Coastal Carolina offers free concessions at home football matches to elevate fan experience

Coastal Carolina wants to make his fans the best fed this fall in the University Football.

Fans at the Chanticleers Six home games in 2025 can visit four items per concession) of a selection of hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and fountain drinks. They can make unlimited visits and are only needed to scan every trip through an Athletic Department -App and to provide e -mail addresses, so that the school can follow promotions about other events.

Athletic director Chance Miller got the idea of ​​his previous job as a deputy athletic director at South Carolina. He spied a mother in the football stadium with three small children in line for concessions. The children asked for everything they saw.

She paid and handed her son his nachos. Before they could take more than a few steps, he dropped them.

You could just see the look on her face, such as, why did I come here? Miller remembered.

He told the family to go to their chair and arranged a replacement nacho delivery. Eventually that family became seasonal card holders.

They were such moments where you like, man, if we really do something like that and let people experience, they will keep coming back, Miller said.

Coastal Carolinas Monday Announcement to increase (fans) game experience, coincided with season cards that were for sale, but the athletic department also hurried to release the release hours for April Fool's day, so no one would suspect that the promotion was a joke.

Imagine this. It is September 6. You have your free nachos. Free hot dog. Free drink. The songs have taken over the field for the first time. Life is good.

Season cards https://t.co/dhravzhguf#Ballattebeach | #Fam1ly | #Tealnation pic.twitter.com/gowoancmp

Coastal Football (@coastalfootball) March 31, 2025

Last year, Coastal Carolina had an average of 21,415 fans in the home games, square in the middle of the Sun Belt for presence.

Miller expects spikes in group tickets and tickets for one game to cover the losses of free concessions. He said that when he told the players of the plans, they were enthusiastic for larger crowds. He said the plan is to make this the norm at the coast. He also said that worries about long lines should not be a problem, because the concession stands will have a grab and a kind of feeling.

As a result, there was not really an obstacle, Miller added. The people I am blessed to work with and the athletic department cooperates, they are all coordinated that we wanted to try different things to make people realize that Coastal is a great place and people have to come out and watch some games and experience it with us.

Before Coastal was officially planning to free up concessions, it increased the prices of a few tickets that had not been touched in different seasons. Most remained the same price. Some, said Miller, had reduced their price because the athletic department decided they were a good price.

Kust is no stranger to unique promotions. Last year it offered a complete repayment for men's or women's basketball season tickets if the programs were combined to achieve 35 victories, hoping to create a better atmosphere for home games. They combined to win 33, with the men who won 10 competitions and the women who won 23.

Miller, who once carried out concession activities for a provincial parks and recreation department, had the idea to release concessions on three basketball matches in South Carolina Mens who were usually poorly present during the holidays. In December in action, months after Miller left for Coastal Carolina, the program placed some of his best presence of the season.

He hopes for a similar effect this fall.

Sometimes they win. Sometimes they don't do that. Sometimes they appear and play well. Sometimes not, Miller said. But what you can control is the experience from the moment people park and your locations walk in until they leave.

Coastal Carolina still offers premium options such as local favorite Bojangles or Chick-Fil-A, but the basis will be free.

The move goes against what some larger programs do to grow their income prior to the house of NCAA Settlement, which is expected to be completed as quickly as next week and allow athletic departments to share up to $ 20.5 million with athletes.

In September, Tennessee announced a talent costs of 10 percent for the price of season cards. Arkansas Basketball announced a shakeup in January for seasonal card holders, where seats at donation donation levels are arranged.

We must continue to build the fan base. Were just in a different place than other schools. That does not mean that we do not need extra help to try to compete and play in the income room or share the income space and extra fairs, but there are different ways to do that, Miller said.

The move is also the newest and most dramatic in an attempt by some teams to reduce the financial burden for fans who attend competitions. When the Atlanta Falcons opened their new stadium in 2017, they debuted Fan-First prizes at concessions, with hot dogs, drinks and popcorn for $ 2, beers for $ 5 and pizza for $ 3.

The Atlanta Hawks made a similar step shortly thereafter. The Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club have adopted a similar policy in recent years. The Phoenix Suns also lowered concession prizes this season. The Falcons said that the move resulted in an increase in turnover of 30 percent.

Third -year coach Tim Becks Team starts his home slate on 6 September against Charleston Southern. The Chanticleers went 14-12 under Beck, with two arrangements.

They went 6-7 in 2024, covered by a loss for UTSA in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, who organizes Carolina Coastal Carolina every year at Brook's Stadium.

I knew it would get some attention, but I didn't know it would get some national attention, Miller said. I have a few advertisements that I know who are friends of mine, reach out and say, thank you very much, man, now our fans are shouting at us. We have to do the same.

(Photo: Isaiah Vazquez / Getty images)