"When I was putting together Blue-Chip Ratios for each of the ACC schools I was absolutely shocked to see that FSU was basically on par with us. They have 30 blue-chips, while we have 29 for the 2021 year. On top of that, our average recruit rating is slightly higher than theirs.
I'd venture to guess that in the mid 90s when Bobby Bowden had them rolling, they had a BCR in the 70s, or higher, much like Bama today. Heck, even during Jimbo's reign they likely had it well into the upper 60s."
To expound. This is a shared weight room with other sports and been that way for years. This has zero to do with the FoF. Once the FoF is built, the other sports will benefit from the upgrades. FoF is nearly completely funded and on schedule.
150 college Athletics Departments with the largest social media followings on MAIN athletics accounts (not individual sports). For the first time, we're expanding our counts to include YouTube and TikTok. https://t.co/VIP8mcG37G#smsportspic.twitter.com/rbKKmEmJrb
The 2019-20 fiscal year for most schools ran from July 1st, 2019 through June 30th, 2020. That means that, while the 2019 football season was not affected, the 2019-20 basketball season took a hit.
Why did Florida State's gross total revenue drop $42 million from year to year? The Seminoles' received $78 million in contributions in the 2018-19 fiscal year, which was unusually high.
By the late 1990s our membership had grown to about 19,000 people and about $10 million in annual donations.
To put our current good fortune and emotions into perspective, I have to remind you that our season tickets fell from almost 50,000 to less than 34,000 toward the end of the Bowden era and the Booster membership numbers dropped from 19,000 to 12,000 even though contributions continued to go up.
We topped 23,000 Seminole Booster members last year counting our Student Boosters and raised more than $15 million in our annual fund, which was a record. We will likely go over 25,000 members this year counting Student Boosters and top $16 million.
"To answer your question, we had about 15,500 last year with about 8,000 Student Boosters typically. That puts us in the top 10 of collegiate fundraising orgs depending on how they count their numbers. Most are 16,000 or less so we are among the big boys in membership. Typically, the SEC and ACC schools ticket requirements are much higher than ours so we are in the top 25 in terms of dollars generated by members. You may find it hard to imagine but our average contribution per member is about $1000 while most of the SEC and ACC schools average donation required is closer to $2000 per member ($100 difference between ACC and SEC last year).
A.) Our numbers have always vacillated between 11,000 and 19,000.
3. You have to understand the numbers. The brochure Corey and Aslan were talking about - and this thread is arguing over - is an ANNUAL fund brochure. We reported 1000 fewer Boosters in the ANNUAL fund each of the last few years to where we now have 13,331. That's the transparency we posters accuse us of not reporting. But that number is NOT total Boosters. We have a couple of thousand Boosters who give to Coaches Clubs and hundreds of Boosters who make endowment gifts, estate gifts and major facility gifts ranging from $25,000 to $20 million just this year. Those Boosters don't count in that 13,331 number. And our Student Seminole Boosters aren't counted in those numbers.
Sure, FSU teams have done it without many of our fans and alumni (there's 500,000 grads or friends in our database and only 14,000 who give $60 or more per year to support athletics as a Seminole Booster member). But as our loyal donors die off, we need some of you young bucks -- who want us to pay coaches top d
TMH, FSU Medicine, St. Joe Co. to bring medical campus to Panama City Beach
FSU President John Thrasher updated the university’s Board of Trustees on the proposal last week, saying a joint proposal submitted in February had been accepted, allowing for planning to move forward.
The health care campus is planned for an 87-acre parcel near State Highway 79 and Phillip Griffitts Sr. Parkway, close to the Latitude Margaritaville Watersound community.
The letter of intent involves the three parties planning and developing the campus to initially include an ambulatory and urgent care center, according to the release. The land is being provided by the St. Joe Company. Groundbreaking could begin sometime next year.
Future development includes building an Emergency Center and 100-bed inpatient medical center offering services such as gastroenterology, urology, gynecology, cardiology and general surgery among others.
It will be overseen by a governing board.
“Convenient access to quality health care services is vital to the success of a growing region," said Jorge Gonzalez, President and CEO of St. Joe Company and a member of FSU’s Board of Trustees.
"The creation of this planned health care campus will enhance the quality of life for local residents and provide tremendous opportunities for the entire region."
This will mark TMH’s first presence in Bay County. It currently serves 17 counties in Florida and Georgia.
“High-quality health care with a focus on wellness is a component of an active community,” TMH President and CEO Mark O’Bryant said. “On behalf of Tallahassee Memorial, we are excited to work with St. Joe and FSU on this monumental project.
"Together, we have the opportunity to create an outstanding training and research platform for the people of Northwest Florida.”
O’Bryant said the campus will be known as FSUHealth.
Florida State University already has an academic campus in Panama City, which offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Its first student residential housing complex is expected by August.
The university plans to use the new medical campus to expand on research on successful aging and senior living technology as well as residency programs and educational rotations for its medical students and students from FSU Panama City.
“We are very pleased to work with St. Joe and TMH to help create and support the health care future for Panama City Beach and the surrounding area,” said Dr. John P. Fogarty, dean of the Florida State University College of Medicine.
“This is an exciting project that capitalizes on the ability of TMH to provide cutting edge care and FSU to expand the educational and research opportunities and to recruit the next generation of health care providers to the region.”
Panama City Beach Mayor Mark Sheldon said the venture could yield benefits for the region beyond health care. It also brings potential for job creation.
“This planned health care campus is so exciting as it will allow for a great opportunity for job creation in Panama City Beach and Bay County,” Sheldon said. “I would like to welcome TMH and FSU to the world’s most beautiful beaches and I look forward to this asset for our citizens and visitors alike.”
Latitude Margaritaville Watersound is being developed by St. Joe and Minto Communities USA and Margaritaville Holdings.
Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, which is inspired by the culture of singer-entrepreneur Jimmy Buffett, is the third Latitude Margaritaville to be developed, and the first in partnership with St. Joe, according to the release. Other communities are in Daytona Beach and near Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Gonzalez told The News Herald that Latitude is part of St. Joe's Bay-Walton Sector Plan, a 50-year vision to develop the two counties that already has the approval to build more than 150,000 homes.
While the project's current master plan calls for 3,500 homes, it could be expanded in the future based on demand, he said.
President John Thrasher announced that president-elect Richard McCullough would start at FSU on Aug. 16. McCullough has been holding meetings with various FSU administrators as well as those in athletics as he makes the transition to his new role. McCullough’s contract will be voted on as part of the FSU Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday.
Football ticket sales are ahead of the June 2020 pace. Seminole Boosters CEO Michael Alford said FSU has sold 25,600 season tickets, which is about 3,000 ahead of last year at this time. Skyboxes are sold out for the fall. (No update was provided specific to the Champions Club.) The renewal rate overall has been high and more phone calls are going out this summer, Alford said. Single-game tickets as well as tickets to the general public will come later this summer.
Alford said Seminole Boosters now have 10,300 members and are aiming for 13,000, adding about 2,000 new members since his arrival in Sept. 2020. He said the boosters have done this by emphasizing benefits of booster membership and not just football ticket packages. Increasing booster membership has been a goal of Alford’s. He said the boosters are at 96 percent of their revenue goal.
The boosters have raised roughly $110 million in commitments with $32.6 million received in payments toward the Unconquered Campaign, Alford said. The Unconquered Campaign includes the football operations building, renovations at the Donald L. Tucker Center, Dick Howser Stadium, the Seminole Legacy Golf Course, scholarships and other projects.
The boosters are planning on $6.8 million in facility improvements, including an update to the football tunnel where players run out to Bobby Bowden Field as well as scoreboards for softball and soccer. The scoreboards are approximately $1 million apiece.
Athletics department officials and boosters will again meet with members of the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency on Thursday to continue the request for $20 million for infrastructure improvements to Doak Campbell Stadium. FSU officials have pushed for the money due to the football program’s economic impact on local hotels, restaurants and businesses. Thrasher said he is optimistic FSU will receive the funding.
The Florida State University Board of Trustees on Thursday approved the university operating budget for the new fiscal year.
The 2021-2022 operating budget of $2.172 billion increased by $317 million over last year, largely due to federal stimulus funds allocated to lessen the economic impact of COVID-19 and state funding for significant capital projects.
The new budget also takes into account anticipated growth in enrollment of first-time-in-college students, which is reflected in both revenues and expenses. It is the first time in the university’s history the budget will exceed $2 billion.
The 2021-2022 Annual Capital Outlay Budget of $287.2 million includes $23 million for the new Interdisciplinary Research Commercialization Building, which will break ground later this summer, as well as funding for ongoing projects such as the Oglesby Student Union expansion, which is scheduled to be completed later this year.
The budget includes nearly $17.5 million in new state funding, including $10 million in recurring funds from the state to support the Florida Institute for Child Welfare as it executes legislative mandates passed by the Florida Legislature in 2020 and 2021. There is no new discretionary funding.
The university’s operating budget injects an estimated $14 billion into the local and state economy, according to the FSU Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis. That estimate includes $4.1 billion in direct revenue or sales and $98 million in spending by non-resident students, as well as $8.89 billion in lifetime earnings by the most recent (FY18-19) FSU graduates, based on the latest draft of the center’s annual report.
While Florida State’s impact on the local and state economy is significant, the institution remains one of the top five most efficient universities in the country, according to data from U.S. News & World Report.
“We do more with less than any other university in the nation,” said Kyle Clark, vice president for Finance and Administration. “We will continue to streamline processes and build upon operational efficiencies and direct those savings into areas that support our strategic plan.”
Yesterday Governor DeSantis signed into law the 2021-2022 budget of $101 billion along with vetoed items totaling $1.5 billion. I am pleased to report that all of FSU’s projects were funded. The budget includes funding for the following projects:
Interdisciplinary Research Commercialization Building
$23,492,086
FSU College of Business Building (Legacy Hall)
$30,500,000
Boys and Girls State Housing
$200,000
Student Veterans Center
$500,000
Nationally Ranked Operational Enhancement
$15,000,000
Institute of Politics
$1,000,000
Institute for Child Welfare
$10,000,000
FAMU/FSU College of Engineering
$14,541,522
College of Medicine
$51,173,091
I am grateful for all of the support shown by so many stakeholders in getting to this final outcome. I especially want to recognize our friends in the Senate and in the House, the Executive Office of the Governor, our on-campus legislative liaisons, President Thrasher, and the campus administration for their contributions to our success.
Best wishes for a wonderful summer and I look forward to working with you when legislative hearings begin for the 2022 Legislative Session this fall.
The budget does not call for across the board salary increases or bonuses for collective bargaining units, nor does it call for an increase in tuition. There is no new discretionary funding, the university said.
