I'll be interested to see how this intertwines with Hokie Club. Nice to see some initiative on the Ticket Office side of things to get the ball rolling.
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coming off a 7-6 season, and not exactly a stellar home schedule is a lot of that.... add the fact that I've been to games that were announced as sellouts that looked to have several empty seats, so is it that the sponsors have stopped buying the leftover tickets, or are they actually selling less?
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If I remember the discussion and rumors from before the WCar. game its the first one. The few big time donors who would pay to keep the streak going finally said no and didnt buy up any unsold seats the days before the game.
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It's both. Less season tickets sold and less miscellaneous tickets bought. I'm sure there was a significantly larger number of unsold tickets than normal that prompted them not to buy though.
I'm still adamant that the OOC schedule has had a huge impact on us. Shipping all those games to FedEx and ATL hasn't helped. I'm sure a early season home game against Bama last year would of kept the streak alive, and would of been a closer game too. I'm sure things will get back on track after this season when we host anOSU and start having some good schedules again. You can only watch ECU, North Dakota Technical and Mechanical, and a FBS bottom feeder so many at home before it gets boring.
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The parts of the South Endzone that looked empty are solely due to the students assigned to those seats sneaking into the North Endzone. I'm a senior right now and I remember freshman year being assigned to the South Endzone but we'd get a friend to print north endzone tickets and sit there instead.
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Yes, you only scan each ticket once, but absolutely nothing is stopping you from printing out multiple tickets to give to your friends to sit in the best seats, which cause the upper corners of the student sections to look empty.
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It happened, albeit to a lesser extent, even when they were non-paper tickets and even those cards that one year. Instead of printing off multiple tickets you just get everyone in your groups ticket and walk out, pass them around, and bring everyone back up. Did that a lot freshman year and even later on to sit with family who were in the East or West stands when I was in the North.
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At least that required work. I'm very familiar with the process. One person go in, brings back out multiple tickets, and then the others come in. Got myself into other sections routinely like that. But the difference is that now, there's no work involved. Get your friend to forward his ticket to you. Print both yours and your friends out. Scan yours at the gate, and use his to get into the section. And if you do it right, heck, and entire dorm floor could end up crowding the same section in the NEZ without having to do any work at all.
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This is true to some extent, but there is no way that many students are sneaking into NEZ. Less people are coming to the games, and that is a fact. IMO, the only way that trend changes is with a 6-0 or better start to the season and/or another ACC Championship. New coaches, New AD, some good incoming talent, on the right track.
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The sellout streak was a bit of a hoax. The more telling numbers are in attendance. The last game I felt like Lane was absolutely packed to the gills was at the 2005 Miami game. We were 8-0, ranked 3rd in the country, and everyone was shoulder to shoulder in all of Lane. I got into the stadium as they were playing Enter Sandman, and literally had to wedge myself into the upper East stands. It was epic...until Marcus turned the ball over 6 times!!! Luckily we are 6-2 against Miami since then.
To my original point, annual attendance has been in slow decline since that year. It hasn't felt the same since. It has gotten close a few times, but never like 2005. IMO, the ten win seasons became less exciting to fans and students. We selfishly wanted more. Attendance was also hurt year after year with the early season or first game losses (e.g., USC, LSU, BAMA, BOISE, JMU, BAMA again). That and the lack of offensive identity, outside of Tyrod. This was a bubble that was building and it finally burst with a few poor recruiting cycles and a 7-6 season.
The good news...Coaching Changes and Whit!! The University and Athletic Department are doing there part, so as fans we need to make sure we do ours!! The future is looking up!
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That was the first year I brought my parents to a Tech game together. I had 4 tickets Section 14, Row DD. On the way to the stadium I got offered $800 each for my tickets. In hindsight, I would have had enough money for the next 2 years tickets if I had sold.
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Just curious, but does anyone think the poor economy has had anything to do with declining game attendance numbers? It's my understanding nearly every program is, or has been, dealing with the same issue.
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poor economy and the scheduling of ecu, and other bottom dwellers combine that with a noon gametime and you have an empty stadium. Even Bama had a terrible student section, saban called them out multiple times during the season.
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Comments
I'll be interested to see how this intertwines with Hokie Club. Nice to see some initiative on the Ticket Office side of things to get the ball rolling.
Just as long as we never do Valpaks.
I wonder if the season ticket sales are that much below normal, or if this is just becoming the new norm for college football
Well we didn't sell out last year. That gives you an indication of how far things have fallen.
coming off a 7-6 season, and not exactly a stellar home schedule is a lot of that.... add the fact that I've been to games that were announced as sellouts that looked to have several empty seats, so is it that the sponsors have stopped buying the leftover tickets, or are they actually selling less?
If I remember the discussion and rumors from before the WCar. game its the first one. The few big time donors who would pay to keep the streak going finally said no and didnt buy up any unsold seats the days before the game.
It's both. Less season tickets sold and less miscellaneous tickets bought. I'm sure there was a significantly larger number of unsold tickets than normal that prompted them not to buy though.
I'm still adamant that the OOC schedule has had a huge impact on us. Shipping all those games to FedEx and ATL hasn't helped. I'm sure a early season home game against Bama last year would of kept the streak alive, and would of been a closer game too. I'm sure things will get back on track after this season when we host anOSU and start having some good schedules again. You can only watch ECU, North Dakota Technical and Mechanical, and a FBS bottom feeder so many at home before it gets boring.
The parts of the South Endzone that looked empty are solely due to the students assigned to those seats sneaking into the North Endzone. I'm a senior right now and I remember freshman year being assigned to the South Endzone but we'd get a friend to print north endzone tickets and sit there instead.
And there is the problem with the paper tickets.
Yes, you only scan each ticket once, but absolutely nothing is stopping you from printing out multiple tickets to give to your friends to sit in the best seats, which cause the upper corners of the student sections to look empty.
ftfy
It happened, albeit to a lesser extent, even when they were non-paper tickets and even those cards that one year. Instead of printing off multiple tickets you just get everyone in your groups ticket and walk out, pass them around, and bring everyone back up. Did that a lot freshman year and even later on to sit with family who were in the East or West stands when I was in the North.
At least that required work. I'm very familiar with the process. One person go in, brings back out multiple tickets, and then the others come in. Got myself into other sections routinely like that. But the difference is that now, there's no work involved. Get your friend to forward his ticket to you. Print both yours and your friends out. Scan yours at the gate, and use his to get into the section. And if you do it right, heck, and entire dorm floor could end up crowding the same section in the NEZ without having to do any work at all.
From what I've seen the past couple seasons, the NEZ could use a bit more crowding.
This is true to some extent, but there is no way that many students are sneaking into NEZ. Less people are coming to the games, and that is a fact. IMO, the only way that trend changes is with a 6-0 or better start to the season and/or another ACC Championship. New coaches, New AD, some good incoming talent, on the right track.
The sellout streak was a bit of a hoax. The more telling numbers are in attendance. The last game I felt like Lane was absolutely packed to the gills was at the 2005 Miami game. We were 8-0, ranked 3rd in the country, and everyone was shoulder to shoulder in all of Lane. I got into the stadium as they were playing Enter Sandman, and literally had to wedge myself into the upper East stands. It was epic...until Marcus turned the ball over 6 times!!! Luckily we are 6-2 against Miami since then.
To my original point, annual attendance has been in slow decline since that year. It hasn't felt the same since. It has gotten close a few times, but never like 2005. IMO, the ten win seasons became less exciting to fans and students. We selfishly wanted more. Attendance was also hurt year after year with the early season or first game losses (e.g., USC, LSU, BAMA, BOISE, JMU, BAMA again). That and the lack of offensive identity, outside of Tyrod. This was a bubble that was building and it finally burst with a few poor recruiting cycles and a 7-6 season.
The good news...Coaching Changes and Whit!! The University and Athletic Department are doing there part, so as fans we need to make sure we do ours!! The future is looking up!
That was the first year I brought my parents to a Tech game together. I had 4 tickets Section 14, Row DD. On the way to the stadium I got offered $800 each for my tickets. In hindsight, I would have had enough money for the next 2 years tickets if I had sold.
Just curious, but does anyone think the poor economy has had anything to do with declining game attendance numbers? It's my understanding nearly every program is, or has been, dealing with the same issue.
poor economy and the scheduling of ecu, and other bottom dwellers combine that with a noon gametime and you have an empty stadium. Even Bama had a terrible student section, saban called them out multiple times during the season.
And the TV product is pretty good nowadays.
Except all of our broadcasts on ESPN3