Florida State University Athletics Association held its June meeting

 

Florida State University Athletics Association held its June meeting

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.