The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(09-20-2018 09:29 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

ODU explained what happened to the waiting list pretty clearly. In 2014, ODU required fans to donate $100 to get tickets. A lot of folks weren't willing to do that;
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...651b9.html

This in addition to the turnover for endzone ticket holders (who were dealing with uncomfortable seats and no sightlines of the video board), moved them through the waiting list fast.

The endzone turnover is why ODU decided to move all season tickets to the sidelines.

$100.
Most of us were paying thousands to ODAF by then to get season tickets.
I am not going to get into this. I was involved back then and had direct access to the BOV. I assure you it was not that simple. If it was a matter of just 100 dollars, we wouldn't have had to downgrade the stadium capacity based on demand. Instead we likely would have waived that fee.
The end zone turnover did not account for an almost 3000 decrease in tickets plus the 4000 waiting list, a net of almost 7000.

That kind of reminds of the Powhatan location. The decision to nix that was made in November, and as late as Feb of the next year, ODU officially was still "teasing" about that being on the table.

(09-20-2018 09:50 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 10:27 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 09:14 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 08:32 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  Harry's article from yesterday said that they sold the most season tickets of the past 3 seasons.

At least online, the alumni office is routing people to YNotTix for tickets. Which is no longer selling any of the miniplans for the VT game, since those are also sold out. Seems the sales office is doing its' job pretty well..

Donations are a different story, one we won't really know the impact of until the end of the calendar year.

OK, but they were available on or close to Opening Day. I am curious as to how there were more season tickets sold, as that has always been a finite number. ODU must have opened up another block. That is an entirely different scenario.

I am not arguing that the competence of the ticket sales office. That were mini plans available for VT at least as recently a a week and a half or so ago.

Compare the above with ticket availability in the past.

Last year, they sold 12.5k season tickets. I haven't seen any quoted numbers for this year but Harry did say we topped that number.

Now, I'm not arguing to keep BW. I think it's time to move on. But ticket sales aren't nearly the issue you and others are trying to make it. They did a good job packaging tickets this year to force buy-in. Butts in seats is a different topic entirely.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Ticket sales are a huge part Div 1 revenue streams (and yes there is a general decline across all of college football).

I believe that you may have misread Harry's comments in that he actually said we had sold more season tickets by a certain date than the previous year. He attributed that to the "Virginia Tech Effect"
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...e9610.html

In fact, in 2013 we sold 15,037 season tickets. By 2016 that number had dropped to 13,340. I am not aware that that number ever went as low as your 12,500. I hope not.
This has caused the ticket office to offer discount packages and mini plans, further reducing total ticket revenue.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...ee4ae.html


The most visible impact has been on the stadium. Originally the stadium was to have been larger and much more ornate, based on the waiting list.
That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

The athletic calendar year ending 6/30/17 (which is the last available) was the first decrease in actual football ticket revenue we've seen. Here's the 8 years available since we started football, I'l do the years in football seasons so starting with '09 even though that fiscal year ended June of 2010:

2009 - 1.62 Million
2010 - 1.87
2011 - 2.08
2012 - 2.26
2013 - 2.54
2014 - 2.56
2015 - 3.10
2016 - 2.39

Make of it what you will.

A couple of considerations:

1. Ticket prices have been going up.
2. Fewer season tickets sold means more individual game tickets available and individual game tickets are more expensive.

One cannot deny the "butts in seats" metric has been crashing. Only a matter of time before ticket sales will plummet as well. It is a lagging indicator. Look at basketball and the 5-25 season. Our "attendance" that year went from 7,100+ to a still respectable 6,600+. It wasn't until the following season that it dropped below 6,000. I would expect the same thing to happen in football next season. Maybe the new stadium helps mask it for a year, but the core structure is rotting.

(09-20-2018 09:59 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:29 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

ODU explained what happened to the waiting list pretty clearly. In 2014, ODU required fans to donate $100 to get tickets. A lot of folks weren't willing to do that;
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...651b9.html

This in addition to the turnover for endzone ticket holders (who were dealing with uncomfortable seats and no sightlines of the video board), moved them through the waiting list fast.

The endzone turnover is why ODU decided to move all season tickets to the sidelines.

$100.
Most of us were paying thousands to ODAF by then to get season tickets.
I am not going to get into this. I was involved back then and had direct access to the BOV. I assure you it was not that simple. If it was a matter of just 100 dollars, we wouldn't have had to downgrade the stadium capacity based on demand. Instead we likely would have waived that fee.
The end zone turnover did not account for an almost 3000 decrease in tickets plus the 4000 waiting list, a net of almost 7000.

That kind of reminds of the Powhatan location. The decision to nix that was made in November, and as late as Feb of the next year, ODU officially was still "teasing" about that being on the table.

This is true. The PR tap dance throughout the process likely kept people donating so they could stay at the front of the line (that was borderline fraud). Now that we are getting a polished turd instead, I think you'll quickly see people running for the hills.

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 10:27 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 09:14 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 08:32 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 08:22 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  Likely true.
The posters on this board represent a very, very small part of the the whole of ODU football fandom. The majority of fans and donors are not as vocal nor intense as we are.

However, it is true that season tickets were available right up until opening day.
It is true that there are still VT tickets available through the alumni office.

I am not sure if MBB is also a factor, but IF it is true that ODAF membership is down 25% this year, then there has to be some serious consideration for some kind of change.

We cannot sustain that.

Harry's article from yesterday said that they sold the most season tickets of the past 3 seasons.

At least online, the alumni office is routing people to YNotTix for tickets. Which is no longer selling any of the miniplans for the VT game, since those are also sold out. Seems the sales office is doing its' job pretty well..

Donations are a different story, one we won't really know the impact of until the end of the calendar year.

OK, but they were available on or close to Opening Day. I am curious as to how there were more season tickets sold, as that has always been a finite number. ODU must have opened up another block. That is an entirely different scenario.

I am not arguing that the competence of the ticket sales office. That were mini plans available for VT at least as recently a a week and a half or so ago.

Compare the above with ticket availability in the past.

Last year, they sold 12.5k season tickets. I haven't seen any quoted numbers for this year but Harry did say we topped that number.

Now, I'm not arguing to keep BW. I think it's time to move on. But ticket sales aren't nearly the issue you and others are trying to make it. They did a good job packaging tickets this year to force buy-in. Butts in seats is a different topic entirely.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Ticket sales are a huge part Div 1 revenue streams (and yes there is a general decline across all of college football).

I believe that you may have misread Harry's comments in that he actually said we had sold more season tickets by a certain date than the previous year. He attributed that to the "Virginia Tech Effect"
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...e9610.html

In fact, in 2013 we sold 15,037 season tickets. By 2016 that number had dropped to 13,340. I am not aware that that number ever went as low as your 12,500. I hope not.
This has caused the ticket office to offer discount packages and mini plans, further reducing total ticket revenue.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...ee4ae.html


The most visible impact has been on the stadium. Originally the stadium was to have been larger and much more ornate, based on the waiting list.
That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

Just imagine what more we could be getting for our money had we not farted around with populous and the bogus stadium study that ended up being a complete waste of time. 3 years ago $65 million could have bought a legit 30k stadium. And dont give me crap that ODU doesnt need to expand to 30k. Half the teams in C-USA were worse than us (before this year) and have 30k stadiums.

(09-20-2018 10:10 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:50 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 10:27 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 09:14 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  OK, but they were available on or close to Opening Day. I am curious as to how there were more season tickets sold, as that has always been a finite number. ODU must have opened up another block. That is an entirely different scenario.

I am not arguing that the competence of the ticket sales office. That were mini plans available for VT at least as recently a a week and a half or so ago.

Compare the above with ticket availability in the past.

Last year, they sold 12.5k season tickets. I haven't seen any quoted numbers for this year but Harry did say we topped that number.

Now, I'm not arguing to keep BW. I think it's time to move on. But ticket sales aren't nearly the issue you and others are trying to make it. They did a good job packaging tickets this year to force buy-in. Butts in seats is a different topic entirely.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Ticket sales are a huge part Div 1 revenue streams (and yes there is a general decline across all of college football).

I believe that you may have misread Harry's comments in that he actually said we had sold more season tickets by a certain date than the previous year. He attributed that to the "Virginia Tech Effect"
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...e9610.html

In fact, in 2013 we sold 15,037 season tickets. By 2016 that number had dropped to 13,340. I am not aware that that number ever went as low as your 12,500. I hope not.
This has caused the ticket office to offer discount packages and mini plans, further reducing total ticket revenue.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...ee4ae.html


The most visible impact has been on the stadium. Originally the stadium was to have been larger and much more ornate, based on the waiting list.
That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

The athletic calendar year ending 6/30/17 (which is the last available) was the first decrease in actual football ticket revenue we've seen. Here's the 8 years available since we started football, I'l do the years in football seasons so starting with '09 even though that fiscal year ended June of 2010:

2009 - 1.62 Million
2010 - 1.87
2011 - 2.08
2012 - 2.26
2013 - 2.54
2014 - 2.56
2015 - 3.10
2016 - 2.39

Make of it what you will.

A couple of considerations:

1. Ticket prices have been going up.
2. Fewer season tickets sold means more individual game tickets available and individual game tickets are more expensive.

One cannot deny the "butts in seats" metric has been crashing. Only a matter of time before ticket sales will plummet as well. It is a lagging indicator. Look at basketball and the 5-25 season. Our "attendance" that year went from 7,100+ to a still respectable 6,600+. It wasn't until the following season that it dropped below 6,000. I would expect the same thing to happen in football next season. Maybe the new stadium helps mask it for a year, but the core structure is rotting.

Yeah, I agree. That's why letting Bobby go directly after the season and hiring someone to give the fanbase hope makes sense to me. New stadium, new coach on the horizon will make people forget the disaster this season is. Another year ofBobby even with the stadium could impact both ticket sales and donations.

(09-20-2018 10:15 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 10:10 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:50 AM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 10:27 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  Last year, they sold 12.5k season tickets. I haven't seen any quoted numbers for this year but Harry did say we topped that number.

Now, I'm not arguing to keep BW. I think it's time to move on. But ticket sales aren't nearly the issue you and others are trying to make it. They did a good job packaging tickets this year to force buy-in. Butts in seats is a different topic entirely.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Ticket sales are a huge part Div 1 revenue streams (and yes there is a general decline across all of college football).

I believe that you may have misread Harry's comments in that he actually said we had sold more season tickets by a certain date than the previous year. He attributed that to the "Virginia Tech Effect"
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...e9610.html

In fact, in 2013 we sold 15,037 season tickets. By 2016 that number had dropped to 13,340. I am not aware that that number ever went as low as your 12,500. I hope not.
This has caused the ticket office to offer discount packages and mini plans, further reducing total ticket revenue.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...ee4ae.html


The most visible impact has been on the stadium. Originally the stadium was to have been larger and much more ornate, based on the waiting list.
That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

The athletic calendar year ending 6/30/17 (which is the last available) was the first decrease in actual football ticket revenue we've seen. Here's the 8 years available since we started football, I'l do the years in football seasons so starting with '09 even though that fiscal year ended June of 2010:

2009 - 1.62 Million
2010 - 1.87
2011 - 2.08
2012 - 2.26
2013 - 2.54
2014 - 2.56
2015 - 3.10
2016 - 2.39

Make of it what you will.

A couple of considerations:

1. Ticket prices have been going up.
2. Fewer season tickets sold means more individual game tickets available and individual game tickets are more expensive.

One cannot deny the "butts in seats" metric has been crashing. Only a matter of time before ticket sales will plummet as well. It is a lagging indicator. Look at basketball and the 5-25 season. Our "attendance" that year went from 7,100+ to a still respectable 6,600+. It wasn't until the following season that it dropped below 6,000. I would expect the same thing to happen in football next season. Maybe the new stadium helps mask it for a year, but the core structure is rotting.

Yeah, I agree. That's why letting Bobby go directly after the season and hiring someone to give the fanbase hope makes sense to me. New stadium, new coach on the horizon will make people forget the disaster this season is. Another year ofBobby even with the stadium could impact both ticket sales and donations.

This needs to happen like right after the season if it doesn't happen then BOV needs to kick down some doors and clean the entire house.

(09-20-2018 09:59 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:29 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

ODU explained what happened to the waiting list pretty clearly. In 2014, ODU required fans to donate $100 to get tickets. A lot of folks weren't willing to do that;
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...651b9.html

This in addition to the turnover for endzone ticket holders (who were dealing with uncomfortable seats and no sightlines of the video board), moved them through the waiting list fast.

The endzone turnover is why ODU decided to move all season tickets to the sidelines.

Most of us were paying thousands to ODAF by then to get season tickets.

Yes, a lot of people were/are donating a lot to secure/retain tickets. What does that have to do with the waiting list? If those folks were donating, they wouldn't have been on the waiting list long. I know that, because I got my first year of season tickets (when there was still a wating list) with a small donation.

You know what would buy Bobby Wilder some time? A statement win over VT Saturday.

(09-20-2018 10:13 AM)cmett003 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 10:27 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 09:14 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 08:32 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  Harry's article from yesterday said that they sold the most season tickets of the past 3 seasons.

At least online, the alumni office is routing people to YNotTix for tickets. Which is no longer selling any of the miniplans for the VT game, since those are also sold out. Seems the sales office is doing its' job pretty well..

Donations are a different story, one we won't really know the impact of until the end of the calendar year.

OK, but they were available on or close to Opening Day. I am curious as to how there were more season tickets sold, as that has always been a finite number. ODU must have opened up another block. That is an entirely different scenario.

I am not arguing that the competence of the ticket sales office. That were mini plans available for VT at least as recently a a week and a half or so ago.

Compare the above with ticket availability in the past.

Last year, they sold 12.5k season tickets. I haven't seen any quoted numbers for this year but Harry did say we topped that number.

Now, I'm not arguing to keep BW. I think it's time to move on. But ticket sales aren't nearly the issue you and others are trying to make it. They did a good job packaging tickets this year to force buy-in. Butts in seats is a different topic entirely.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Ticket sales are a huge part Div 1 revenue streams (and yes there is a general decline across all of college football).

I believe that you may have misread Harry's comments in that he actually said we had sold more season tickets by a certain date than the previous year. He attributed that to the "Virginia Tech Effect"
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...e9610.html

In fact, in 2013 we sold 15,037 season tickets. By 2016 that number had dropped to 13,340. I am not aware that that number ever went as low as your 12,500. I hope not.
This has caused the ticket office to offer discount packages and mini plans, further reducing total ticket revenue.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...ee4ae.html


The most visible impact has been on the stadium. Originally the stadium was to have been larger and much more ornate, based on the waiting list.
That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

Just imagine what more we could be getting for our money had we not farted around with populous and the bogus stadium study that ended up being a complete waste of time. 3 years ago $65 million could have bought a legit 30k stadium. And dont give me crap that ODU doesnt need to expand to 30k. Half the teams in C-USA were worse than us (before this year) and have 30k stadiums.

The Populous Study was sound due diligence. It told us what type of demand we had or football and what the financially feasible method of going about business was.

I've been saying it for years and no one wants to hear. College football attendance is declining. Fans wanted us to increase capacity by 50% during a time of declining attendance. Its not logical; if you think the stadium is empty now; imagine 10k more empty seats.

(09-20-2018 10:44 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:59 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:29 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

ODU explained what happened to the waiting list pretty clearly. In 2014, ODU required fans to donate $100 to get tickets. A lot of folks weren't willing to do that;
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...651b9.html

This in addition to the turnover for endzone ticket holders (who were dealing with uncomfortable seats and no sightlines of the video board), moved them through the waiting list fast.

The endzone turnover is why ODU decided to move all season tickets to the sidelines.

Most of us were paying thousands to ODAF by then to get season tickets.

Yes, a lot of people were/are donating a lot to secure/retain tickets. What does that have to do with the waiting list? If those folks were donating, they wouldn't have been on the waiting list long. I know that, because I got my first year of season tickets (when there was still a waiting list) with a small donation.

I am not sure a 100$ donation is going to deter people from getting their season tix unless they have heart burn from something else. In a grand scale of things those are peanuts. But i do see your point that the initial number might be blown up a little bit due to the people who want to get their hands on cheap tickets for the season instead of buying them for individual games. If we have that many fans who can't make that 100$ donation to claim them, then we might be in a deeper doodoo then we might have thought.

(09-20-2018 11:06 AM)AimHigh Wrote:  You know what would buy Bobby Wilder some time? A statement win over VT Saturday.

Aim as much as i wanted to see that prior to that season i do not have a hope for that anymore. May be stars will align and make that happen but right now that has as much of a chance of happening as finding a cacao tree in North Georgia hills.

(09-20-2018 11:11 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 10:13 AM)cmett003 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 10:27 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 09:14 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  OK, but they were available on or close to Opening Day. I am curious as to how there were more season tickets sold, as that has always been a finite number. ODU must have opened up another block. That is an entirely different scenario.

I am not arguing that the competence of the ticket sales office. That were mini plans available for VT at least as recently a a week and a half or so ago.

Compare the above with ticket availability in the past.

Last year, they sold 12.5k season tickets. I haven't seen any quoted numbers for this year but Harry did say we topped that number.

Now, I'm not arguing to keep BW. I think it's time to move on. But ticket sales aren't nearly the issue you and others are trying to make it. They did a good job packaging tickets this year to force buy-in. Butts in seats is a different topic entirely.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Ticket sales are a huge part Div 1 revenue streams (and yes there is a general decline across all of college football).

I believe that you may have misread Harry's comments in that he actually said we had sold more season tickets by a certain date than the previous year. He attributed that to the "Virginia Tech Effect"
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...e9610.html

In fact, in 2013 we sold 15,037 season tickets. By 2016 that number had dropped to 13,340. I am not aware that that number ever went as low as your 12,500. I hope not.
This has caused the ticket office to offer discount packages and mini plans, further reducing total ticket revenue.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...ee4ae.html


The most visible impact has been on the stadium. Originally the stadium was to have been larger and much more ornate, based on the waiting list.
That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

Just imagine what more we could be getting for our money had we not farted around with populous and the bogus stadium study that ended up being a complete waste of time. 3 years ago $65 million could have bought a legit 30k stadium. And dont give me crap that ODU doesnt need to expand to 30k. Half the teams in C-USA were worse than us (before this year) and have 30k stadiums.

The Populous Study was sound due diligence. It told us what type of demand we had or football and what the financially feasible method of going about business was.

I've been saying it for years and no one wants to hear. College football attendance is declining. Fans wanted us to increase capacity by 50% during a time of declining attendance. Its not logical; if you think the stadium is empty now; imagine 10k more empty seats.

Yeah its declining on the national scale but ours seem to be our own doing. ODU should've made it a project for a student group instead of spending good bit of money to know what everyone in the college landscape already knows. It made no goddamned sense to pay populous esp when we don't have basic amenities that will bring in money. May be the **** heads in the VA house wanted to hear that from a popular firm that does this crap. This is like one of those things companies spends thousands of dollars getting signed certificated from popular CA when they can sign one but the world wouldn't be happy with that.

Populous study still more useful than JMU's Carr study.

(09-20-2018 11:11 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 10:13 AM)cmett003 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 10:27 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 09:14 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  OK, but they were available on or close to Opening Day. I am curious as to how there were more season tickets sold, as that has always been a finite number. ODU must have opened up another block. That is an entirely different scenario.

I am not arguing that the competence of the ticket sales office. That were mini plans available for VT at least as recently a a week and a half or so ago.

Compare the above with ticket availability in the past.

Last year, they sold 12.5k season tickets. I haven't seen any quoted numbers for this year but Harry did say we topped that number.

Now, I'm not arguing to keep BW. I think it's time to move on. But ticket sales aren't nearly the issue you and others are trying to make it. They did a good job packaging tickets this year to force buy-in. Butts in seats is a different topic entirely.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Ticket sales are a huge part Div 1 revenue streams (and yes there is a general decline across all of college football).

I believe that you may have misread Harry's comments in that he actually said we had sold more season tickets by a certain date than the previous year. He attributed that to the "Virginia Tech Effect"
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...e9610.html

In fact, in 2013 we sold 15,037 season tickets. By 2016 that number had dropped to 13,340. I am not aware that that number ever went as low as your 12,500. I hope not.
This has caused the ticket office to offer discount packages and mini plans, further reducing total ticket revenue.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...ee4ae.html


The most visible impact has been on the stadium. Originally the stadium was to have been larger and much more ornate, based on the waiting list.
That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

Just imagine what more we could be getting for our money had we not farted around with populous and the bogus stadium study that ended up being a complete waste of time. 3 years ago $65 million could have bought a legit 30k stadium. And dont give me crap that ODU doesnt need to expand to 30k. Half the teams in C-USA were worse than us (before this year) and have 30k stadiums.

The Populous Study was sound due diligence. It told us what type of demand we had or football and what the financially feasible method of going about business was.

I've been saying it for years and no one wants to hear. College football attendance is declining. Fans wanted us to increase capacity by 50% during a time of declining attendance. Its not logical; if you think the stadium is empty now; imagine 10k more empty seats.

The Populous study had little to no bearing on the final stadium. The size is 100% determined by cost. Pretty much everything about the stadium has been determined by the available funds. We would have gotten the exact same stadium with or without Populous.

Fellas, This thread is going to places that we have already explored, mea culpa. Please stay on the topic and throw in suggestions for the potential candidates may be while you are at it throw in suggestions for AD and a President too. LOL

I don't know too much about him but it's hard to find anyone with a bad thing to say about Ruffin McNeil. Though I guess being an Assistant HC at Oklahoma pays 3x what we can afford. Great success at ECU and also had a stint at UVA so must know the area and the local HS coaches...

(09-20-2018 12:10 PM)Monarchblue Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 11:11 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 10:13 AM)cmett003 Wrote:  

(09-20-2018 09:00 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(09-19-2018 10:27 AM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  Last year, they sold 12.5k season tickets. I haven't seen any quoted numbers for this year but Harry did say we topped that number.

Now, I'm not arguing to keep BW. I think it's time to move on. But ticket sales aren't nearly the issue you and others are trying to make it. They did a good job packaging tickets this year to force buy-in. Butts in seats is a different topic entirely.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Ticket sales are a huge part Div 1 revenue streams (and yes there is a general decline across all of college football).

I believe that you may have misread Harry's comments in that he actually said we had sold more season tickets by a certain date than the previous year. He attributed that to the "Virginia Tech Effect"
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...e9610.html

In fact, in 2013 we sold 15,037 season tickets. By 2016 that number had dropped to 13,340. I am not aware that that number ever went as low as your 12,500. I hope not.
This has caused the ticket office to offer discount packages and mini plans, further reducing total ticket revenue.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o...ee4ae.html


The most visible impact has been on the stadium. Originally the stadium was to have been larger and much more ornate, based on the waiting list.
That waiting list dissipated after our move to FBS. (whether the move was the cause or just a natural decline due to diminishing novelty is a topic better addressed in the "did we make a mistake" thread).
In any event, it was a major factor in the apparent delay of the new stadium and the ultimate configuration.

Just imagine what more we could be getting for our money had we not farted around with populous and the bogus stadium study that ended up being a complete waste of time. 3 years ago $65 million could have bought a legit 30k stadium. And dont give me crap that ODU doesnt need to expand to 30k. Half the teams in C-USA were worse than us (before this year) and have 30k stadiums.

The Populous Study was sound due diligence. It told us what type of demand we had or football and what the financially feasible method of going about business was.

I've been saying it for years and no one wants to hear. College football attendance is declining. Fans wanted us to increase capacity by 50% during a time of declining attendance. Its not logical; if you think the stadium is empty now; imagine 10k more empty seats.

The Populous study had little to no bearing on the final stadium. The size is 100% determined by cost. Pretty much everything about the stadium has been determined by the available funds. We would have gotten the exact same stadium with or without Populous.

True, but the $1.2M we gave Populous for the study could have gone toward paying a real (football or basketball) coach and without the study, we could have written a competitive RFP and gotten lower prices rather than having to award it to the company that wrote the requirements.

Ruffin or even Mike London would fit the bill. If London could secure some key known Asst. coaches that to me would be the best option.

(09-20-2018 02:54 PM)Mr.BigBlue Wrote:  Ruffin or even Mike London would fit the bill. If London could secure some key known Asst. coaches that to me would be the best option.

Ruffin yes, mike London absolutely not.

(09-20-2018 11:06 AM)AimHigh Wrote:  You know what would buy Bobby Wilder some time? A statement win over VT Saturday.

Exactly - his survival starts this Saturday. This game needs to be competitive, so he can re-establish his coaching credibility. We have been outcoached the first three games against inferior competition. Let’s see how he coaches against superior competition.