Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Annual State of The Seminoles Visit with FSU's Athletic Director, Michael Alford

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Annual State of The Seminoles Visit with FSU's Athletic Director, Michael Alford · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: All right, friends, welcome third hour Morning Show with Preston Scott.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: We're almost polishing off the month of July, which means
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the start of the new sports season in collegiate athletics
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: is right here upon us, and that means it's time
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: to meet with the director of Athletics for Florida State University.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Vice president and our friend Michael Alford joins us. Michael,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: good to see you again. It's time for a state
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of the Knowles. It's my favorite time of the year,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Preston when I come on with you, because it tells
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: me the student athletes are coming back. Football practice has started,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: soccer practice has started, and it's the start of the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: new year and nothing gets me more excited. Yeah, before
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: we talk about the new season, I want to look
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: back at twenty three, twenty four. What metrics do you
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: use to kind of measure and evaluate men's and women's athletics.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: There's several metrics and now you know me, President, I'm
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: so analytical and breaks things down by numbers and months
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and what are we doing here?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: But really the success we've had.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: You had, you had five conference championships, you had six
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Coaches of the Year, two national Coaches of the Year,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: seven Conference Players of the Year, and then you look
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: at what we did academically with having nearly a three,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: having a three to two, nearly a three to three
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: departmental GPA. I mean that just tells us the type
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of student athletes that we're bringing into this program that
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: represent Florida State University or second to nine. They're performing
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: very well in their sport, but they're also doing it
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: across life, and they're going in and they're doing it
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: in the classroom, doing it in the community. And my
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: job and I talk about this all the time when
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I'm hiring coaches and I got a new coach, I'm
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: hiring a press conference tomorrow, is bringing people of high
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: character around these young, impressionable student athletes at this time
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: because I do believe eighteen to twenty two you kind
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of form your opinions of life sure and making sure
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: that we have administrators, coaches, people in the weight room, nutrition,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: everybody associated that cross the paths of these young men
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: and women daily are people of high character and that
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: we set that culture early and I think that.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Goes on to the field.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: And I just think that culture that we've been able
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: to establish goes as a department. We'll go into the field,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: we'll go into life. We'll also make differences in the classroom,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: and that's something I'm very proud of the performance that
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: we did last year. Now it's time to close that book.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: And we got a whole new set of student athletes,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: five hundred and eighty of them coming in again here
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: this year to start this season, and it's setting that
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: expectations of excellence. You know, you hear me say it,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and I think coach Norvale says it all the time.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: The standard is the standard. We're Florida State University. There's
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: a standard at Florida State academically, at the university and
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the community. There's just a standard that we have to
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: live up to from people previous of us. To looking
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: at the vision moving forward, Let's talk about that for
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a second, because I don't think anybody in your position
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: you couldn't have become an athletic director and been in
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: this world as often as you have for as long
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: as you've been in without having a background at sports.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I love sports, I played sports. We all know it
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: teaches about life, right. Every coach, head coach at any
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: sport has a philosophy. How much does that head coach's
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: philosophy then have to merge with the overall Like you said,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: how do you make sure that it's the right fit,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: And you do look for.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: A culture fit.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: You look for someone who's going to come in with
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: similar core values of what you stand for and what
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you will not stand for, and also look at that
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: make sure they have a vision of the type of
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: student an athlete they want to bring in and that's
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: got a actually the type of student athlete we want
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: representing Florida State University and also the type of program
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: they're going to run that leads to success. And I'm
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: a big good degreat book and I'm a firm believer.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: You put in the proper processes, you're going to have success.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: And so it's great to sit down with coaches when
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: you're going through this hiring process and talk to them
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: about their processes and what's.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Going to fit.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: And then it comes down to basically a culture fit.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Not all of our head coaches support each other like
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: no one else. You go to a softball game, you're
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: going to see Mike Norvel there, You're going to see
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: all of our coaches are really close knit. And I
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: think that bleeds into the culture that we have.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Think of him as your uncle, Preston, the relative you
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: actually enjoy having around, and not just at the holidays.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: This is the Morning Show with Preston.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Scott, affectionately known as the ad Michael Alford with us
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: simplify everything a little bit, Sen say of the seminoles,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: how about we put it that way. Do you ever
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: get to meet with all of the head coaches and
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: their staffs well at the same time?
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, all the time. I'm having a head coach. What's
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: that like? That's awesome.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I'm having a head coaches over for dinner to my
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: house Wednesday night. I do that every year to start
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: off the season. Okay, and then of course I go
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and I try to make three practices a day president
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: to show my face and support three times a day.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Now maybe for fifteen minutes. Sure, But Sarah, who affectionately
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: returned to call the Governor that she takes care of
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: everything in my schedule and everything that needs to happen.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: She really runs the athletic department. But you know she
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: schedules out my day where if soccers in the weight
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: room or soccers at practice, I can stop by for
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: fifteen to twenty minutes and just let them see that
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: we're there to support them, let the coaches see that
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: we're there, that we care, and that we're there to
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: support them, and it really makes a difference in the
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: relationships I'm able to build with our student athletes.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I make sure I go into the training room.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: One thing, Scott true Luck, who's our head athletic trainer,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: knows if a kid suffers a major injury, call me,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: get me out of whatever meeting I'm in.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I want to be there.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: When that kid hits the training room because I just
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: think it's important and that goes into the culture that
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: you're not a number, you're a person, correct, It goes
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: into the culture that we're building, and it goes into
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the trust and faith that the student athletes have and
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: what we're trying to provide the winning edge resources for
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: them to compete classroom and.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: On the field.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: You mentioned predecessors and culture, and of course you know
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: for me, I came here in the at the beginning
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: of the cusp of the Bobby Bowden run and was
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: fortunate to know Coach Bowden before he came to Florida State.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: But I remember hearing the coaches talk about how they
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: were close to each other, how they could talk to
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: coach Bowden or talk to coach Hamilton, or coach Samurai
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: would talk to this coach. Is that the same type
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: of thing that's being built or has been built here?
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: It's it's I think, I want to tell you it's
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: getting rebuilt. Okay. Our coaches here are just amazing and
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: what they do and how they support each other and
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: they do You were saying the same thing that used
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: to go on, and I've heard those stories and what
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: coach Bowed and the core values we talll core values
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: earlier and you feel his core values through the department,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: through the university, and I fell him through the community.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I think he had that kind of impact absolutely here.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: But then you look at what the coaches and how
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: they support each other, and they attend each other's practices,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: they ask each other questions, they ask culture questions.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: What are they doing to.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Develop these type of processes that lead to the tight
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: knit group that some of our programs have, And it's
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: amazing to see the information that is shared amongst them.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: And that's really just something that we're really trying to
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: encourage and something I try to encourage just get out
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: see what are the coaches are doing. Live in your silo,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Get out there and learn from each other. And I
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: learned from them and how to be a better athletic director,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and what can we do to provide those resources for
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: them to go out and have success. Is it possible
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: to explain how different college athletics has become with the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: world of NIL and the transfer portal, It is totally different.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: I mean I got closer to professional sports. I would
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: say that having ten years in the NFL in a
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: year in Major League Baseball, it is becoming that it's
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: especially coming in the future in twenty five with the
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: House case that passed, You're really going to develop a
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: contractual relationship with your student athletes more than you do now.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: And that's something that we understand it. We're prepared for it.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: We're prepared to have success in it. But I don't
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: want to lose the relationship that we have with our
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: student athletes and making sure that they understand that we're
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: still there to take care of them why they're at
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Florida State, and more importantly, get that meaningful degree of
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: a top twenty public institution in the left hand and
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: championship rings on the right. I mean, that's our goal
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: for every student at well. And the reality is, as
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: has been pointed out, you know, the one successful one
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: of the successful campaigns the NCAA rolled out recently is
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: you know, most of the athletes are not going to
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: play pro correct and getting that message to the young people.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Is pretty important. Yeah, very important.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: And it starts with great families at home sure, and
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: making sure that we're bringing in student athletes here that
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: have a great family home base is also important. I
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: bet you've heard that song once or twice. Listen to
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: it every day is what my alarm clock goes off
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: on gets me going every morning. How long did it
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: take you to memorize the words? And do you know them?
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: You had to work on them for a little bit.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it takes a minute, doesn't it tell me this?
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: We were talking about how different college athletics has become,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: and it's not just though for the athletes, it's for
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the people that love their and support their schools. And
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: I've read about other schools fighting the balance and what
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I mean by that, Michael is you've got boosters out there,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: and now boosters are kind of being torn between supporting
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the infrastructure needs, the program needs, and then there's nil
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: out there and trying to get some of these athletes
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: into the schools and into the programs. How do you
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: walk that tightrope? There's no doubt it is a true
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: balance and where collegiate athletics has gone. And you know,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I chaired in twenty nineteen the NIL of Space and
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: went to the NCAA represented as I asked to represent
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: all the athletic directors across the country and come up
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: with a program. Went to the NCAA and this was
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: when you were Central Michigan. Went to the NCAA in
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen and put together a program and everything you
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: hear them talk about now is what we presented. Third
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: party administrator agents being registered, everything that we talked about
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: that needed to happen. And they came to me because
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: of my NFL background and basically collegialize the NFLPA is
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: kind of what we did at the time and presented
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: it and they were afraid of lawsuits. So I said, well,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: if you don't do this, the wild West is going
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: to happen, and it's going to be used one hundred
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: percent for recruiting purposes and that's where it became. And
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: now we're trying to dial that back a little bit,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: but it has changed. You got to embrace it. I
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: think our fan base has embraced it. We've competed in
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: the NIL space very well, because the transfer portal is
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: kind of the enemy in a way of the NIL
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: and I you know, andfect I'm a perfect storm. Well,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong. I suggested there was a
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: kid at Ohio State freshman got a massive NIL deal
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and left after one year, hardly saw the field. My
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: contention was, they're going to have to be some people
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: that learn an expensive lesson before they It's not that
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: different from rookies, right correct, Untested rookies getting massive contracts,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: untested freshmen getting these massive endorsement deals. And you saw
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: we really concentrated on retention. Yeah, of keeping players that
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: were already here getting new ones, but keeping players that
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: were here that were established, that deserve the opportunity to
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: go out and benefit on their name, image and likeness
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: because they built it up while showing a seminole. Absolutely,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: and that was part of our plan with coach no
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Orville and other coaches in the work. And we were
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: able to go ahead and retain our talent that we're
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: here because one, they loved it here, they loved the
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: relationship we had with them, they loved their coaches, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: then we were able to offer something else. Do you
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: ever have a challenge though, where somebody's just kind of
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: they're struggling with where they want to support. They recognize
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: the importance of nil, but they also see, let's just
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: use dope Campbell, don't. Campbell's going through a huge renovation
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: and there's all kinds of ancillary projects that go with
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: any of this, whether it's football or baseball or whatever
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: it might be. And they want to give to the
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: program though too, but they only have so many dollars
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: to give, and that you're one hum percent and the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: nail on the head President. And that's just discussions we
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: have that we're able to have with our donor base
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: and say what what motivates you to help us? Because
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: we need help across the board. And we do have
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: four hundred million in construction going on. Yeh. Now, we've
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: got a new football facility being built, We've got del
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Campbell project, I've got a lacrosse stadium that I'm about
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to build here in the next year because we're adding
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: lacrosse that starts in twenty five twenty six. So you know,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: going to our donor base and asking them to support
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: us and asking them to support our mission and vision
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: more importantly is something that we've had success with the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: last few years. And I give Stephen Ponder and the
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Boosters and everyone that works there or tip my hat
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: to them all the time because we have been able
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: to go out and get support and they've supported us.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: And when it's come to whether the nil or whether
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: it's the Booster side have given to facility projects and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: everything that we have going on right now, the facilities
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: are ahead of schedule, the new stadium cells and everything
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: going in Dope Campbell ahead of schedule. Yeah, I was
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: going to ask you to update where what can fans
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: expect to see this season at Dope. It'll be temporary
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: seating on the west side to see about half the
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: stadium will be done. They're building down to the temporary
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: seats and then the front part will be temporary seatings
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: for the twenty five twenty fourth season and then next
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: year in twenty five when Alabama opens, they'll finish it
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: will be completed. So they're going to be doing work
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: is as games. I always say hashtag partner our dust.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: As you're leaving the stadium. You may have to wear
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: a hard hat to get to the concession standard for
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: this year.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: But there was never not a good time to do it. Yeah,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: there is no way to do that.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: And when you look and do the analytics of it
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: and you look at what other universities have done, we're
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: nine million behind the average average Big ten team and
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: thirteen million behind the average SEC team and getting revenue
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: out of their stadium. Why are we in that position
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: of a seventy three year old Dough Campbell Stadium Because
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: they had updated the amenities for their fans for many
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: years and kept updating as these seasons went along, and
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: we just did not do that. And now we're having
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: played little ketchup on the amenities. Two more fast moving segments.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: This time always moves really fast. With Director of Athletics
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: for Florida State University Michael Alford and Michael, we were
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: talking about the renovations at Doe Campbell Stadium and all
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: that's gone into that. You shared something with me that
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I think is really important, and that is that most
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: of us did not understand the amount of money being spent,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and you could argue having to be almost wasted to
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: keep the facility to where you could continue to have
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: host games. Yeah, the deferred maintenance on seventy seventy forty
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: years old. Now I believe you know, the deferred maintenance
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: that we were having to spend every year going into
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: the season just to make sure that we can keep
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: the whole sections.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Available for our fan base structurally.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: And you know, some of those decisions were made that
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: it's just time, it's time to do some things a
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: little bit, and there is no good time. There's never
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: a good time to rip that band aid off. So
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: how did you arrive at your overall plan? Well, we
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: hired in twenty nineteen twenty twenty hired a company called CSO,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: who's the greatest in the business. They do every study
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: on any stadium in the NFL, going into different markets,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: what works, what didn't, And we did a very comprehensive
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: fan study and they came in and sit down with
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: focused groups and sent out and we had one of
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: the best responses that they had ever had from our
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: fan base. Interesting that told us what they wanted. What
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: amenute is They wanted. We gave pricing models, would you
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: be willing to pay this for a LOWJE box and
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: gave comparisons to other institutions and even some proteins across here,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: here's what this cost. Would you be willing to have
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: this amenity at this price point? And got that study
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: back analyzed. It worked with our sports architect Farm Populous
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: and saying, okay, here are the amenities that our fans want.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Let's design something that goes out and meets these price
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: points and meets these amenities.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: And we've had.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Extreme success right now presenting we've built a preview center.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: We're doing it the right way where we call you
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: by your rank in the donor organization in the booster club,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: and have you come in and you get to go
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: through the preview center and pick and choose what game
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: day experience you want. Moving forward, and the club seats
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: have been sold, we're starting on chairbacks now the whole
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: West side is going to be chairbacks, starting on that process.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: The lows boxes are sold out, the founder suites are sold.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: But now well we'll get into that next level of working.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Also on the South end and the West Side don't
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: and we haven't forgotten the East. We're going through that
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and fixing all the ADA requirements. Each seat on the
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: East is going to have a seat cap now that
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: establishes an eighteen inch seat for you that you can
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: sit down in. So that's going to be coming forward
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: this season. So there's a lot of changes that we're
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: doing to dope to increase the fan experience. Because I
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: always talk about we lead the country, which is we
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: found out in this study and sixty percent of our
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: fan base travels over three and a half hours, And
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: what is our competition? So then you bullet down to
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: who am I competing for that entertainment dollar? We bring
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: one hundred million dollars to Leon County every year Florida
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: State Football does what can I do to continue keeping
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: that machine rolling for the.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Community other than win games?
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Other than win games, because that plays a role. It
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: plays a role.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: It does.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: You know, coming from Jacksonville, they're coming from Mercedes Benz,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: They're coming from Orlando and going to see the Magic
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Bucks games. Miami's one of our largest handhandle is hand
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, so they're coming from these stadiums that have
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: some of these amenities already, So how do we keep
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the entertainment and the fan amenities that dope Campbell's Stadium
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: and modernize it for the future. Sure, and that was
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: our vision moving forward. Quickly, I'll make this because we're
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: coming to a break here. What can you say? What
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: do you feel comfortable saying about what fsu acc what
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: that all looks like.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Well, we're going to continue.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: You know, it's playing out in the court system right now,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: and we're doing our due diligence. We think we have
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: some great points and we're going to continue to move
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: that ball down. The always say run out that ground ball,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: continue to run it out. But we're also preparing for
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the future where we think Florida State and Florida State's
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: brand belongs in the landscape of collegiate athletics. Can you
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: tell a guy that played baseball? Yeah, that's the aw
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: He picks final segment with the director of Athletics for
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Florida State University, Michael Awford. This is kind of our annual.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: We've turned it into an I think after two you
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: can say the annual.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: It is annual.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: It's the first or the second, and then it'll be
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the third annual State of the wholes address. Here on
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: the morning show with Preston Scott. Just to put a
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: cap on the FSU ACC thing. Do you do you
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: have any anticipated timeframe where there will be some definitive
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: direction that you feel like you'll have moving forward. Well,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: we looked at this no one that where collegiate athletics
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: was heading, and we've had deep conversations with the ACC
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: when I became athletic director and Jim Phillips and I
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: have an unbelievable relationship with the respect I have for
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Commissioner Phillips is second to none. I've known twenty something years.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: He is a man of integrity. We talk core values earlier.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: There's not a man with better core values than Jim
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Phillips I have. But you know, we spoke to the
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: a SEC and laid out the laid out what our
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: what our.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Concerns were right moving forward.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: When you say we had that conversation, when was that,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: oh two and a half two years ago, It's been
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: a while, okay, and laid out you know our concerns
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: are because we see that when the media contracts are coming,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the SEC the Big ten and negotiated their new deals. Absolutely,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: we saw there's going to be a thirty to forty
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: million delta in that and what they're able to provide.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: And then we also anticipated what the house case was
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: going to be. We didn't know exactly. We didn't know
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the roster limits. We didn't know, but we knew the parameters.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: We could guess the parameters. And seeing now that that's
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: past Or getting settled in the court system and you're
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: able to go out with these roster limits and able
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: to offer one hundred and five scholarships for football, and
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: you're going to have this influx of cash coming to
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: those other two conferences. It's just going to make the
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: separation more.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: It's make it greater.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: And what I'm concerned about preston football's football. You know,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: people talk about football a lot. My concern is making
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: sure I give the winning edge resources and the scholarship
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: level and everything we can do to that national championship
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: soccer program, to line and her softball programs. What links
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: do in Chris Pull, I mean, you look at the
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: success Brooke Niles. You just go down the Brook Wyke Off,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: you just go one after another of these great programs
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and great coaches we have and making sure that we're
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: able to provide them the winning edge resources because the
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: other two conferences have the media support to do it.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: They have the media, new income of cash coming in
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and revenue from those media contracts that are allowing them
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: to make a difference in those sports. And that is
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: my concern to keep us at that level across the board,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: because we have comprehensive excellence at Florida State and I
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: want to continue.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: That the seasons.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Right around the corner, you've got the national defending champion
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: soccer program starting in a couple of weeks. How about
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: this one, I'll give you a stat, Coach Penske. We
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: have seven players in the U twenty World Cup right now,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Yes seven, Seven of our student athletes will not be
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: here opening Day because they're representing their countries, the United
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: States or others in the U twenty World Cup. There
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: are a few that are from the program that are
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: in the Olympics as well.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, what an unbelievable program and what he was
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: able to do last year. I still argue that was
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the greatest women's soccer team in the history of the NCAA.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Just the domination they had from start to finish pretty special.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Was pretty special. Lastly, of course, you've got another season
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: of college football and for a lot of people. I mean, look,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: it's the big revenue generator and all that, but you're
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: heading to Dublin, Ireland. Yes, how does that happen that
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: you're playing Georgia Tech? Not first of all, I mean
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: you just think it ought to be Notre Dame.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: But anyway that.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Came about, I have a great relationship with a gentleman
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: named John Anthony who puts on that game. And literally
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: we're at the Georgia TCU National Championship game in La
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Meeting and basically on a paper napkin on a bar,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Napkins said, hey, well why don't we do this? But
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I would not give up a home game for our
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: fans in our community. So we went out and got
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Georgia Tech because we were going to play there this year,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: and to move that home their home game to Dublin
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: so we can have this experience for our student athletes
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and our fans. And I can't wait to get over there.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: The game is sold out. How much gear are you
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: selling over there? We're selling a lot, right, What do
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: you expect the fan split to be? Oh, it's going
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to be a seventy five twenty five I mean they
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the response from our fans for the travel packages that
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: their people in Ireland and Dublin are just amazed. And
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I told them, we're going to paint those streets Dublin
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and we're going to plant Dublin guard ain't gold. The
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: temple bar may have a lot of guard. You might
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: hear war chant going down the street. It's a doubling
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: a lot thing. Saciola renegade making the trip. Don't think
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: we didn't try. I know all those people. I had
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: a feeling that wasn't gonna happen. Michael is always thanks
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: for the time. Oh thank you mister success this season.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Enjoy coming to see you. You do an unbelievable job.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Love listening to you in the morning. Thank you, appreciate
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: all the support you do for Florida State and go Knowles.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: We love I heartbeing the flagship for FSU athletics. Got
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: a little softball on the air last year. That was exciting.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Always love having all the sports and again, thank.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: You, thank you, Go Knowles.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Michael All for Director of Athletics Florida State University. Here
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: on the Morning Show with Preston Scott