I have read multiple threads over the pas couple weeks with people frustrated over the empty seats at FSU basketball games. It's not a good look on TV, and other people that are local don't have access to these seats because they are largely owned by boosters that may live out of town or are unable to make mid-week games. I wrote a rather lengthy explanation in response to a post by Jerry Katz in another thread, but decided to start this thread to see if other people thought this could be a feasible solution.
I apologize for the long post, I know most won't read it. Here is the post:
Interesting Jerry. In particular, the concept of monitoring which season tickets holders seats are consistently empty and proactively reaching out to the ticket holders. I think this could be a solution if executed properly....
I have received numerous phone calls in the past from football players when I was a booster and season ticket holder. Does our basketball team do this?
Let me explain where I am going with this idea. Let's say I'm some high dollar booster (not yet, getting there haha) and I live on the beach somewhere in south Florida. I own 4 prime sideline tickets and fly up for one or two games a year. The rest of the games I don't bother screwing around with stub hub or ticket boards, because frankly recouping $50 isn't worth my time or the hassle.
BUT I love my Seminoles and follow the program closely, hence why I own sideline seats, right? One day my phone rings and it's Michael Ojo. I'm thrilled! I spend 2 minutes small talking with Michael and wishing him luck on the season, then he switches gears on me and reads a prepared script from boosters something like...
"I want to really thank you for your contributions to the team and to myself. One of the things I love most about playing here is playing in front of passionate fans like yourself. I've noticed the past 6 games no one was in your seats. I have spoken to other fans that really wanted to be there but couldn't get a ticket. Can you help me fill those seats so we play our best?"
You mentioned that boosters have tried promotions to get people to donate them back in the past with limited success. I think your biggest challenge is that people that can afford those seats value their time highly and don't want to waste it reading some flyer in the mail. But if you have a player tug their heart string like that, I'm sure they would take the time to say "You're right Mr. ojo. How can I help?". That's when you hit them with some donation program that they can go online and select the games they plan to attend, and the rest of the games their tickets are donated back to boosters for to be sold at a discounted price to other alumni or boosters. You could even credit back their season tickets a percentage of the face value to financially incentivize them as well. Also put something in place that would allow them to "take back" a ticket with a weeks notice if they plan to attend a game that they previously did not plan to in advance,
Once you get them to do this once, it carries over to the following year, and maintaining this program takes less and less time. You continue to monitor which seats are filled, and make periodic calls to the seats that remain empty until the vast majority are bought into this program.
Sorry for the long post. I just think using the players is going to be the solution for this. We all have a special place in our heart for the program and you need to find a way to touch that to overcome the time commitment you are asking for.
I know there are less basketball players than football players, so the logistics is different, but there is also far fewer seats in the TLCC than Doak.
We are talking about around 2,000 seats in the sideline areas that consistently are empty? 2,000 / 15 players = about 130 calls per player. If you average 5 minutes per call, that is about 10 hours of time for each player. Spread that out over a week or two in the pre-season and it's completely feasible. I believe the football players are paid an hourly rate for their time to make calls? Same protocall could be used for basketball players....
FSU marketing major here, who studied sports marketing under Dr. Cronin. Just trying to share an idea I had.
I apologize for the long post, I know most won't read it. Here is the post:
Interesting Jerry. In particular, the concept of monitoring which season tickets holders seats are consistently empty and proactively reaching out to the ticket holders. I think this could be a solution if executed properly....
I have received numerous phone calls in the past from football players when I was a booster and season ticket holder. Does our basketball team do this?
Let me explain where I am going with this idea. Let's say I'm some high dollar booster (not yet, getting there haha) and I live on the beach somewhere in south Florida. I own 4 prime sideline tickets and fly up for one or two games a year. The rest of the games I don't bother screwing around with stub hub or ticket boards, because frankly recouping $50 isn't worth my time or the hassle.
BUT I love my Seminoles and follow the program closely, hence why I own sideline seats, right? One day my phone rings and it's Michael Ojo. I'm thrilled! I spend 2 minutes small talking with Michael and wishing him luck on the season, then he switches gears on me and reads a prepared script from boosters something like...
"I want to really thank you for your contributions to the team and to myself. One of the things I love most about playing here is playing in front of passionate fans like yourself. I've noticed the past 6 games no one was in your seats. I have spoken to other fans that really wanted to be there but couldn't get a ticket. Can you help me fill those seats so we play our best?"
You mentioned that boosters have tried promotions to get people to donate them back in the past with limited success. I think your biggest challenge is that people that can afford those seats value their time highly and don't want to waste it reading some flyer in the mail. But if you have a player tug their heart string like that, I'm sure they would take the time to say "You're right Mr. ojo. How can I help?". That's when you hit them with some donation program that they can go online and select the games they plan to attend, and the rest of the games their tickets are donated back to boosters for to be sold at a discounted price to other alumni or boosters. You could even credit back their season tickets a percentage of the face value to financially incentivize them as well. Also put something in place that would allow them to "take back" a ticket with a weeks notice if they plan to attend a game that they previously did not plan to in advance,
Once you get them to do this once, it carries over to the following year, and maintaining this program takes less and less time. You continue to monitor which seats are filled, and make periodic calls to the seats that remain empty until the vast majority are bought into this program.
Sorry for the long post. I just think using the players is going to be the solution for this. We all have a special place in our heart for the program and you need to find a way to touch that to overcome the time commitment you are asking for.
I know there are less basketball players than football players, so the logistics is different, but there is also far fewer seats in the TLCC than Doak.
We are talking about around 2,000 seats in the sideline areas that consistently are empty? 2,000 / 15 players = about 130 calls per player. If you average 5 minutes per call, that is about 10 hours of time for each player. Spread that out over a week or two in the pre-season and it's completely feasible. I believe the football players are paid an hourly rate for their time to make calls? Same protocall could be used for basketball players....
FSU marketing major here, who studied sports marketing under Dr. Cronin. Just trying to share an idea I had.
