminoles fans had following a 10-3 mark in 2022. But the demand has even exceeded what the FSU ticket office has seen in an odd-numbered season, when the Seminoles have just one major home game (Miami) as opposed to Florida and Clemson in even-numbered years. In some previous years, FSU has been able to pair up a non-conference game like Notre Dame (2021), but this fall’s schedule lacked a second major home game. In future years Alabama (2025) and Georgia (2027) will visit.

When 79,560 packed into Doak Campbell Stadium for the Virginia Tech game, it was the start of what will be four straight sold-out crowds. Next up is Saturday’s game with Syracuse (noon on ABC) followed by Duke on Oct. 21 and Miami on Nov. 11. Tickets for the Syracuse game sold out on Monday, so the only remaining tickets are for FSU’s matchup against North Alabama on Nov. 18.

“There is a lot of pent up demand when the team is doing well,” FSU assistant athletics director of ticket operations Jack Chatham said.

Every ticket sold is additional revenue for FSU Athletics and Seminole Boosters, Inc. — not just the football program. That’s a point athletics director Michael Alford has underscored for years. While he’s been pushing the ACC to find more revenue streams for FSU and the league’s schools, Alford has also underscored that FSU fans contribute to the bottom line with their purchases of tickets as well as revenue derived from parking and concessions.

“With that revenue, it allows us to go make a difference and, I use the word all the time, reinvest in the experience that our student-athletes are having across the board,” Alford said.

The added revenue from ticket sales helps the bottom line of FSU Athletics and the Boosters, of course. Alford says the additional money will help in at least one area.

“It does provide us the opportunity to look at a project that's near and dear to my heart right now — Figg dining,” Alford said. “It's not to the standard of Florida State, it's not to the standard of what we compete against with our peers. Now we were able to go out and bring in the nutritional elements. And that's gotten to the standard, the science that we're doing on the nutrition side of partnering with someone who does training tables for professional teams. And what we're doing, adding nutritionists on staff. But still the dining hall itself limits us. So we need to make an adjustment there.”

FSU last sold out all of its home games in 2014, and it was something of a perfect storm. The Seminoles were coming off a national championship, had a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in Jameis Winston while rivals Florida and Miami made visits to Tallahassee.

This fall, FSU announced a crowd of 74,467 for the home opener against Southern Miss and then will have a packed house in each game against an ACC opponent.

“Our fan base is incredible and makes such a wonderful impact to the game,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said. “It was special there Saturday.”