FSU's Unconquered Campaign has reached $100 million goal in pledges
No total for the Unconquered Campaign money collected was provided during the meeting, but Alford told the Democrat that FSU has collected $29 million of the $102 million pledged.
Additionally, Alford said that 66% of last year's FSU football season-ticket holders have renewed and starting paying for their 2021 season tickets. That's nearly double the 36% FSU was at at this time last year.
Alford also said that Seminole Boosters has hired Populous, an architectural design firm specializing in stadiums, to examine renovations to Doak Campbell Stadium based on a study it ran with its members.
"Our goal through this exercise is to invest and improve our customer experience," Alford said.
FSU athletics 'continues to grapple' with financial deficit
“We’ve required two weeks of furlough for the vast majority of the staff in athletics, and we may have to require two more weeks of those in the higher-salary ranges before the end of the fiscal year,” Coburn said. “We’re also looking at using some of the coaches’ restricted accounts to finance operating expenses this fiscal year on a one-time basis.”
FSU’s athletics department took a hit the previous year, per the Tallahassee Democrat, listing its 2020 fiscal year total operating revenue as $129.4 million while operating expenses were listed at $155.6 million. For perspective, FSU athletics netted $2.61 million in revenue in 2019, but expenses exceeded total revenue by more than $26 million in 2020.
FSU previously announced in July that it was cutting its athletics budget by 20 percent. Measures to do so included pay reductions for Mike Norvell, men's basketball coach Leonard Hamilton and women's basketball coach Sue Semrau, and Coburn. Also, 25 full-time positions were eliminated from the department, including several lay-offs.
