From the RTD and the Roanoke Times (and probably other papers owned by Lee Enterprises):

JAMES MADISON’S historic 2022 football season has paid dividends with record season-ticket sales for this fall.

The Dukes announced they have sold their limit of 8,718, well north of last year’s record 7,708. Such is life when you go 8-3 in your Bowl Subdivision debut and become the first rookie FBS program to crack the Associated Press poll.

Clashes with Sun Belt rivals Old Dominion, Georgia Southern and Appalachian State headline JMU’s six-game home schedule. Add 8,000 student tickets, 1,300 for opponents and single-game sales, and you get quite the atmosphere at 24,877-seat Bridgeforth Stadium.

"I think it's all about the Sun Belt," Dukes athletic director Jeff Bourne said recently of ticket sales. "It's all about who you're playing and the energy that you get when you bring opponents into the stadium like we have now."

David Teel

dteel@timesdispatch.com

(07-11-2023 10:14 AM)Dukes94 Wrote:  From the RTD and the Roanoke Times (and probably other papers owned by Lee Enterprises):

JAMES MADISON’S historic 2022 football season has paid dividends with record season-ticket sales for this fall.

The Dukes announced they have sold their limit of 8,718, well north of last year’s record 7,708. Such is life when you go 8-3 in your Bowl Subdivision debut and become the first rookie FBS program to crack the Associated Press poll.

Clashes with Sun Belt rivals Old Dominion, Georgia Southern and Appalachian State headline JMU’s six-game home schedule. Add 8,000 student tickets, 1,300 for opponents and single-game sales, and you get quite the atmosphere at 24,877-seat Bridgeforth Stadium.

"I think it's all about the Sun Belt," Dukes athletic director Jeff Bourne said recently of ticket sales. "It's all about who you're playing and the energy that you get when you bring opponents into the stadium like we have now."

David Teel

dteel@timesdispatch.com

Some of us have been saying this for many years.

(07-12-2023 12:19 PM)Dukester Wrote:  

(07-11-2023 10:14 AM)Dukes94 Wrote:  From the RTD and the Roanoke Times (and probably other papers owned by Lee Enterprises):

JAMES MADISON’S historic 2022 football season has paid dividends with record season-ticket sales for this fall.

The Dukes announced they have sold their limit of 8,718, well north of last year’s record 7,708. Such is life when you go 8-3 in your Bowl Subdivision debut and become the first rookie FBS program to crack the Associated Press poll.

Clashes with Sun Belt rivals Old Dominion, Georgia Southern and Appalachian State headline JMU’s six-game home schedule. Add 8,000 student tickets, 1,300 for opponents and single-game sales, and you get quite the atmosphere at 24,877-seat Bridgeforth Stadium.

"I think it's all about the Sun Belt," Dukes athletic director Jeff Bourne said recently of ticket sales. "It's all about who you're playing and the energy that you get when you bring opponents into the stadium like we have now."

David Teel

dteel@timesdispatch.com

Some of us have been saying this for many years.

^^^^^
This, I had hope they'd eventually see the light. Though, I did run into one alumni about a year ago that thought we'd made a huge mistake moving up. I'd love to talk with him today.

I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

(07-12-2023 10:10 PM)hburg Wrote:  I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

(07-13-2023 09:27 PM)Ashby Hall Wrote:  

(07-12-2023 10:10 PM)hburg Wrote:  I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

Playoffs were fun at times, but playing Robert Morris, St Francis, Elon and Morgan St regular season was not. We snoozed our way thru the fall games. And half our fans never showed up in December.

SBC east schedule is far better than playing for a chance to maybe face Montana and NDSU when the cards fall right.

Fully post-season eligible next year. It would take a magical season, but making the CFP would be 25x the experience of Frisco.

(07-13-2023 09:27 PM)Ashby Hall Wrote:  

(07-12-2023 10:10 PM)hburg Wrote:  I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

Yeah, well that's the argument FCS lovers kept making over and over. "We won't have playoffs, there is no post season," yada,yada.

I kept telling them to forget about the post-season. It's the regular season that matters and will make our move up uber-exciting. The FCS post-season pales in comparison to playing Appy every year, not to mention all the other Sun Belt teams that make games against Norfolk State and STFU look like exactly what they were - sad, boring jokes.

We may as well have joined the Valley District (high school) and beat the crap out of every team every week as to have stayed in FCS, which we outgrew nearly a decade ago.

Just remember that it's the regular season and not the post-season that makes our move up overwhelmingly the right decision. I hope, in retrospect, that that is now clear.

(07-14-2023 10:10 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(07-13-2023 09:27 PM)Ashby Hall Wrote:  

(07-12-2023 10:10 PM)hburg Wrote:  I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

Yeah, well that's the argument FCS lovers kept making over and over. "We won't have playoffs, there is no post season," yada,yada.

I kept telling them to forget about the post-season. It's the regular season that matters and will make our move up uber-exciting. The FCS post-season pales in comparison to playing Appy every year, not to mention all the other Sun Belt teams that make games against Norfolk State and STFU look like exactly what they were - sad, boring jokes.

We may as well have joined the Valley District (high school) and beat the crap out of every team every week as to have stayed in FCS, which we outgrew nearly a decade ago.

Just remember that it's the regular season and not the post-season that makes our move up overwhelmingly the right decision. I hope, in retrospect, that that is now clear.

All clear

(07-14-2023 10:10 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(07-13-2023 09:27 PM)Ashby Hall Wrote:  

(07-12-2023 10:10 PM)hburg Wrote:  I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

Yeah, well that's the argument FCS lovers kept making over and over. "We won't have playoffs, there is no post season," yada,yada.

I kept telling them to forget about the post-season. It's the regular season that matters and will make our move up uber-exciting. The FCS post-season pales in comparison to playing Appy every year, not to mention all the other Sun Belt teams that make games against Norfolk State and STFU look like exactly what they were - sad, boring jokes.

We may as well have joined the Valley District (high school) and beat the crap out of every team every week as to have stayed in FCS, which we outgrew nearly a decade ago.

Just remember that it's the regular season and not the post-season that makes our move up overwhelmingly the right decision. I hope, in retrospect, that that is now clear.

Last season was one of the most invested I have felt in the regular season in a long, long time. And that was knowing we had zero chance at a postseason game.
And this year, there's a chance we might get a bowl game.. postseason is anything but guaranteed and mostly out of our control. Despite all of that, we sold out on season tickets. There were many that thought the idea of selling out season tickets was insane.... yet here we are.
The proof is staring us in the face.

(07-17-2023 08:26 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(07-14-2023 10:10 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(07-13-2023 09:27 PM)Ashby Hall Wrote:  

(07-12-2023 10:10 PM)hburg Wrote:  I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

Yeah, well that's the argument FCS lovers kept making over and over. "We won't have playoffs, there is no post season," yada,yada.

I kept telling them to forget about the post-season. It's the regular season that matters and will make our move up uber-exciting. The FCS post-season pales in comparison to playing Appy every year, not to mention all the other Sun Belt teams that make games against Norfolk State and STFU look like exactly what they were - sad, boring jokes.

We may as well have joined the Valley District (high school) and beat the crap out of every team every week as to have stayed in FCS, which we outgrew nearly a decade ago.

Just remember that it's the regular season and not the post-season that makes our move up overwhelmingly the right decision. I hope, in retrospect, that that is now clear.

Last season was one of the most invested I have felt in the regular season in a long, long time. And that was knowing we had zero chance at a postseason game.
And this year, there's a chance we might get a bowl game.. postseason is anything but guaranteed and mostly out of our control. Despite all of that, we sold out on season tickets. There were many that thought the idea of selling out season tickets was insane.... yet here we are.
The proof is staring us in the face.

The season ticket sellout is lower than most programs set theirs at, so although great for us, it's far from "wow" when compared to peers. I still don't know why JMU limited it as much as they did. They could've gone higher.

(07-17-2023 09:46 AM)Potomac Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 08:26 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(07-14-2023 10:10 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(07-13-2023 09:27 PM)Ashby Hall Wrote:  

(07-12-2023 10:10 PM)hburg Wrote:  I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

Yeah, well that's the argument FCS lovers kept making over and over. "We won't have playoffs, there is no post season," yada,yada.

I kept telling them to forget about the post-season. It's the regular season that matters and will make our move up uber-exciting. The FCS post-season pales in comparison to playing Appy every year, not to mention all the other Sun Belt teams that make games against Norfolk State and STFU look like exactly what they were - sad, boring jokes.

We may as well have joined the Valley District (high school) and beat the crap out of every team every week as to have stayed in FCS, which we outgrew nearly a decade ago.

Just remember that it's the regular season and not the post-season that makes our move up overwhelmingly the right decision. I hope, in retrospect, that that is now clear.

Last season was one of the most invested I have felt in the regular season in a long, long time. And that was knowing we had zero chance at a postseason game.
And this year, there's a chance we might get a bowl game.. postseason is anything but guaranteed and mostly out of our control. Despite all of that, we sold out on season tickets. There were many that thought the idea of selling out season tickets was insane.... yet here we are.
The proof is staring us in the face.

The season ticket sellout is lower than most programs set theirs at, so although great for us, it's far from "wow" when compared to peers. I still don't know why JMU limited it as much as they did. They could've gone higher.

We could have gone a bit higher, but you do want to keep some tickets for the public and I think we essentially allotted roughly 5k tickets for that. That seems like a lot, but for games like Family Weekend and HC you can't have no tickets available for public sale.

(07-17-2023 09:46 AM)Potomac Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 08:26 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(07-14-2023 10:10 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(07-13-2023 09:27 PM)Ashby Hall Wrote:  

(07-12-2023 10:10 PM)hburg Wrote:  I know a person or two like that and today, they will tell you they were surprised.

Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

Yeah, well that's the argument FCS lovers kept making over and over. "We won't have playoffs, there is no post season," yada,yada.

I kept telling them to forget about the post-season. It's the regular season that matters and will make our move up uber-exciting. The FCS post-season pales in comparison to playing Appy every year, not to mention all the other Sun Belt teams that make games against Norfolk State and STFU look like exactly what they were - sad, boring jokes.

We may as well have joined the Valley District (high school) and beat the crap out of every team every week as to have stayed in FCS, which we outgrew nearly a decade ago.

Just remember that it's the regular season and not the post-season that makes our move up overwhelmingly the right decision. I hope, in retrospect, that that is now clear.

Last season was one of the most invested I have felt in the regular season in a long, long time. And that was knowing we had zero chance at a postseason game.
And this year, there's a chance we might get a bowl game.. postseason is anything but guaranteed and mostly out of our control. Despite all of that, we sold out on season tickets. There were many that thought the idea of selling out season tickets was insane.... yet here we are.
The proof is staring us in the face.

The season ticket sellout is lower than most programs set theirs at, so although great for us, it's far from "wow" when compared to peers. I still don't know why JMU limited it as much as they did. They could've gone higher.

maybe because.... we have 21,000 students who like to have an opportunity to go to games also, and you can't forgo single game sales altogether.
we need a bigger stadium, really nothing more than that at this point .

(07-17-2023 10:00 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 09:46 AM)Potomac Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 08:26 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(07-14-2023 10:10 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(07-13-2023 09:27 PM)Ashby Hall Wrote:  Yeah, I just love these short seasons with no post season play.

Yeah, well that's the argument FCS lovers kept making over and over. "We won't have playoffs, there is no post season," yada,yada.

I kept telling them to forget about the post-season. It's the regular season that matters and will make our move up uber-exciting. The FCS post-season pales in comparison to playing Appy every year, not to mention all the other Sun Belt teams that make games against Norfolk State and STFU look like exactly what they were - sad, boring jokes.

We may as well have joined the Valley District (high school) and beat the crap out of every team every week as to have stayed in FCS, which we outgrew nearly a decade ago.

Just remember that it's the regular season and not the post-season that makes our move up overwhelmingly the right decision. I hope, in retrospect, that that is now clear.

Last season was one of the most invested I have felt in the regular season in a long, long time. And that was knowing we had zero chance at a postseason game.
And this year, there's a chance we might get a bowl game.. postseason is anything but guaranteed and mostly out of our control. Despite all of that, we sold out on season tickets. There were many that thought the idea of selling out season tickets was insane.... yet here we are.
The proof is staring us in the face.

The season ticket sellout is lower than most programs set theirs at, so although great for us, it's far from "wow" when compared to peers. I still don't know why JMU limited it as much as they did. They could've gone higher.

We could have gone a bit higher, but you do want to keep some tickets for the public and I think we essentially allotted roughly 5k tickets for that. That seems like a lot, but for games like Family Weekend and HC you can't have no tickets available for public sale.

Exactly.
One thing JMU needs to continue to do is bring in the community and casual fans. They aren't going to do anything to the student number or reserved for recruits and family, etc (nor should they).
They already increased the amount of season tickets from last year. There is limited seating as it is. It's a balancing act right now. Have to have tickets available for people that just want to go to one game (and that's not including Parents Weekend and Homecoming).
By capping the season tickets, it will increase the demand for them even greater for next year. The price will probably go up again next year which may open up some of those tickets, but most likely the number will be capped around a similar amount. In order for the new stadium to be built, there has to be a significant amount of people that are unable to get tickets. A few hundred or even a few thousand isn't going to be enough.
First thing's first... we need to sell out every single game and quickly. Looks like that will happen sooner than expected.
We need to do our job so they have no choice but to expand.

(07-17-2023 10:25 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 10:00 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 09:46 AM)Potomac Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 08:26 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(07-14-2023 10:10 PM)Purple Wrote:  Yeah, well that's the argument FCS lovers kept making over and over. "We won't have playoffs, there is no post season," yada,yada.

I kept telling them to forget about the post-season. It's the regular season that matters and will make our move up uber-exciting. The FCS post-season pales in comparison to playing Appy every year, not to mention all the other Sun Belt teams that make games against Norfolk State and STFU look like exactly what they were - sad, boring jokes.

We may as well have joined the Valley District (high school) and beat the crap out of every team every week as to have stayed in FCS, which we outgrew nearly a decade ago.

Just remember that it's the regular season and not the post-season that makes our move up overwhelmingly the right decision. I hope, in retrospect, that that is now clear.

Last season was one of the most invested I have felt in the regular season in a long, long time. And that was knowing we had zero chance at a postseason game.
And this year, there's a chance we might get a bowl game.. postseason is anything but guaranteed and mostly out of our control. Despite all of that, we sold out on season tickets. There were many that thought the idea of selling out season tickets was insane.... yet here we are.
The proof is staring us in the face.

The season ticket sellout is lower than most programs set theirs at, so although great for us, it's far from "wow" when compared to peers. I still don't know why JMU limited it as much as they did. They could've gone higher.

We could have gone a bit higher, but you do want to keep some tickets for the public and I think we essentially allotted roughly 5k tickets for that. That seems like a lot, but for games like Family Weekend and HC you can't have no tickets available for public sale.

Exactly.
One thing JMU needs to continue to do is bring in the community and casual fans. They aren't going to do anything to the student number or reserved for recruits and family, etc (nor should they).
They already increased the amount of season tickets from last year. There is limited seating as it is. It's a balancing act right now. Have to have tickets available for people that just want to go to one game (and that's not including Parents Weekend and Homecoming).
By capping the season tickets, it will increase the demand for them even greater for next year. The price will probably go up again next year which may open up some of those tickets, but most likely the number will be capped around a similar amount. In order for the new stadium to be built, there has to be a significant amount of people that are unable to get tickets. A few hundred or even a few thousand isn't going to be enough.
First thing's first... we need to sell out every single game and quickly. Looks like that will happen sooner than expected.
We need to do our job so they have no choice but to expand.

Agreed. If we have another strong season this year and go 8-4 or better I think the demand is going to be off the charts next year for tickets and they will probably reluctantly open a few more season tickets up, maybe to a nice round number like 10,000. If by some chance we somehow make the initial playoff (definitely possible) in 2024, Katie bar the door as demand will be insane going in to 2025 and it will force expansion plans if that ball is not already rolling.

As far as expansion I don't think it is anything more than planning at this point as I have not heard anything regarding any silent fundraising though they may be waiting for the fall to start in order to get better engagement.

Anyone know of any expansion plans once the current buildout up to 40,000 (or somewhat less) is complete? What then?

On the trajectory we are currently on (given that this coming season will be as successful as the last), we are going to need more seats than the current plan will give us.

(07-17-2023 12:22 PM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 10:25 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 10:00 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 09:46 AM)Potomac Wrote:  

(07-17-2023 08:26 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  Last season was one of the most invested I have felt in the regular season in a long, long time. And that was knowing we had zero chance at a postseason game.
And this year, there's a chance we might get a bowl game.. postseason is anything but guaranteed and mostly out of our control. Despite all of that, we sold out on season tickets. There were many that thought the idea of selling out season tickets was insane.... yet here we are.
The proof is staring us in the face.

The season ticket sellout is lower than most programs set theirs at, so although great for us, it's far from "wow" when compared to peers. I still don't know why JMU limited it as much as they did. They could've gone higher.

We could have gone a bit higher, but you do want to keep some tickets for the public and I think we essentially allotted roughly 5k tickets for that. That seems like a lot, but for games like Family Weekend and HC you can't have no tickets available for public sale.

Exactly.
One thing JMU needs to continue to do is bring in the community and casual fans. They aren't going to do anything to the student number or reserved for recruits and family, etc (nor should they).
They already increased the amount of season tickets from last year. There is limited seating as it is. It's a balancing act right now. Have to have tickets available for people that just want to go to one game (and that's not including Parents Weekend and Homecoming).
By capping the season tickets, it will increase the demand for them even greater for next year. The price will probably go up again next year which may open up some of those tickets, but most likely the number will be capped around a similar amount. In order for the new stadium to be built, there has to be a significant amount of people that are unable to get tickets. A few hundred or even a few thousand isn't going to be enough.
First thing's first... we need to sell out every single game and quickly. Looks like that will happen sooner than expected.
We need to do our job so they have no choice but to expand.

Agreed. If we have another strong season this year and go 8-4 or better I think the demand is going to be off the charts next year for tickets and they will probably reluctantly open a few more season tickets up, maybe to a nice round number like 10,000. If by some chance we somehow make the initial playoff (definitely possible) in 2024, Katie bar the door as demand will be insane going in to 2025 and it will force expansion plans if that ball is not already rolling.

As far as expansion I don't think it is anything more than planning at this point as I have not heard anything regarding any silent fundraising though they may be waiting for the fall to start in order to get better engagement.

I'm not sure we will get to 10k with 25k as the limit. The reason for that is if you were to combine season tickets with student amount and any reserve, then that leaves approx 5k left in single game tickets. That's way too low in my opinion.
If anything, I think they hike up the season ticket value quite a lot and perhaps cap it at 8.5k... 9k at the absolute most.
And whenever they were to expand, I would predict that perhaps they would lower the season ticket price a little which would not only bring in those already waiting but those that may have dropped their tickets due to the higher cost. Purely speculation, but a theory.
Obviously JMU wants a lot more season ticket holders and having more is obviously where they want to go, but right now they are severely limited by capacity. I think it is more likely they raise the cost of season tickets or donation amount before they get to 10k with the current capacity of the stadium.

(07-17-2023 01:05 PM)Purple Wrote:  Anyone know of any expansion plans once the current buildout up to 40,000 (or somewhat less) is complete? What then?

On the trajectory we are currently on (given that this coming season will be as successful as the last), we are going to need more seats than the current plan will give us.

Original plan for BFS was ballpark 40k with the endzone second deck included. Haven’t ever seen anything official beyond that. I’d imagine tweeks are possible, not sure how big one can go in the existing footprint.

One or two boosters have tossed out ideas on Twitter that would involve massive changes to the other endzone where the APC sits. Above 40k is likely challenging, but probably something we won’t need for at least a decade.

I think I remember reading that the existing endzone can not be expanded/double decked. I'd imagine the Godwin rebuild will examine replacing/expanding the existing APC.

(07-17-2023 02:26 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  I think I remember reading that the existing endzone can not be expanded/double decked. I'd imagine the Godwin rebuild will examine replacing/expanding the existing APC.

If more seating is needed, I have to agree. The APC can absolutely be built elsewhere or rebuilt to include seating. It's not like a historic building or anything.
I don't expect to see that happening for a long, long time.

(07-17-2023 02:26 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  I think I remember reading that the existing endzone can not be expanded/double decked. I'd imagine the Godwin rebuild will examine replacing/expanding the existing APC.

The only place I ever saw that was some speculation/doubts posted here about the space, with the train tracks and drainage ditch/creek. A few fans here are also opposed, because they feel it would ruin the view. I've walked thru that area though, and it appears to me there would be plenty of room to cantilever a second end zone deck if needed. I'm sure the original architects were aware of those constraints. JB has in recent years referred to the 3 phase design, so I don't think it’s been invalidated yet.

I'm sure the APC side could be explored if we were looking to go beyond 40k someday. Even if not changing the APC now, I could see the expansion looking to add capacity for football offices, which are said to be packed full.