[thepostman]

postman if you come up alone for game this season, DM. Would enjoy meeting you and talking football.

I'm planning on making the ODU game this year. I have the Airbnb booked, just waiting for single game tickets to go on sale

[BJWilliams]

I'm too far for a day trip but I intend to attempt to make the trip at least once a season until my career sends me elsewhere. If I lived within 2 hours I would be a season ticket holder. Without a doubt.

Likewise...I actually was considering getting season tickets if I got a job at LU again

[Jonathan Carone]

2 things.

Odus number is grossly inflated with tech fans buying season tickets for the vt game and then discarding. I know at least 5 here in rke that did that.

As of 2015, ODU had sold almost 14,000 season tickets for seven straight years. So they’ve been over 30% since they started, even before the Tech fans.

[jinxy]

Interesting. Did not know that. All ive heard around roanoke is chokie fans are buying up odu season tickets so they can go. Where did you see that at?

[Jonathan Carone]

Interesting. Did not know that. All ive heard around roanoke is chokie fans are buying up odu season tickets so they can go. Where did you see that at?

http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.db ... =210328433

[olldflame]

ODU´s early success in building a fan base when they started their program was pretty remarkable.

[rtb72]

I think there is potential with the proximity to NC cities. I live in the Triad, and the trip is really not bad at all...straight up US 29 from Greensboro. We have had season tickets for six years and we make it into 6 mini family vacations. Lynchburg proper is appealing and has a lot to offer before and after the games. I think as the university continues to grow and (if) success on the field breeds some optimism/excitement; season tickets will grow.

[givemethemic]

What I am curious about is how many people are going to drop more than $30 per ticket for the FBS games that don't buy season tickets.

[TH Spangler]

[youtube]E9jsRp5E0H0[/youtube]

Nice promotion vid!

[willflop]

I noticed this more than a week ago, but reserved ticket sales are way ahead for both UNT and Troy vs. ODU. Section 214 is already sold out, and there were quite a few seats available in the same section on ODU Saturday game day. Looks like 213 and 215 have less than 100 available. That's a good sign. Early forecasts look like we'll be fighting thunderstorms yet again though, getting tired of the weather.

[BJWilliams]

I just hope homecoming will have good weather. Itll be my first game in Lynchburg since the John Lunsford 60 yard field goal game

[TH Spangler]

I noticed this more than a week ago, but reserved ticket sales are way ahead for both UNT and Troy vs. ODU. Section 214 is already sold out, and there were quite a few seats available in the same section on ODU Saturday game day. Looks like 213 and 215 have less than 100 available. That's a good sign. Early forecasts look like we'll be fighting thunderstorms yet again though, getting tired of the weather.

UNT is good! Looking forward to the game. Planning to watch them at 4 PM today on SEC channel.

[LUGrad2000]

I was watching the Auburn/LSU game today and noticed that there were several upper deck sections not full. This was a big game, plus a conference game. I checked out the Auburn ticket website and they had all remaining home games still selling single game tickets. For our game, you can literally sit almost anywhere in the stadium.

[ballcoach15]

Why are empty seats in lot of stadiums ? Is it ticket prices, parking issues, traffic, ? When Auburn vs LSU has empty seats, something is wrong.

[Jonathan Carone]

Why are empty seats in lot of stadiums ? Is it ticket prices, parking issues, traffic, ? When Auburn vs LSU has empty seats, something is wrong.

It’s because the tv product has gotten so good that many people would rather have friends to their house to watch the game than spend hundreds of dollars to go to a game in person.

[adam42381]

Why are empty seats in lot of stadiums ? Is it ticket prices, parking issues, traffic, ? When Auburn vs LSU has empty seats, something is wrong.

It’s because the tv product has gotten so good that many people would rather have friends to their house to watch the game than spend hundreds of dollars to go to a game in person.

This 100%. Football is a difficult spectator sport because there are so many things going on that it’s impossible to see everything in real time. The tv production, replay quality and analysis is very strong and makes for a much more informative viewing experience.

[willflop]

Wasn't there some discussion at one point about some kind of game day app to help with this, or was that just the NFL?

[TH Spangler]

As a LU fan I'm loving this new FBS stuff. I was able to catch some of the Auburn, UNT, Idaho State, Army, Virginia and ODU games yesterday.

I agree, it's fun to have a houseful over to watch, a road game. But I'm not even close to trading the in person, home, game day experience for TV.

[Cider Jim]

And don't forget the joy of tailgating with a dozen of your closest church friends and neighbors.

[ballcoach15]

When I was up north last week, I purchased acouple newspapers. Their coverage of college football was almost zero. Everything was NFL. Down south they cover college football.


As for being in stadium focused on one game, even more reason LU needs a good out of town scoreboard. We are probably only FBS school without one.

[JK37]

Ballcoach, people use their phones for that now.

[ballcoach15]

True, but it be good if we had out of town scoreboard. Some phones don't work well in stadiums. Mine is one of them.

[thepostman]

The wifi at the bill is fantastic. I was watching games on my phone at halftime during the ODU game and checking scores every chance I got.

The dependable speed of the wifi was one of the biggest things that impressed me about the renovations

[LUDad]

Watching on tv these days really does give you a much better idea of what’s going on in the game. So that’s part of it for sure. And like Jon said, it’s easier, and more fun to have people over lots of times.

Ticket prices are a definite factor as well. On top of that concession prices are high, security has become a pain, etc. Just not worth it for people with families in particular.

I think a huge part of it is our collective attention span. The integration of the internet into every second of our conscious lives has left us totally and 100% addicted to constant information flow. Watching one game is just not even close to enough for the average person today. When there are literally 20 games available to be watched at once during a given time slot, being glued to one means you are missing out.

I don’t think the concussion issue relates to attendance or popularity, but it is going to severely harm the sport going forward in terms of available talent pool.

Finally, the relative monoculture that existed to one degree or another for most people here’s youth is totally gone. Football is obviously still a major if not dominant cultural power, especially in the south. However, massive and rapid demographic shifts, particularly in the south, are changing that. Additionally, the internet world has given rise to so many subcultures that there is less pressure to conform to a dominant culture. Many people are unplugging from all of that, and often isolating themselves entirely.

Strange times. But for better or worse, the future for football isn’t that bright IMO.

It's everywhere, not just football. Upscale grocery stores are installing mingling areas such as bars with wide screen TV's. In Charlotte, Charlotte Motor Speedway reduced regular seating almost in half and has replaced them with sundecks, stand-up bars with TVs. multimedia area's etc. The larger Arena that used to hold basketball (Charlotte Hornets) was torn down and replaced with a smaller capacity arena uptown that has more social "mingling areas". Got to have things for the new ADD fans growing up who are replacing us old folks.

[Yacht Rock]

I noticed this more than a week ago, but reserved ticket sales are way ahead for both UNT and Troy vs. ODU. Section 214 is already sold out, and there were quite a few seats available in the same section on ODU Saturday game day. Looks like 213 and 215 have less than 100 available. That's a good sign. Early forecasts look like we'll be fighting thunderstorms yet again though, getting tired of the weather.

I don’t know if LU does this but I’ve spent time working in designing ticketing software for large sports venues. My clients were larger venues like Staples Center in Los Angeles and Pepsi Center and Mike High Stadium in Denver and several other smaller venues and hundreds of movie theaters around the world. It’s not an uncommon practice to give the appearance of scarcity to an event in order to encourage more advance sales. When you are able to convince your customer that they must purchase in advance, you don’t have to worry about a same day decision and tickets at the door, which can be fickle depending on things like weather.

With that, it’s tough to gauge availability online sometimes.