By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. - It's no secret that attendance has steadily declined at Old Dominion University football games in recent years.
Season ticket sales have fallen by 5,500 since 2013 and that's an issue that has been repeatedly debated and discussed by more than a dozen members of ODU's athletic administration.
During this past season, the first in the new, $67.5 million Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium, the ODU athletic department twice conducted extensive surveys of its fans.
They asked about ticketing and amenities, among other things, and received hundreds of suggestions, comments, recommendations and requests.
ODU officials have listened to you and have responded with some dramatic changes.
First and foremost, costs will be reduced for every season ticket holder next season. ODU has seven games next year rather than the usual six and won't raise prices to accommodate the seventh game. In other words, you'll get another game for the same overall price you paid last year.
Ticket prices are also being reduced for more than 2,500 sideline bench back seats. Those tickets, which cost $200 last season, have been slashed to $150. No seat membership fee will be attached to those seats.
There's not a bad seat on either sideline, and you can have one for less than $22 per game. As Football Bowl Subdivision tickets go, this is a bargain.
And you'll see by far the best home schedule in ODU's 12 seasons. Two ACC teams – Virginia and Wake Forest – are playing in Norfolk, as is non-conference regional rival Hampton University.
ODU, by the way, is the only Group of 5 school to host five Power 5 schools over the last five seasons.
The Conference USA home schedule also features four very good programs. Florida International, coached by former Miami coach Butch Davis, upset Miami this season in Marlins Park.
UAB won the C-USA title last season and lost in the championship game this year. And the Blazers, whose remarkable rise back to prominence after the program was shut down for two years has been the feel-good story of college football, have never played at ODU.
There's also traditional C-USA East Division powerhouse Marshall and Middle Tennessee. You'll have a chance next season to see the best C-USA has to offer.
Five of ODU's six home FBS opponents are headed to bowl games later this month.
Yet I saved what I think is the best for last. ODU has taken 627 seats on the East Side usually set aside for visiting teams and made them available for Monarch fans. That's two entire sections now open for ODU's adherents.
Each ticket will cost $150, with no seat membership expense attached.
There's not a bad seat on the sideline, but these seats, in sections E207 and E208, are a bargain at that price.
Some of you may think that ODU's athletic department is a monolithic bureaucracy in which decisions are made arbitrarily. I've been behind the scenes here for nearly a year and a half and have found the opposite to be true.
A lot of smart, caring people who love ODU and its fans are trying their best to meet your needs.
Athletic director Wood Selig led the charge on reducing ticket prices. He tasked a committee led by senior athletic director Mike Hermann to make dramatic pricing changes, and his committee delivered what Selig asked for.
ODU priced tickets correctly this past season for the heart of the stadium. More than 90 percent of the chair back seats in the sweet spot of the stadium, all of which required seat memberships that range from $50 to $300, sold out.
Selig said the changes are designed to persuade fans to come back to whom ticket price is most important.
But ODU hasn't just reduced prices – the University will also improve amenities both within the stadium and out. Jason Chandler and Carolyn Crutchfield, whose job it is to promote ODU athletics, say events in Kaufman Mall also will be revamped.
Kid-friendly attractions such as face painting and inflatable bouncers, will be there every game. Fans who park in garages and thus can't tail-gate will be encouraged to bring their food (but not grills) to Kaufman Mall and take in all that is happening.
And here's good news for the many fans who lamented the lack of cup holders – they will be in place next season in every chair back seat.
Hermann has pulled people together to discuss other opportunities to enhance the fan experience. They will take a hard look at concessions pricing, menu items, tailgating, the volume of the speaker system and access to restrooms.
Over the next eight months, ODU officials will work hard to ensure the atmosphere at football games appeals to everyone.
For fans who didn't go to an ODU game this past season, the University built a new stadium that opened this fall with modern creature comforts, including 16,000 new seats that all offer back support, new concessions, a much larger video board and a modern light and sound system. It's an awesome place to watch a football game.
It's light years ahead of what we had in old Foreman Field. Spread the word to your friends who are looking for quality entertainment in a comfortable setting without having to take out a second mortgage.
Here's what you tell them:
Ticket prices are being reduced.
ODU is working to make stadium amenities even better.
And ODU has hired a dynamic new coach that will bring a different style of play and a new energy to Monarch football.
Ricky Rahne, offensive coordinator at Penn State the last two seasons, was hired this week and pledged that ODU will put a much improved team on the field in 2020 and eventually win championships.
It's time to give ODU football a second look and jump on board before sellouts once again become the norm.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: ODU has Listened to its Fans and Has Reduced Football Season Ticket Prices
