ODU is moving full speed ahead...

[Monarch History]

Old Dominion University is moving full speed to insure they are ready to play their first game on September 5th. They have already sold 12,500 season tickets. Many big donors have not ordered their tickets and have until May 1st to do so. It wouldn't surprise me to see in the neighborhood of 500 additional seats sold.

Here is an article from a thread posted by CSN on AGS.

http://www.anygivensaturday.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58376

[Appfan_in_CAAland]

ODU is going to put a very successful program together very fast.

[aust42]

Great job. Right off the bat they'll probably be 2nd in attendance behind Delaware. That certainly helps with recruiting.

[GannonFan]

Great job. Right off the bat they'll probably be 2nd in attendance behind Delaware. That certainly helps with recruiting.

Not probably, they will be, and they'll start off with the highest season ticket base in the CAA (UD's season tix base is a little over 11k). No reason why the first year they'll be too far away from 20k avg attendance, which is easily 2nd. UD avg's 22k and JMU is a distant 3rd with 14k-15k.

[Hoyadestroya85]

even Villanova started out with good attendance.. so you have to take their attendance numbers with a grain of salt. Villanova's first intersquad scrimmage with all walk ons had 13,000 people at it.. That's not to take away from what ODU is doing.. I think it's great

[GannonFan]

even Villanova started out with good attendance.. so you have to take their attendance numbers with a grain of salt. Villanova's first intersquad scrimmage with all walk ons had 13,000 people at it.. That's not to take away from what ODU is doing.. I think it's great

Really kind of apples and oranges there trying to compare ODU and nova. nova has a fanbase for men's basketball and that's about it. And that fanbase includes a lot of non-affiliated Philly college basketball fans who don't follow nova in anything else. ODU, on the other hand, has always had significant support for all their sports. nova never came anywhere near 12k season ticket holders - heck, I doubt they even approached 1/3 of that number. And ODU doesn't have that excuse you hear from nova people that the national stage basketball plays on "spoils" them when it comes to watching less than top division football. And ODU already plays all the schools they'll play in football in every other sport they play, and they have 3 other in-state conference foes. The two situations couldn't be any different, really. xreadx

[henfan]

But there's a world of difference between attracting 13k fans at a single event vs. selling 12K season tickets before the first ball is even snapped.

I stand by my early assertion that ODU will be a force in FCS FB in short order.

[Hoyadestroya85]

I'm not saying that they won't be good.. but who knows if these people will keep renewing their season tickets

[Monarch History]

I'm not saying that they won't be good.. but who knows if these people will keep renewing their season tickets

ODU and South Hampton Roads fans are starved for football. (No disrepect to NSU.) There are no pro or BCS schools within 150 miles on Norfolk unlike Philly which has several pro franchises to vie for the city's $. I think fans will give Coach Wilder at least five years to produce a competitive product on the field. l

[JmuSkinsfan]

Well, I think it's impressive they have sold 12,500K season tickets, but let's see how many re-new when they win 1 game next year. If you can uphold that attendance until you start playing a full-time CAA schedule then come talk to me.

I am envious of ODU's market though. Certainly helps to have that many people in the area.

[Fordham]

wow!

great work ODU! Going to be very interested in seeing your product later on this season ... and likely thankful that we're seeing you now instead of a few years from now!

[DFW HOYA]

Well, I think it's impressive they have sold 12,500K season tickets, but let's see how many re-new when they win 1 game next year.

One game? Their schedule includes Chowan, Virginia Union, Jacksonville, Monmouth, Fordham, Presbyterian, Campbell, Savannah State, Georgetown, N.C. Central, and VMI. They could win as many as six to start.

And 12,500 season tickets is impressive--that's more than some C-USA and Sun Belt teams. And that's about 12,500 season tickets more than the Hoyas, since Georgetown doesn't sell season tickets to the still-temporary Multi-Sport Field.

[jmufan999]

Well, I think it's impressive they have sold 12,500K season tickets, but let's see how many re-new when they win 1 game next year. If you can uphold that attendance until you start playing a full-time CAA schedule then come talk to me.

I am envious of ODU's market though. Certainly helps to have that many people in the area.

BINGO!!! of course it's a JMU fan, nice!

i, too, am envious of ODU's market, we all are. most of us are, anyway.

BUT, he's right... it's amazing what losing or winning does to your program. i'm not talking year to year, i'm talking game to game. get blown out in your first game and watch attendance plummet at game #2 (the first year, you may get away with this for longer since it's a new thing). also, and this part is very sad.... VERY sad. many of those donors/season ticket holders don't know the difference between FCS and FBS. will they be as stoked when THEY realize (again, WE all know this, but we're fanatics on a freaking message board) they're not playing UVA/Tech, Florida, etc. on a regular basis.... "wait a second, i'm not going to see SportsCenter highlights?"..... "we're not going to be on ESPN?".... "i can only read about my team in the local paper or on AGS?".... that kind of thing.

not trying to rain on your parade AT ALL! seriously. 12,500 is a ton of tickets. just offering a different perspective, don't get all pissed off.

[HoyaMetanoia]

One game? Their schedule includes Chowan, Virginia Union, Jacksonville, Monmouth, Fordham, Presbyterian, Campbell, Savannah State, Georgetown, N.C. Central, and VMI. They could win as many as six to start.

And 12,500 season tickets is impressive--that's more than some C-USA and Sun Belt teams. And that's about 12,500 season tickets more than the Hoyas, since Georgetown doesn't sell season tickets to the still-temporary Multi-Sport Field.

Are we a part of that six?

[Monarch Nation]

BINGO!!! of course it's a JMU fan, nice!

i, too, am envious of ODU's market, we all are. most of us are, anyway.

BUT, he's right... it's amazing what losing or winning does to your program. i'm not talking year to year, i'm talking game to game. get blown out in your first game and watch attendance plummet at game #2 (the first year, you may get away with this for longer since it's a new thing). also, and this part is very sad.... VERY sad. many of those donors/season ticket holders don't know the difference between FCS and FBS. will they be as stoked when THEY realize (again, WE all know this, but we're fanatics on a freaking message board) they're not playing UVA/Tech, Florida, etc. on a regular basis.... "wait a second, i'm not going to see SportsCenter highlights?"..... "we're not going to be on ESPN?".... "i can only read about my team in the local paper or on AGS?".... that kind of thing.

not trying to rain on your parade AT ALL! seriously. 12,500 is a ton of tickets. just offering a different perspective, don't get all pissed off.


If this were not our first season since 1940 I would concede that losses and blowouts would lead to dropping attendance. But most of those spoken-for season tickets are held by people who have been pushing for this for more than 20 years. Some of those ticket holders donated million dollar over sized checks to the program during basketball halftimes. We are all heavily invested in this and I doubt that a few early program losses will deter us from the bigger picture.

We know we are playing a soft schedule in the first year. We also know we are going to get our asses handed to us in CAA play for a while...perhaps a long while. If attendance drops, it will be the student attendance who are not patient enough to watch the team progress. They'll want instant gratification, because that is how they were raised. They've never had soup that wasn't from a can. Those of us who are older remember that it takes all day to make a really good soup from scratch - and so it is with football teams. Building from scratch, it will take a while. But if done correctly, the result should be magnificent!

[4th and What?]

Meh, too much nay saying in this thread. Congrats to ODU on everything they have done so far. I agree that they are well on the way of putting together a great program in a short amount of time. I expect they will be a solid team in 4-5 years right there with everyone in the CAA.

[ur2k]

If this were not our first season since 1940 I would concede that losses and blowouts would lead to dropping attendance. But most of those spoken-for season tickets are held by people who have been pushing for this for more than 20 years. Some of those ticket holders donated million dollar over sized checks to the program during basketball halftimes. We are all heavily invested in this and I doubt that a few early program losses will deter us from the bigger picture.

We know we are playing a soft schedule in the first year. We also know we are going to get our asses handed to us in CAA play for a while...perhaps a long while. If attendance drops, it will be the student attendance who are not patient enough to watch the team progress. They'll want instant gratification, because that is how they were raised. They've never had soup that wasn't from a can. Those of us who are older remember that it takes all day to make a really good soup from scratch - and so it is with football teams. Building from scratch, it will take a while. But if done correctly, the result should be magnificent!

That's the right attitude to have. You guys should be a good addition to the CAA down the road. It will be a tough go the first few years, but considering the talent and support in the 757 region - you guys have the potential to be real good.

to 4th and what - I like your avatar - shows how it takes 7 JMU players to tackle 1 UR player xrotatehx