Season ticket sales spike with Kiffin on board
BOCA RATON — When Florida Atlantic signed coach Lane Kiffin to a fiveyear, $4.75 million contract last month, the university ushered in a new era for its football program, investing unprecedented resources on the team, including an additional $1 million on the coaching staff.
With the additional expenditures, FAU is counting on Kiffin to provide a return on the investment in the form of increased ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and fundraising. The early results are promising.
According to FAU athletics director Pat Chun, 2017 season ticket sales are higher than they were in 2015 at the same point in the year. That year, FAU sold 7,583 season tickets and hosted Miami in the mostattended game in FAU Stadium history.
The school did not release exact 2017 season ticket figures since sales are ongoing and incomplete.
“Did it spike to a level that was astronomical?” Chun said. “No, but there has been an increase since the naming of Lane as our head coach. That is a positive thing.”
Kiffin comes to FAU as one of the nation’s most high-profile coaches after stints leading the Oakland Raiders in the NFL, and Tennessee and USC at the collegiate level. For the past three seasons, he served as Alabama’s offensive coordinator before parting ways a week before the national championship game.
Kiffin’s $950,000 annual salary and a $1.7 million pool for assistant coaches means FAU’s investment on the coaching staff alone increased more than $1 million from 2016. Former coach Charlie Partridge and last year’s assistants made about $1.6 million combined.
Last year, Partridge was the fifth-lowest paid coach in Conference USA. This year, Kiffin will be the highest paid coach in the conference, and the school will continue to pay Partridge more than $1 million over the two years remaining on his contract. If Partridge accepts a job elsewhere, that number drops to about $200,000.
“We’re moving, we’re pushing,” Chun said. “The good thing is early returns are season ticket sales are up right now. We’re working on the corporate sponsorship piece, but that takes a little bit more time. It’s not like we could just go see 10 people and say ‘Hey, this is what’s going on.’
“Once more excitement builds up with spring ball, then once fall gets here, it gives us an opportunity to really use, between now and kickoff, the opportunity to sell tickets and corporate sponsorship and try to increase our fundraising as well.”
Last year’s attendance numbers were the lowest since FAU Stadium opened in 2011, with an average crowd of 10,073. FAU’s attendance was third-worst in the country, leading only New Mexico State (9,545) and Ball State (7,789). The Owls finished the season 3-9 for the third consecutive year under Partridge.
Last season also had the four worst attended games in FAU Stadium history: Old Dominion (5,843), Charlotte (7,401), UTEP (9,122) and Western Kentucky (9,338). The Charlotte game was moved to a Sunday because of Hurricane Matthew and featured free admission.
The drastic fall in attendance (down 43 percent) came one year after FAU averaged a school-record 17,707 fans per game in 2015, though that figure is somewhat inflated by a sellout in the season opener Miami.
Next year’s home schedule features non-conference games against Navy and Bethune-Cookman, along with league games against Florida International, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State and North Texas.
FAU has scheduled future home-and-home series with peer schools such as South Florida and UCF instead of multiple games each year against traditional powers like Alabama and Nebraska.
“The interesting thing that we will learn first-hand will be the impact of winning in today’s environment in South Florida, with a full array of options for your entertainment dollars,” Chun said. “How will that impact our ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and fundraising? against We’ll learn first-hand.”
Chun and FAU are banking on not only Kiffin’s appeal to a hopeful fanbase but also his ability to deliver wins. The combination, they hope, will lead to the program’s first bowl berth since 2008 and boosted ticket revenue.
“Anytime you bring in a new coach, there’s hope and excitement,” Chun said. “But there’s also reality. Once the calendar flips and you get through the 2017 season, you’re going to be judged on your results. We’re of the belief that with the head coach we brought in, the caliber of assistant coaches that we brought in, more importantly, the student-athletes he’s inherited, that the results will be there this upcoming year and that’ll be something that we believe in this marketplace [will] resonate.”