Courtesy of FGCU Athletics
DUNK CITY, Fla. – Quickly becoming one of the can’t-miss attractions in South Florida, FGCU Athletic Department officials announced Thursday that 93 percent of the reserved seats in Alico Arena for men’s basketball games have already been sold for the 2014-15 season.
Only 160 reserved seats from an allotment of 2,175 – a total which was increased by 370 from last season – remain, and a majority of those are in Priority Level 3 (sections BB, AA, VV, UU, II and NN – BB-UU are located along the baseline opposite the student section and II and NN are located on each side of the student section).
The Alico Arena seating chart can be found by visiting FGCUAthletics.com/tickets/
Reserved seats in Priority Level 3 (light green on the seating chart) are selling for $166. Only five total single seats along the sidelines (Priority Level 1 and Priority Level 2 – gold and dark blue on the seating chart) are available. In addition to the 160 reserved seats remaining, 900 general admission season tickets are also available. Those bleacher seats are Priority Level 4 (dark green on the seating chart) along the baseline closest to FGCU’s bench and the upper level (sections EEE, FFF and GGG) and sell for $133. Discounted prices are available for FGCU faculty and staff, alumni association members and current or former military members.
All reserved seats (not including sections AA, VV and general admission) require a minimum donation to the Eagles Club, the official organization which supports FGCU’s 15 Division-I programs, builds and maintains outstanding facilities and funds scholarships for the more than 250 talented student-athletes. More information about the Eagles Club can be found by clicking here.
“With the success of the men’s basketball team and the continued support of our fans, season-ticket sales are at a record high,” said Chad Lutkenhaus, director of ticket operations. “Last year at this time we had only sold about 1,300-1,400 season tickets, but now we’ve sold out of 93 percent of our reserved seats and that number is continuing to shrink every day. Being able to sell out of reserved seats for season tickets would be a huge accomplishment and really show just how far we’ve grown since Dunk City.”
In total, Alico Arena has the availability for 3,075 season tickets (reserved and general admission combined). FGCU holds approximately 1,500 tickets for students each game up to 24 hours before tipoff, and standing-room-only tickets are also available for purchase to bring Alico’s capacity to 4,633 – not including those in the Hospitality Suite.
“This is great news and a collective testament to our student-athletes and coaches for generating such an exciting product to watch, as well as our tremendous season-ticket holders for providing such fantastic support,” added Director of Athletics Ken Kavanagh. “I also want to recognize Chad and Kyle Schmidt (assistant director of ticket operations) for the wonderful job that they continue to do daily in serving our valued fans so well.
“We not only look forward to selling out the remaining 7 percent of inventory, but continuing to witness Alico as a regular standing-room-only venue whenever the Eagles take the floor,” continued Kavanagh. “Likewise, it is awesome to be looking at the future distinct possibility that the only season tickets (beyond those held for our FGCU students) that would be available would be reserved seats.”
So far, home games against UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 17), FIU (Dec. 14) and Furman (Dec. 19) have been announced, in addition to seven Atlantic Sun Conference home contests. FGCU plans to add as many as five more non-conference home games, and pending a signed contract will play three games in three days at the Gulf Coast Showcase just minutes from campus at Germain Arena Nov. 24-26. If any single-game tickets remain available, they will go on sale beginning Oct. 1.
Last year, FGCU was one of only five schools in the nation to increase its attendance by at least 2,000, joining Nebraska (5,067), Syracuse (3,813), Virginia (2,281) and SMU (2,210). FGCU’s increase was 2,050, going from 2,290 in 2012-13 to 4,340 in 2013-14. In just 17 home games last year, the Eagles surpassed their entire home attendance for the previous two seasons combined (73,780 in 2013-14; 61,493 for both 2012-13 and 2011-12).
FGCU posted 13 sellouts last year, six which were standing-room-only and drew a record 4,702 fans for the A-Sun Championship Game against Mercer on ESPN2. Prior to last season, FGCU had only one sellout in program history, and that came against Miami in November of 2012 – a game the Green and Blue won over the eventual ACC champions.
The Eagles finished the 2013-14 season with a 22-13 record following the program’s first-ever A-Sun regular-season championship courtesy of a 14-4 league mark. FGCU participated in the NIT for the first time in program history as its 22 wins marked the second-straight 20-win season and were the second-most in the Division-I era (since 2007-08). Over the past two seasons, FGCU has gone 30-3 overall and 17-1 against A-Sun competition inside the friendly confines of The Nest.
FGCU will return eight letterwinners in 2014-15, while four transfers will also be eligible in Joe Dooley’s second season at the helm. True freshman and 6-7 forward Logan Hovey sat out the 2013-14 season following surgery to repair a stress fracture and he will have four years of eligibility beginning this fall as a redshirt freshman. In addition, Dooley and his staff will have two incoming freshmen – guards Zach Johnson and Christian Terrell – and welcome 6-11 sophomore center Eric Moeller to bolster what will be one of FGCU’s deepest teams in program history.
For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the men’s basketball program, follow @FGCU_MBB on Twitter and Instagram, and “Like” us on Facebook at /FGCUMBB.
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