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In doing some research on attendance figures, I stumbled across the following. For a program that's JUST launching it's football program, I found this statistic quite amazing:

Old Dominion launches its football program this year, and the Monarchs already have sold 12,500 season tickets for 19,782-seat Foreman Field, according to the school.

Yeah, they're in a metropolitan area, but many, MANY FCS schools have proven that THAT isn't a guarantee of ticket sales success.

Hats off to ODU!

they have turned down over 1000 season ticket applications. They'll be knocking down the clamshell sides in two years IMO to expand to 25,000. I hope they stay FCS for a long time.

AZGrizFan wrote:In doing some research on attendance figures, I stumbled across the following. For a program that's JUST launching it's football program, I found this statistic quite amazing:

Old Dominion launches its football program this year, and the Monarchs already have sold 12,500 season tickets for 19,782-seat Foreman Field, according to the school.

Yeah, they're in a metropolitan area, but many, MANY FCS schools have proven that THAT isn't a guarantee of ticket sales success.

Hats off to ODU!

See Villanova.

It'll be interesting to see if they maintain the momentum after a few seasons without a lot of wins. I think the novelty may wear off.

Grizalltheway wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:In doing some research on attendance figures, I stumbled across the following. For a program that's JUST launching it's football program, I found this statistic quite amazing:



Yeah, they're in a metropolitan area, but many, MANY FCS schools have proven that THAT isn't a guarantee of ticket sales success.

Hats off to ODU!

See Villanova.

Or Towson. Or Fordham, Columbia, Hofstra, ect.

What is really impressive to me is that Norfolk already has a ton of FCS schools.

ODU football: Season ticket demand exceeds supply

NORFOLK -- Nearly 300 people hoping to get season tickets for Old Dominion University's return to the gridiron have been turned away because there aren't enough available seats at Foreman Field.

This week, the school notified 296 people who had made down payments that they would not get season tickets. They had ordered a total 1,065 tickets.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports ... 03/280672/

Good job ODU! Quite impressive.....

andy7171 wrote:

Grizalltheway wrote:
See Villanova.

Or Towson. Or Fordham, Columbia, Hofstra, ect.

What is really impressive to me is that Norfolk already has a ton of FCS schools.

Wait, they have a frigging FOOTBALL team???

Grizalltheway wrote:

andy7171 wrote: Or Towson. Or Fordham, Columbia, Hofstra, ect.

What is really impressive to me is that Norfolk already has a ton of FCS schools.

Wait, they have a frigging FOOTBALL team???

They actually have pretty nice facilities, considering the location restrictions.

danefan wrote:

Grizalltheway wrote:
Wait, they have a frigging FOOTBALL team???

They actually have pretty nice facilities, considering the location restrictions.

Taken just before homecoming 2008?

Grizalltheway wrote:

andy7171 wrote: Or Towson. Or Fordham, Columbia, Hofstra, ect.

What is really impressive to me is that Norfolk already has a ton of FCS schools.

Wait, they have a frigging FOOTBALL team???

Yeah, thank god we had them on the schedule last year!

Grizalltheway wrote:

danefan wrote:
They actually have pretty nice facilities, considering the location restrictions.

Taken just before homecoming 2008?

haha! Here's a better pic:



The major problems is that its 100 blocks from campus.

danefan wrote:haha! Here's a better pic:



The major problems is that its 100 blocks from campus.

Actually, the major problem is it's Columbia.

AZGrizFan wrote:

danefan wrote:haha! Here's a better pic:



The major problems is that its 100 blocks from campus.

Actually, the major problem is it's Columbia.

As an ODU fan, I am quite proud of my school and our alums for the support they have shown our fledgling football program. Season tickets are completely sold out despite the addition of extra seating and brand new luxury suites.

We are extremely excited about what is taking place at our school. Only 8 years ago, we opened up our brand new, state of the art basketball arena nicknamed the Ted Constant Convication Center. It was named the number one mid to large arena of its kind in the world. Here are a few pictures so you can get a glimpse of what it looks like.




If anyone wishes to see pictures of the construction going on with the football stadium, you can view those pictures here....... http://www.odusports.com/view.gal?id=50282

And just a little bit more about us....one of our cheerleaders was voted cheerleader of the year last year by sports illustrated.



Here is the article...

http://www.plundergirls.com/whitney-mcmillan/

We appreciate the support and conversation about our young team. To be honest, we don't know exactly how our guys are gonna do, we are still learning their names and who will be our starters, etc. However, we are still extremely enthused and passionate, as I can tell by reading this forum that most all of you are as well.

We don't expect much in the way of victories or CAA championships in our first several years, our victory will be tailgating and having a blast before the game. Look forward to chatting with you more about football as we move towards kickoff of the 09-10 season!

The "Ted" looks awesome! If you guys read the link about the cheerleader you can see more pics.

Welcome Razor!

Good looking arena!

I'm going to willingly hijack my own thread:

ODUfanRazor wrote:We appreciate the support and conversation about our young team. To be honest, we don't know exactly how our guys are gonna do, we are still learning their names and who will be our starters, etc. However, we are still extremely enthused and passionate, as I can tell by reading this forum that most all of you are as well.

We don't expect much in the way of victories or CAA championships in our first several years, our victory will be tailgating and having a blast before the game. Look forward to chatting with you more about football as we move towards kickoff of the 09-10 season!

Indeed, good luck to the Monarchs. Most of the guys I've talked to are much more realistic about their chances than another fanbase entering the CAA . I think you guys should be competitive within the South in 3-4 years, especially the way your coach is spreading out the scholarships.

I just hope in that enough people who switched from Tech or UVA season tickets don't get discouraged by what they see and that season ticket renewals don't drop off sharply. Given what I've heard, I don't think this is likely, but being wiped around by NCCU and VMI could change things.

Also, when is your Zone ban up?

Glad you enjoy. Many of us are looking forward to becoming a FCS member and competing in one of the better leagues in the FCS in the CAA.

I know Richmond, JMU and a couple other CAA teams have all been very competitive in the FCS as of late, and we hope to make our mark as well.

Luckily, the Hampton Roads/Norfolk/Va Beach/Chesapeake/Newports News metropolis is one of the most talent filled area's in all of America. We are hoping than many of the kids who end up going to schools like JMU and Richmond or even Va Tech and UVA (you can always hope) here in Virginia will decide against that and will rather play at home in front of their family and friends in a frenzied atmosphere that is a win/win for everyone.

Of course that isn't going to happen on a regular basis right away and we are realistic about it, but that is the overall goal, to keep some of the best young talent in the country right here at home.

Man, it feels great having a college FOOTBALL discussion.....you have to forgive me, this is our first time so we are just savouring the moment.

Oh and btw, if any of you wish to visit our boards to chat a little, www.monarchnation.com is my favorite place to talk all things sports and ODU but www.caazone.com actually has much more traffic.

Hope to hear from you all.

Its cool that they have a pretty good fan base BUT this team can easily go 0-11.... so lets not get ahead of ourselves.

BlackFalkin wrote:Its cool that they have a pretty good fan base BUT this team can easily go 0-11.... so lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Pretty amazing, huh? I think UM had close to that many fans at the Eastern game last season...

Actually ODU sold 14,377 Season Tickets and had to return money to folks who had oredered 1,065 more. The stadium only holds 19,782 at this time and they are saving the rest for students, walk up fans, and the visiting team. They are going to add some bleacher seats in the corner of one endzone which may help some. Obviously ODU needs more seats.

To those folks that keep saying wait until you start losing. Wrong! Here are some important facts for you. This area ("757" to you sports fans) might have a half a dozen local high schools draw 10,000 plus on any given Friday night. Then we have another 30 high schools playing, also drawing crowds in the thousands.
High school football has tremendous support here.

The closest major college programs to us are UVA, 3 1/2 hour drive and VA Tech 5 1'2 hour drive. Closest pro team is the Redskins 4 hours away. Fans in this area are starved for a home team to root for. Everyone I know who has season tickets understands that to build a program will take years. Everyone gets it. So even if we do lose every game this year (and we will not) I bet we still sell as many tickets next year and the next. Time to start expanding the stadium!

Grizalltheway wrote:

BlackFalkin wrote:Its cool that they have a pretty good fan base BUT this team can easily go 0-11.... so lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Pretty amazing, huh? I think UM had close to that many fans at the Eastern game last season...

Only show in town.......