Booster update

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/2020/07/05/seminole-boosters-shows-significant-growth-over-last-decade-work-left-do-florida-state-football-fsu/5371325002/

According to a Board of Trustees meeting earlier this year, the Boosters received $25.9 million in gift commitments in 2013. It jumped to $47.1 million in gift commitments for the 2018 fiscal year. 

The boosters received $64.4 million in gift commitments for the 2019 fiscal year, which is partly due to the Unconquered Campaign that FSU began in Sept. 2018.

The Unconquered Campaign's goal is to put $100 million into new facilities or facility upgrades across nearly every sport at FSU. Included in that $100 million was a $60 million stand-alone football-only facility.

The numbers have not been released for the 2020 fiscal year, which ended earlier this week. The boosters had received nearly $44 million in gift commitments in February, according to the Board of Trustees meeting.

Hulen said that 33% of FSU's operating budget comes from fan-related income including season tickets, donation, concessions, and merchandise. All of those would be greatly impacted by any changes to the football season.

Currently, FSU has sold 20,000 season tickets for the 2020 season under first-year coach Mike Norvell, according to FSU. While the renewal rate has been trending favorably (around 75 percent), that total is around 5,000 less than last season. However, there are season-ticket holders who have not renewed, indicating they want to wait on a final decision regarding the status of the season due to the pandemic. 

Hulen stated that FSU has 362,000 alumni and that 50% of them are under the age of 45. Getting the younger generation of alumni to support is a key for the athletic department and Seminoles Boosters to build up its overall support and endowment like other major programs across the country that have a 50-plus year head start. 

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/2020/07/07/paycheck-protection-program-seminole-boosters-inc-coronavirus-pandemic-florida-state-fsu-athletics/5389295002/

According to the database listing, Seminole Boosters was approved for a loan between $1 million to $2 million on April 14 in order to continue to support 54 jobs during the pandemic.

Andy Miller, President and CEO of Seminole Boosters, confirmed to the Democrat that the organization received $1,017,455 through the Payroll Protection Program, but later returned $130,430 after a further review of the terms of the loan.

The $887,725 that was retained, according to Miller, was used to keep the organization fully staffed during a time of uncertainty with regard to how business would be operated.