Fresno State topped football ticket sales projections. This one group boosted Red Wave

Fresno State athletics officials knew they needed to attract a younger crowd to football games to reach new audiences across the Valley. But coming off a season where fans were not allowed to attend games due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and with the pandemic a daily reality, they did not know how their efforts pushed largely through social media platforms would work.

With the Bulldogs’ home schedule complete, they know now: with student tickets and single-game sales hitting or near peaks, Fresno State surpassed ticket revenue projections by around $600,000, raking in more than $4.3 million.

“Taking into account the multitude of unknowns and unprecedented challenges we faced, we’re very pleased with the results and thankful for the response from our community,” said Frank Pucher, senior associate athletics director for external relations. “The Red Wave revival has been undeniable this fall, and we will keep moving it forward.”

Fresno State had its first sellout since the 2014 season when it played Boise State and in its six games averaged 33,386 in attendance, more than the Bulldogs’ Mountain West championship season in 2018 (31,503) and the most since that ‘14 season coming off back-to-back conference titles.

That number does not reflect total tickets sold, and overall ticket revenue did not match 2018.

But single-game parking revenue also was up, after a switch to ParkHub for pre-sale and mobile parking, according to athletics department figures obtained by The Bee. Pardini’s reported its highest revenue from Bulldog Stadium concessions sales in its history, breaking its single-game record three times. The Bulldog Shop also had a big year including a single-game record for in-store merchandise sales for the Boise State game at more than $80,000.

There is no data on the age of ticket buyers, but Fresno State students sold out their allotment of 3,500 tickets four times in the six games and were just short of a fifth for the final home game against New Mexico.

From 2017 to ‘19, students did not sell out a single game and there were as few as 391 student tickets scanned at entry gates at a 2018 game against San Jose State played over Thanksgiving weekend and with a division championship and spot in the Mountain West title game already locked up.

Fresno State students sold out tickets four times

“Students were our biggest target market,” Pucher said. “We wanted to serve our campus and give our student body the true campus experience they missed during the pandemic. So, in all decisions we were faced with, we thought about how it would impact our student body positively.”

To get there, Fresno State prioritized digital and social media, pushing creative graphics, photos and video content, and partnered with new media brands to reach markets it had not dented in the past.

The Fresno State football Twitter account added about 8,000 followers, reaching 76,600-plus. The Fresno State athletics Twitter account is up to about 84,800 followers. On Instagram, football has about 44,100 followers and the athletics account is up to 50,100 followers.

Fresno State made a transition to mobile ticketing and mobile parking, streamlining both processes for its fans. It beefed up its pregame offerings, adding live music and food trucks outside the stadium.

“We had to engage new audiences. We had to engage younger demographics and engage the diverse community we serve,” Pucher said. “We had to lean in and meet prospective fans where they wanted to be met rather than hoping they’d come and find us.

“That became our No. 1 external priority during the pandemic. We talked about it day after day. We sat on Zoom call after Zoom call asking ourselves, ‘How do we continually modernize our offerings, improve our communications strategies, and advance our brand in ways that align with the times and align with consumer behavior?’”

The Bulldogs did their part on the field, as well. It’s still Fresno. Winning counts. And Fresno State is 8-3 and one win and one break away from winning the West Division in the Mountain West and playing in the conference championship for the first time since that 2018 season.

Win at San Jose State on Thanksgiving and if San Diego State loses one of its final two games, they’re in.