Today at 10 a.m., some students may be loading their web browsers and frantically trying to get tickets to the Oct. 13 concert featuring Florida Georgia Line.
The University Activities Organization is hosting the concert and said the tickets, which students can purchase from Ticketmaster today, may go fast.
“According to statistics from different venues the band has been at, they could potentially go really quick,” said Daniel Daugherty, UAO co-director of traditions and a senior. “If [students] want to get a ticket they need to be available on Ticketmaster when the tickets are available.”
The band has sold more than 10,000 tickets at other venues in about 23 minutes, said Mike Freyaldenhoven, UAO adviser and assistant dean of students in the Office of Campus Activities.
For the Oct. 13 concert, which UAO is calling its fall concert, there are 4,700 tickets available for the Stroh Center. The tickets are first come first serve, and are available to students first.
“We’re trying to allow as many students to go to the show as possible,” Freyaldenhoven said.
The show isn’t searchable on Ticketmaster and students can only access the tickets through a link in an email they got yesterday, Freyaldenhoven said. Students can purchase two tickets and can only do so through one transaction.
The tickets will be open to the public in early September, and the band requested a limited number of tickets be set aside for the general public.
Florida Georgia Line announced the concert about two months ago, but UAO waited for confirmation the band was coming before announcing it.
Freyaldenhoven said UAO asked the band not to release the tour date and information.
“From what we understand, it’s a pretty common standard” to release the tour dates a few months before, Freyaldenhoven said.
“We’re excited to confirm, we’re excited UAO gets to put its name on it,” he said.
Though the band announced the concert before UAO, Daugherty said he thinks there was still some surprise among students.
“We think there’s a lot of confusion in the student body about how and when they’re coming,” he said. “We’re just getting them re-excited from when they may have first heard about it.”
Tickets are $10 for regular seats for students and $20 for floor seats. The concert, including equipment and all three artists, ultimately costs UAO $135,000, Freyaldenhoven said.
“We expect to take a loss,” he said. “We’re not in it for money.”
UAO decided to consciously take a loss on the concert because it wants more people to be able to enjoy the show, Daugherty said.
At this past year’s concert, which featured Cobra Starship and 3OH!3, the tickets cost around $25 to $30, Freyaldenhoven said.
In an effort to get more people to attend, UAO lowered the cost of the tickets this year.
“Last year we sold 810 total tickets … out of 4,700,” Freyaldenhoven said. “That’s part of the reason there’s a lower price point.”
The concert UAO hosts has traditionally fallen on Homecoming Weekend and been called the UAO Homecoming Concert. This year, it’s called the fall concert and the change in when the concert is scheduled is part of the reason UAO was able to get Florida Georgia Line, Daugherty said.
UAO thinks band availability, and not the date of Homecoming Week, should determine the date of the show, Freyaldenhoven said.
Florida Georgia Line is stopping in Bowling Green on its route to other venues, Freyaldenhoven said.
“I think coming to BG was a choice they made based on their route and I think they’re excited about it,” he said.
Daugherty thinks the band is more concerned about the quality of the fans they play to, rather than the fact that the Stroh Center is a smaller venue.
“There’s a limited amount of tickets, it’s a smaller venue,” he said. “The people who get tickets will be true fans.”
Sophomores Melissa Umerley and Dana Gill plan to attend the concert.
“We like their music,” Umerley said.
She was kind of surprised the fall concert was a country artist, but she still believes a lot of students will go.
UAO hasn’t hosted a country band for as long as Daugherty and Freyaldenhoven can remember.
“I don’t think we were after a country genre,” Daugherty said.
UAO considered five or six other artists, ranging in genre from hip hop to alternative to country, he said.
“We thought this band would be the best option for our student body,” Daugherty said.
