South Carolina made a subtle change that could help boost football attendance
South Carolina is bringing back student guest tickets for the Florida and Auburn home football games.
USC students can request up to two guest seats in the upper student section at a cost of $50 each. The tickets are good for general admission seats in sections 508 and 509 at Williams-Brice Stadium, according to a school statement.
The reintroduction of student guest tickets comes amid an overall attendance dip in 2021 for South Carolina football home games when compared with the 2019 season, when the guest ticket option was last offered. And it’s being rolled out as head coach Shane Beamer has directed multiple messages to fans this year, encouraging them to fill the seats at Williams-Brice Stadium in his first season.
“We’ve played in front of hostile, loud, packed, sold-out stadiums every week that we’ve been on the road this year in the SEC, and we will need that from our fans on Saturday night as well,” Beamer said Tuesday in his weekly press conference ahead of Saturday’s home game against Florida. “We know what a great fan base we have here, and we’ve got three out of our last four games at home, two SEC games and our in-state rival. Saturday night. Prime time television. If you can’t get excited for that, I can’t help you guys.”
An average of 209 student guest tickets were sold for each home game during the 2019 football season, according to USC, and the school expects this year’s demand to be comparable to that.
According to announced attendance figures — a reflection of tickets sold for a game — Williams-Brice Stadium’s capacity is more than 10 percentage points down this year when compared with 2019, their last full season before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, South Carolina football’s announced attendance averaged at 97.1% of the stadium’s then-80,250 capacity limit for its seven home football games — a slate that featured Alabama, Georgia and Clemson. Through their first four home games of 2021, the Gamecocks’ announced attendance has averaged at 86.3% of its capacity, which was lowered to 77,559 people after club additions were made before the 2020 season.
South Carolina’s 2021 home opener against Eastern Illinois on Sept. 4 drew in 64,868 fans, 83.6% of Williams-Brice Stadium’s capacity. The Gamecocks’ next home matchup against Kentucky on Sept. 25 was announced at full attendance.
The following weekend, the Gamecocks’ home game against Troy brought in a season-low number, with 60,686 in attendance (78.2% capacity). Beamer appeared to notice the empty seats and offered a plea to fans in his postgame press conference after South Carolina’s 23-14 win over the Sun Belt opponent.
“Going forward, if you’re a season ticket holder, or you’re somebody that has tickets to a game and you’re not going to come, please get those tickets to somebody else,” Beamer said Oct. 2. “There’s a bunch of great Gamecocks out there that would love to be in this stadium.”
South Carolina’s attendance improved slightly in its next home game against Vanderbilt, with announced attendance at 64,695. Still, that number for the Gamecocks’ 21-20 win was less than their season opener and just 83.4% of stadium capacity.
The final stretch of the 2021 home schedule includes a stronger group of opponents that should also help overall attendance — Florida, Auburn and Clemson — though the Gators are Gamecocks are both 4-4 on the season.
The Gamecocks went 4-8 in 2019 but announced an attendance number higher than Williams-Brice’s 80,250-person capacity three times: vs. Alabama (81,954), Kentucky (80,828) and Clemson (80,580). Records obtained by The State in 2020 for a story about how ticketing and attendance figures are tracked revealed that 84.9% of purchased tickets were actually scanned for the Alabama game, with 79.5% scanned against Kentucky and 81.3% against Clemson.
With the loaded home schedule in 2019, South Carolina saw a jump in announced attendance, averaging 4,300 more fans per game compared to 2018. The Gamecocks’ 2019 increase was the most drastic in the SEC and 10th-largest gain in the country.
The school wanted to bring back the student guest ticket option since Williams-Brice Stadium had returned to full capacity after last year’s pandemic-related limitations. There was a delay in allowing for student guest seats because of technology changes with USC’s ticketing vendors.
For this week’s Southeastern Conference matchup against Florida, seats comparable to the student guest ticket opton in nearby section 507 are available through Ticketmaster for $36 each. Those tickets must be purchased in a pair, with fees raising the total to $86.83 for two tickets. The price was the lowest available on Ticketmaster as of midweek.
The school’s release said student guest tickets will also be made available for South Carolina basketball home games at a later date.
