As a 2023 season ticket holder, I received the following email from Seminole Boosters on Thursday. The expected letter was intended to prepare us for what will be a challenging 2024 football season with construction occurring on all sides of Doak Campbell Stadium. Not only will the construction reduce seating inside Doak, it eliminates a great deal of parking too, as the lots close to the stadium will be occupied by cranes, heavy equipment and materials.

While the message prepares us for the construction ahead, what Athletic Director Michael Alford has dubbed #Pardonourdust, it also makes a couple of significant promises:

1. While the entire west sideline will be torn down, FSU makes this promise, “We will guarantee you and each season ticket holder the same number of seats you currently have this season.” Those seats will either be in temporary bleachers on the west side, end zone seats, or expanded west side seats.

2. They also promised a pot of garnet and gold at the end of the wheelbarrow. “This process will be complex, and we’re asking you to go through it with us so we can all enjoy a new stadium experience while supporting Seminole Athletics.”

Rather than windscreen the west side of the stadium as a construction zone for the 2024 season, FSU has arranged to install 7,000 temporary bleacher seats along the west sideline. The price for those seats has yet to be determined.

If you are a season ticket holder on the east side, you learned that when you return for the 2024 season you’ll find improvements have already been made, including wider aisles with handrails and a widened bleacher seat (18 inches) with a breathable, mesh seat bottom the price of which has yet to be determined.

Champions Club seat holders, and season ticket holders in section 120, where the Marching Chiefs sat prior to the 2022 season, learned they will not be affected for the 2024 season.

“2024 is going to be a hashtag pardon our dust moment, because you think about everything that's going on facility wise, and not just the stadium project, but you have the Football Center Project, you have some other projects that we're working on, probably lesser scale but very impactful,” FSU Vice President and Athletic Director Michael Alford said. “You're going to have one contractor working on the east side. You're going to have a different contractor working on the west side. And then you're going to have a different contractor working on the football only facility that's in the same footprint.”

The parking lots surrounding Doak Campbell Stadium will be ground zero for three construction sites that need space for cranes, construction access and material staging.

The construction of the Dunlap Football Center on the north side – commonly known as the football operations building – will occupy part of a Golden Chief parking lot so Parking Lot 1 will not be available and parking lots 2 and 3 will be limited on gameday.

The Boosters offered this alert: “All members eligible for parking will be asked to select a new parking lot and/or space for 2024.”

- All season ticket holders who are Booster members ($330 and above). Golden, Platinum and Legacy Chiefs will select a lot and/or a reserved space.

- Parking pass quantities will remain the same but will be limited to season ticket holders or Golden Chief donors and above with location based on priority/availability.

- Golden Chief Parking Lots 1 will not be available and Golden Chief Parking Lots 2 and 3 will be limited on gameday. As a result, Lots 5 and 8 will be reserved spaces for Golden Chiefs and above in 2024 and moving forward.

- General admission lots will be available for Silver Chief, Tomahawk, Warrior and Renegade level members who are season ticket holders. And single-game parking will be offered for purchase based on availability.

- The whole stadium will be under renovation while the football operations building is under construction.

Alford believes this was the time to do all the projects at once in anticipation of the home opener against Alabama to open the 2025 season.

“I just think it's the best time to do it,” Alford explained. “It's going to benefit our fans for the future. It is going to benefit all our programs in the future, if we go ahead and just make sure that we're providing the very best fan experience we can possibly provide. We could have phased this in over the years approach, but I don’t think (this is) the time for phasing. It is time to just go ahead and do it now. And make sure we just address all the issues of a (73) year old stadium.”

For those brave FSU souls who are willing to #pardonthedust to enjoy Seminoles football, they’ll be able to renew their Booster membership and season tickets for the 2024 season starting on Nov. 1.

Payment plans are available with hardhats optional.

The seat selection process for the 2024 season will begin in the spring of 2024 and be conducted individually based on Booster tier in member priority order. The online seat selection process will show seat availability on a live seat map during the member’s allotted time.

FSU also promises to keep season ticket holders informed prior to the start of renewals on Nov. 1 and to share updated construction information throughout the year.

Remember, there’s a pot of garnet and gold on the other end of the wheelbarrow.

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