der said

did we really only sell 1,500 tickets?  they didn't do a very good job advertising that the tickets where for sale,  they had a little blurb the Monday before the ULM game on myfau that I just happened to see and me and my buddy went up to boca that afternoon to get ours,  and when we got there, we were the first people to even ask about them,  and I never did see anything about them selling them at the ULM game till i saw them set up in the parking lot,  that really helps the schools image, we cant even sell 4,000 tickets to an in state, ranked and defending national champs game,  FSU will never play us now

On one hand it's depressing that we didn't sell out that allotment. On the other hand, they didn't try very hard at ALL.

For the longest time, the word was you couldn't buy the tickets unless you bought the season pass. Obviously, no reasonable student would do that since your Owl Card gets you in to home games for free. So people believed (even I, who watched the sites like a hawk and constantly asked both Coach and Dexter LaMont about it) that we wouldn't be able to get them.

Then at what seemed like the last minute, they said we could buy them at the Basketball Bash… this was not well-known and it was certainly not well-known in time for people to get off from work in the middle of a bloody Sunday to go buy these. I have one because a friend of mine, also a diehard, worked nearby and made a special trip to the Burrow to nab some on the day of the Bash.

Now, after the Bash was done, no announcement whatsoever that I'm aware of was made that you could still buy tickets. It was not a well-known fact… it wasn't even a little-known fact! Word on the street was "maybe" at best, not to mention that nowhere on campus was it announced that we are even PLAYING them.

For instance, a banner in the breezeway could have said

"FAU OWLS vs FLORIDA GATORS
Saturday, Nov.17th at UF
Tickets on sale now!"

it didn't have to be professionally printed, either. It could have been painted on a white sheet bought for $5 from Walmart.

But it wasn't.

So I know that people didn't know about it. The people who did were on the fence… "How do we get up there?" "Why should I go? We're going to get killed." I have one friend who has been to every single football game with me and he said, "I'd rather watch it here at Duffy's with FAU fans because up there all the Gator fans are going to treat us like shit."

And he may very be right about that.

So there were all these factors involved. It's not as simple as, "People didn't care." Some people don't, of course; some people went to FAU because they "didn't want to go to a football school" and so they refuse to join. It is what it is. We're at this weird point where we're going to expand in a pretty crazy way (1500 more residential students, Innovation Village, new gym, hospital, stadium) in the next four years and things will slowly start turning around. Hopefully we will have a couple of big upsets along the way so people start regaridng this as more of a football school and come here as a result.

But until then we have to deal with what we have.

And what we have is, outside of the diehards and the freshmen looking for the "typical college experience", a bunch of apathetic slackers who didn't care about anything school-related in high school and don't care about it now either. They had low GPA's/SAT's for a reason… they don't care. Since they don't care, they're not going to magically care because a bunch of diehard fans are telling them to. Games like USF may be the popular thing and get these people to come out but when it comes back down to playing SBC teams like ULM, the people fade away again.

When FAU starts admitting more motivated people, things will change. In the meantime, they're lucky to have the ones that are/were already here (people like Smitty, us and the people in the band).

I just got my UF tix in the mail today (from season ticket order).  Section 44 also.  Row 16.  Lower Bowl, East side of South end zone.

I also received my FIU tix as well.

Go Owls!!!

I got my tickets today....Section 44 also row 37!!!! cant wait for saturday!

Well said about campus stuff, Owlcountry. And thanks for the shout out! Give me a call from the game. Make me jealous of the atmosphere.

Are you going to Troy with the prOWLers?

smittysahoot said

Well said about campus stuff, Owlcountry. And thanks for the shout out! Give me a call from the game. Make me jealous of the atmosphere.

Are you going to Troy with the prOWLers?

Will do. Will you be watching it in the bar again?

Hopefully my cell gets reception in Gainesville… have to see about that.

Regarding Troy: nah, not going but I'll be here in Boca for the first home basketball game that night.

Nose bleed section for my tickets Section 43, Row 88!  I guess because we needed 7 tickets together??

Looks like the Gators stuck it to us!  At the Clemson game, they were nice enough to put us in the lower level Rows 1 through 15 on the 10 yard line???  Gators, I see how it is going to be!

We will be sure to place them in an obstructed view section when they come down to play in our NEW stadium!

GO OWLS!
'91

OWL4EVER said

Nose bleed section for my tickets Section 43, Row 88!  I guess because we needed 7 tickets together??

Looks like the Gators stuck it to us!  At the Clemson game, they were nice enough to put us in the lower level Rows 1 through 15 on the 10 yard line???  Gators, I see how it is going to be!

We will be sure to place them in an obstructed view section when they come down to play in our NEW stadium!

GO OWLS!
'91

You can thank FAU for you seating location. We were given a block of tickets and FAU sold them at their discretion. Our seats are in section 44 and we needed 20 together. I have no idea how they alloted the tickets but it just seems like they grabbed a bunch of tickets out of the pile and started handing them out. All of our seats should have been in the lower rows of the lower bowla nd sold up from there.

The UF game tickets sales were handled as if FAU did not want any of its fans to attend.

First, they told the world only season ticket holders could purchase UF tickets. Then, there was word that the un-bought tickets were sent back. Not true.

Then, we heard that business sponsors could get them (still annouced at Lockhart last Saturday).

I cannot believe FAU did not e-mail and make announcements and ads to the entire university about ticket availability.

Is everyone at FAU so secure in their jobs that they can consistently destroy such good marketing possibilities? Is anyone accountable?

BMarkey said

The UF game tickets sales were handled as if FAU did not want any of its fans to attend.

First, they told the world only season ticket holders could purchase UF tickets. Then, there was word that the un-bought tickets were sent back. Not true.

Then, we heard that business sponsors could get them (still annouced at Lockhart last Saturday).

I cannot believe FAU did not e-mail and make announcements and ads to the entire university about ticket availability.

Is everyone at FAU so secure in their jobs that they can consistently destroy such good marketing possibilities? Is anyone accountable?

Well said  :(

its not a corporation, thus no no profit motive…and no, no accountability…

just how difficult it is to "get rid of someone" in tenured A&P contract status with the state:

its easier to seek shade under a small leaf lying on the on the side of the road on a hot summer day…