Hopefully, you read the story that published on myajc.com on Saturday detailing Georgia State's efforts to entice a larger portion of its student body of 32,000 to attend more football games.

Well, they didn't work against Jacksonville State. A few minutes before the start of the game, there were less than 70. Overall, I would estimate less than 300 showed up. The university was competing against the weather (most of the students are commuters and would have to drive in the rain to get to the game), Music Midtown, and a team that's just not very good right now.

Two weeks ago, I sent a long list of questions to Jerry Trickie about attendance. I received the responses early last week. I also interviewed athletic director Cheryl Levick.

Here are the athletic department's responses, some of which I used in the story. I couldn't include all of the information because I ran out of room.

But I thought you might some of the information interesting.

In my opinion, this schedule, which included games against Tennessee-Chattanooga, Samford and Jacksonville State, was put together with two things in mind: they were teams that would bring fans to help Georgia State hit that 15,000 mark that the NCAA requires, and they were games that the athletics department thought the Panthers could win.

Slightly more than 15,000 in announced attendance showed up at the Dome on Saturday. Most of you know the score.

Was there an assumption with the move from FCS to FBS that attendance would increase? What reasons gave GSU that belief was there?

Moving to the Sun Belt Conference was a perfect fit for many reasons, and having closer opponents to build rich rivalries is definitely a benefit to being in this conference. We are located in an incredible city that people want to visit and many of our new Sun Belt opponents are close enough to have driving trips for their fans. We believe the competition our fans will enjoy with Sun Belt teams will build attendance more than our previous conference ever could have.

What efforts are being made this year to encourage student attendance?  

During the spring, a comprehensive football marketing plan was developed with the objectives of boosting attendance, creating a more engaged fan base and generating more local and regional attention during the 2013 football season. Specifically within that plan were student marketing goals to improve engagement and attendance; strengthen communication channels on campus; create a Panther Advisory Group with student decision-makers; and implement new ways to connect with both commuters and on-campus students.

The Athletics Department has increased its engagement with students through planned weekly public events; worked closely with campus groups like Spotlight and Inter-Fraternity Council among others; and reached out to new students (including at all 23 summer Incept events as well as the new FYRE program) to promote the football program. Coaches and players have been involved with groups around campus during the summer and fall. While student awareness has risen, it has yet to translate to students in seats at the Georgia Dome. 

Which attempts are different than in previous years?  

The comprehensive marketing plan has several stages that are new. It initially kicked off with Incept as athletics staff were on hand to inform incoming students about games, our new conference, how to get to and from the Georgia Dome, new chants for fans at games and more at all 23 summer dates. The outreach continued with coach Miles speaking before convocation to the 3,000-plus freshmen (the first time athletics has been involved in a speaking capacity) and then the fall sports teams interacted with students at the Block Party. Once school started, the athletic department has taken advantage of the foot traffic during the busiest days on campus to create awareness and interactions with students to talk about GSU Athletics and football specifically. New partnerships have been forged with student groups to work together toward common goals (like the events around Ludacris’ appearance at the Samford game), and great attention has been given to creating a better fan experience specifically for students. Other new promotions in 2013 have included free student parking at the Samford game, free companion tickets (normally $10) and pregame on-field access and improved free student shuttle service from campus to the Georgia Dome, to name a few.

How much money has been spent on attracting students to games?

Currently, the total for advertising, giveaways and in-game presentation for football marketing is $171,000. This year, the student portion is approximately 42 percent of the total marketing spend, although much of the non-student marketing is also driven toward students as the vast majority of our student body is commuters.

What was spent in previous years?  

In 2012, it was approximately the same total, but a smaller percentage (34 percent) of the football marketing was directed at students.

What efforts are being made this year to encourage non-students (alumni, general fans) to attend?  

To reach alumni and fans, progress toward the overarching goals is being made through several areas including: digital, social and targeted advertising alongside traditional mediums. Comprehensive community marketing efforts have included creating key partnerships with faculty, staff and alumni groups, improving in-game fan experience and outside marketing including static billboards and more than 178,000 sticky note advertisements on one Sunday AJC in August. The result has been seen in the increase in season ticket sales (including individual, group and charitable tickets) which now stands at more than 8,000 this year.

Which attempts are different than in previous years?  

The difference has come with significant efforts of the marketing plan being focused more on digital advertising through the AJC, Atlanta Business Chronicle and social media where it is more localized to the fan base. Printed materials including more than 12,000 schedule cards and ticket brochures were passed out at two Atlanta Braves games, including one where coach Miles and staff were on the video boards and there was in-game advertising for GSU. Creating more relationships with Atlanta influencers like Ludacris, which gained traction in both traditional media and social media, will take time, but it can help connect the events to the fans. 

How much money has been spent on attracting the non-students to games?

See previous answer regarding student marketing.

What was spent in previous years?

See previous answer regarding student marketing.

What are the upcoming promotions?

As scheduled within the marketing plan, weekly promotions will continue for events on campus to provide awareness and show school spirit like #AllBlueAllIn Thursdays. For upcoming gamedays, we will have the following themes along with the normal promotions around and inside the Georgia Dome:

Sept. 21 vs. Jacksonville State

• Taste of GSU - bringing the tailgate to the fans in the Orange Lot with several recognizable mobile food names
• Putting with Pounce (miniature golf) for National Miniature Golf Day

Oct. 12 vs. Troy

• Homecoming will have a couple of promotions that cannot be released as corporate partners are still working through details. The focus will be on the general fan base and students.  

Nov. 2 vs. Western Kentucky

• Band/Spirit Day

Nov. 16 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

• Financial Freedom Day for Students including the Financial Fix Day Drop

Nov. 30 vs. South Alabama

• Same as Homecoming, this event cannot be released yet based on partnership restrictions at this time.

The athletic department was restructured and part of the focus was on improving marketing. What has changed since that restructuring?  

The external unit that oversees the marketing plan is moving forward in a more unified fashion with marketing, sales, tickets and communications working hand-in-hand to be more effective at reaching our audience. The department is implementing new ways to communicate better with the students, alumni, fans and general public to create better Interactions to help generate a greater fan experience.

Short of consistently winning, is there any other solution?  

Coach Miles has a plan for the team, and we have a process in place to grow our fan base by continuing to follow our core values which allows us to operate at the highest level. While winning helps in all areas, we are providing a tremendous gameday experience, game operations and services to fans no matter the outcome.

How many tickets in the charitable ticket program are being given away for each game?  

As part of our goal to reach 15,000 average attendance per NCAA rules, our ticket staff has worked diligently to build the charitable ticket program and we have had many great supporters step up to help. We are making every effort within the spirit of the market to get those tickets into the community for people who will benefit from them. In the first two games, charitable tickets totaled 1,036 and 1,780, respectively. The redemption rates were 53 percent (548 redeemed) and 36 percent (440 redeemed). The next five games have between 1, 300 and 1,800 tickets per game currently passed out with efforts to continue to reach the greatest amount of people possible up until kickoff.

How many have been used for each game this year?

See the previous answer.

How does that compare to previous years?

In 2011, there were 16 given away for the first game and 287 for the second. For the year, it was 9,064 given out and 2,638 redeemed (29.1 percent redemption rate). In 2012, the first two games were 469 and 608, while the total for the year was 8,188 given out and 2,595 redeemed (a rate of 31.7 percent).

What is the average number of fans or tickets sold for a home game at the Georgia Dome for Georgia State to, at minimum, break-even on its lease on a per-game basis?(According to the 2010 contract, the minimum per-game cost is $35,000 with event-specific fees not to exceed $75,000. I don’t have a copy of the new contract)  

Currently, our total income per game exceeds our base per-game cost. However, we look at our overall revenue when talking about covering our costs for the season, not per-game revenue just to break even. This allows us to focus on keeping ticket prices down. Many programs have one ticket price for all seats, but we are able to present six ticket price points for fans so no one is excluded from being able to attend.

Separate interview with Chery Levick

How would you describe the student attendance?

The student attendance has averaged slightly less than 3,000 per game. Our plan to engage the students, which started this summer, has been successful.

We have a lot of students that are excited about our sports programs. They come to a variety of sporting event. We are still trying to get them to convert to being there on Saturdays.

They know who the student-athletes are.

We know that 80 percent of our undergraduates work. We are sympathetic to their needs.

We are listening. Those that can get there are there. I totally appreciate their support.

I think we will still see a  fluctuation between 3k and 5k for homecoming.

I’m looking at trying to do more mid-week games next year. Opening on mid-week and another Sun Belt game in the mid-wekk that would be responsive to their schedule.

I think the students are engaged, we just have to get that conversion to seats in the Dome. We all know that when we won a couple of games, it will make a big difference.

We will make the 15,000 average requirement.

We have doubled our season-ticket base to a little more than 8,000. We have five more home games (remember the interview was before the game). Good homecoming crowd, some teams that we think will travel well. All those things wil contribute to getting tot hat 15k average.

Students must swipe (student cards) to get counted.

We are hopeful that they can come out when they can and be behind this team.

The charitable ticket program is the single-biggest thing that will get us to that 15,000.

All the different strategies we have will contribute to us getting to that 15,000 average.

What happens if you are averaging 14,500 heading into that last game?

I won’t let that happen. We have donors that will buy the tickets.

We have donors that understand the formula that wil continue to contribute to the charitable ticket program who believe in Georgia state and helping the community.

We will make it happen, we will hit the 15,000.