Georgia State’s ticket prices for 2013 football season will remain the same as they were in 2012 … as long as they are purchased by April 1.
Because of a quirk in the Sun Belt schedule that occurred with the defection of two members, Georgia State will host seven games this year at the Georgia Dome. Those who purchase by April 1 in effect get the seventh home game for free.
Season-ticket prices range from $2,500 to $70, which includes the required donation to the Panther Athletic Club. Students get in free.
“We wanted to keep our pricing the same as a reward for our loyal season ticket holders,” associate athletic director Tiffany Daniels said.
After April 1, prices will range from $2,534 to $70.
The seventh game may help for a very important reason: It will give Georgia State another opportunity to increase its actual attendance at games at the Georgia Dome.
Georgia State’s turnstile count at football games -- the number of the people who actually attended -- in its first three years was almost 50 percent less than its announced attendance, according to data obtained by the AJC from the Georgia World Congress Center Authority.
The Panthers had an announced average attendance of 14,569 after 19 home games played in 2010, ’11 and ’12. Announced attendance includes tickets sold and distributed. However, the actual attendance average was 7,926, a 46-percent difference, according to the Georgia Dome’s turnstile counts at those games. The percentage looks extreme because of the small sample size.
It’s common for college and pro teams to use announced attendance, rather than actual attendance, because the former number is almost always higher. The Braves (and Major League Baseball), Hawks, Falcons, Georgia and Georgia Tech, to name a few, use tickets sold and distributed. The NCAA, which mandates that FBS football programs average 15,000 fans at home games at least once in a rolling two-year window, allows teams to use either method when reporting attendance.
However, Georgia State’s actual average illustrates the challenges it faces as it tries to increase attendance as it heads into its first year playing football on the FBS level in the Sun Belt Conference.
Georgia State’s attendance was affected by several factors, including that it played FCS football, which carries less interest for fans than FBS football, its 1-10 record in 2012 and playing in the Colonial Athletic Association, which contained no regional rivals for the Panthers to increase interest for fans of the Panthers or the visiting teams. Richmond -- a nine-hour drive from Atlanta -- was the closest conference opponent to play in the Dome last year.
South Carolina State was the closest non-conference opponent to play at the Dome. Its campus is four hours away.
The Sun Belt hasn’t released the conference schedule yet, but Georgia State has already announced three games at the Georgia Dome against opponents with regional ties. The Panthers will host Samford on Aug. 29 or 30, Tennessee-Chattanooga on Sept. 7 and Jacksonville State on Sept. 21.
Samford is a four-hour drive from Atlanta. The other two are two hours.
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