Second in a Series: Making club seats affordable key to success
"Premium seating is breaking out at college football programs. It's another key revenue source of most recent stadium improvements and expansions.
In Tallahassee, Florida State is continuing to invest in this new business model for college athletics.
More importantly, the Seminoles are also making sure that some of the best seats in Doak Campbell Stadium are affordable.
The new 6,000-seat addition called The Champions Club is scheduled to be built in the south end zone for the 2016 season.
This exclusive indoor-outdoor section of club seats will cover four levels and allows fans to experience game day from different vantage points without losing sight of the field.
It will also provide a list of amenities and use of the complex in different capacities year-around.
"It is going to be one of the best values in college football in premium seating," said Andrew J. Jacobs, Director of Sports Architecture at Rosser, an Atlanta-based company that is working with Seminole Boosters, Inc., and FSU on the project.
"The stadium financial model over the last few years has drastically changed."
College programs across the country are upgrading their facilities in big ways – at the cost of a pretty (and expensive) penny.
Premium seating is expected to cover 20-percent of stadium capacity to help balance the ledger.
Stan Wilcox, FSU's Director of Athletics, said it's important the program meets the evolutionary changes that are occurring in the athletics industry as it relates to fans and amenities. If not, fans will simply watch games on television from the comfort of their homes.
"We have to do it in a very smart way," Wilcox said.
"We want to be able to create the same thing you can do at home but even better if you are in the stadium because you are here and you are part of the action. That's some of thinking that goes into that, in creating something that people really desire, making it affordable and making it so it can generate additional dollars so that we can put those dollars into other areas of the stadium."
Oklahoma, for example, expects to have renovations complete on part of its football stadium by the 2016 season.
The budget for the planned enclosure of the south end zone and construction of luxury boxes and club seats is expected to cost $160 million.
FSU knows that improvements to 82,300-seat Doak Campbell Stadium are needed to keep pace with the demands of fans.
"We saw opportunities and identified areas that we could look to ratchet up the quality levels and fan experience levels for our first phase," said Brad Innes of Elliott Marshal Innes, P.A. (EMI), a Tallahassee-based firm that has helped create a master plan for Doak Campbell.
"I think our team believes it will be one of the finest facilities in college football when it's all done."
Construction during the first phase on the Champions Club is expected to begin in July and will be completed by August 2016. Seminole Boosters, Inc., has sold 1,700 seats in the new section.
Ticket holders can reserve a Champions Club seat for as little as $900 down and $125 per month over 12 months.
"It's nice where a group of people, friends and families can be in one location, instead of being spread all over the stadium," said Tallahassee's Andy Gibbens, among a group of 10 who plan to sit together.
"I think it's the greatest thing they've ever done at that stadium."
At Clemson – FSU's primary rival in the Atlantic Coast Conference – the Tigers in 2006 added a thousand club seats in the west end zone of Memorial Stadium.
The section sold out and now has a waiting list, according to Travis Furbee, Director of Clemson's IPTAY Annual Fund and a former Leon High graduate who worked as an assistant in FSU's ticket office.
Clemson is installing an additional 600 club seats on the home sideline for the upcoming season.
Furbee said 535 have been sold. A one-time campaign gift to purchase two seats (in either section) is $25,000. The ticket price in the new edition is $2,000 to $2,5000 depending on location.
"People want the easy access, and indoor amenities are huge," Furbee explained. "Everything is right there in the club area."
Scott Dungey, founder and owner of Consulting Solutions International (CSI) in Tallahassee, likes the flexibility FSU's new premium seating offers.
Last season, three of seven home games had a mid-afternoon (3:330 p.m.) kickoff.
"When it's hot early in the season, you can get out of the sun, relax inside and watch the game on the big screen," said Dungey, who has purchased 12 tickets.
"When it starts to cool down later in the season, you can be outside. I really like sitting in the stands. It's the best of both worlds."
Coming Sunday
The need for improvements and upgrades to Doak Cambell Stadium"
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