Tickets going fast as FSU expects rare home-opening sellout
It’s not a sellout quite yet, but Florida State’s Sept. 3 season opener against Virginia Tech likely will feature one of the best home-opening crowds in school history.
If the Labor Day game does reach full capacity as expected -- FSU’s ticket office announced on Friday that 5,000 tickets are still available -- it will be the first sellout for a home opener since the Seminoles opened with Miami in 2005.
With the weeks after July 4 traditionally being among the hottest times of the year for football ticket sales, FSU officials ramped up the excitement this past week by announcing that the team’s annual Fan Day will be held on Sunday, Aug. 19. Then on Friday, they put out the announcement about the dwindling Virginia Tech ticket availability.
“We wanted to stoke the fire a little bit,” said Jack Chatham, FSU’s assistant athletics director of ticket operations and service. “We want to get that game sold out quickly so we can move our football inventory for the rest of the year.”
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Unlike some years, the fire for this year’s home opener hasn’t needed much stoking.
There is obvious excitement about the beginning of the Willie Taggart era. The Seminoles’ first-year head coach has been a hit with fans since taking the job last December; that was evident by the record crowd of more than 60,000 for the spring game.
There also is the attraction of a marquee opponent in Virginia Tech. The Hokies are coming off of a 9-4 season in which two of their losses came against teams ranked in the top 10 and another came against a top-20 opponent. At the end of spring practices, several national media outlets predicted they will be ranked in the top 20 to start the 2018 season.
And this will be FSU’s first regular-season game against Virginia Tech since 2012, as well as the first home game against the Hokies since 2008, when Bobby Bowden and Frank Beamer will still roaming the sidelines.
FSU still has single-game tickets remaining for the showdown at all three price points -- $65, $80 and $100 -- and there also are season-ticket packages still available (prices vary depending on seat locations).
Tickets can be purchased online at Seminoles.com or by phone at 850-644-1830.
“Season tickets are still the best deal,” Chatham said. “But we see Virginia Tech as a premium game, with the prices just below that of the Florida and Clemson games.”
From a historical standpoint, it is relatively rare for the Seminoles to open up at home against such a high-profile opponent. The last time the Seminoles faced a nationally ranked opponent in a home opener, it was a Labor Day showdown with a top-10 Miami team in 2005. And that drew one of the largest crowds in Doak Campbell Stadium history (84,347).
“Labor Day night games can be tough for some out-of-town fans because a lot of people have to be back at work on Tuesday,” Chatham said. “But they’re historically very good matchups.”
Adding to the excitement will be the planned jersey retirement ceremony for former FSU All-America wide receiver Peter Warrick, who was Most Valuable Player in the Seminoles’ national championship game victory against Virginia Tech following the 1999 season.
In anticipation of a frenzied atmosphere, and since school will be closed due to the Labor Day holiday, FSU will open its tailgating lots that day at noon, which is three hours longer than usual.
Like most schools, FSU traditionally opens its home schedule with a lower-profile opponent. Conference rival N.C. State was the first home opponent in 2017, only because of early season delays due to weather (the original opener was supposed to be Louisiana-Monroe).
Before that, former head coach Jimbo Fisher’s other home openers were against Charleston Southern, Texas State, The Citadel, Nevada, Murray State, ULM and Samford. Only two of those games saw more than 80,000 fans, and most of those took place before nearly 3,000 seats were removed for construction of the Champions Club. While Doak’s capacity was at least 82,000 from 2001-2015, it has since decreased to 79,560.
FSU offers promotions for several games
While the Virginia Tech, Clemson and UF games will highlight the 2018 home slate, Florida State is offering special packages for several other home dates.
There are four-game packages available, which include seats in the main bowl for the Samford, Northern Illinois, Wake Forest and Boston College games. Then there are three-game packages in the Champions Club – those include a ticket to one game out of Virginia Tech, Clemson or UF, and two of the remaining games.
There also are much more affordable options for the Samford and Northern Illinois games. Samford tickets are going for $30 on the sideline, $20 in the end zone and $12 for youth, while Northern Illinois (parents weekend) is $45 for sideline, $35 for end zone and $20 for youth.
Chatham said there also are special discount rates available for groups of 20 or more. (Call 850-644-1830 for more information.)
And in the coming weeks, he said, FSU plans more announcements about game-day enhancements, as well as in-game celebrations and entertainment.
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