By Harry Minium
Old Dominion University is set to announce some news tomorrow morning about the new Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium.
But if you’re online now, you can read it here first.
On Monday, ODU put an interactive map online that allows fans to pick their seats and purchase them, all in the comfort of their home. Officials will begin promoting the map Tuesday morning.
Unless you were a previous season ticket holder who took part in the re-seating process, prior to Monday you had to purchase tickets, then pick out your seats later.
This will end any worry that you might not like your seats. Simply put your cursor on the seats that interest you, and the ticket prices will show up. If you like them, continue through the process to buy tickets. If you don't, keep searching.
ODU football interactive season ticket map
There are more than 2,000 good seats remaining on the sidelines, some priced at $200 apiece. Others require a seat membership fee, which has caused some confusion among ticket buyers.
No confusion now. The price you will see is all inclusive.
You just pay the price listed and you’re ready to go.
Once this begins to appear in other media tomorrow, expect people to begin snapping up seats.
ODU has tickets in every price range. If your budget is limited, there are season tickets on the north end zone for $99 apiece. That’s $16.50 apiece, and that’s the least-expensive season ticket I know of in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Unless you’ve been out of the country for a couple of years, you know that Ballard Stadium is undergoing a $67.5 million renovation in which S.B. Ballard Construction has torn down the old clam shell sidelines and replaced them with two decks of modern seats.
All 16,000 new sideline seats will have back support and more leg room than Foreman Field, an historical stadium we all loved because of our memories there, but hated because of the lack of fan amenities.
Nearly all of the money being poured into the stadium is going into fan amenities, and you can’t appreciate how nice they will be until you see them.
There are ribbon scoreboards on the sidelines and south end zone and will be a larger video board on the north side.
The stands rise quickly in the air, and not backwards like Foreman Field, and thus appear to put you on top of the action. All four corners are turned to the field so that everyone has a good view of the game.
If you’re on the top deck – there are two decks on each side – you may have a spectacular view of downtown Norfolk. The press box soars 94 feet in the air.
The stadium has the look and feel of quality FBS stadium.
And as for fan amenities:
* There will be eight new concessions stands, twice as many and all twice as large as the old stands at Foreman Field, that will not only have dogs and burgers, but Tex-Mex, seafood baskets and vegan food. I’ll have a story on the entire menu, and other extras, later on this month.
* There are 6,179 chair-back sideline seats. The 9,753 other sideline seats all have back supports. All offer 33 inches of leg room, eight more than was offered at Foreman Field.
* There will be plenty of restrooms for those in the sideline seats. There will be 232 toilets, 100 more than were at Foreman Field. And many more of them will be designated for women.
My advice? Go online tonight and see if you can find a seat that meets your needs.
I’ll bet you can.
Contact ODU ticket office: 757-683-4444.
Old Dominion Athletic Foundation office: 757-683-6963