Completed Event: Lacrosse versus #16 Notre Dame on May 8, 2026 , Win , 13, to, 12
LAX
Final
James Madison
13
vs #16 Notre Dame
12
James Madison University | Official Athletics Site
Bourne Dialogue - Football Game Day Review
6/26/2015 10:45:00 AM | Football, Administration
As we prepare for the 2015 football season, an important component in our planning for home gamedays is reviewing the previous season to understand what areas need improvement or change. As part of the 2014 season, a specific focus was made to perform internal and external reviews of our gameday operations and garner feedback from the perspective of our fans. In our ongoing efforts to provide the best gameday experience possible, it is important that we take the feedback from the JMU Nation into account to be sure we are working in the right direction.
While we value the feedback from Duke Club members and season ticket holders, it was important for us to receive input from as many perspectives as possible. We solicited feedback from single-game ticket buyers and attendees of Family Weekend, as well as from a third-party consultant from whom we requested an external review. Information from these groups augmented a survey conducted with our season ticket holders and a focused review from the season ticket advisory council.  Â
In 2014, JMU Athletics assembled a season ticket holder advisory council that met four times during this past year to discuss the gameday experience. Twelve football and basketball season ticket holders were selected to represent different demographics across our fan base. Professors from JMU's hospitality, sports and recreation management program moderated the council and solicited open discussion and dialogue on gameday operations and atmosphere. The council focused on communication with fans, in-game atmosphere and operation details of gameday. This group helped reinforce findings from our surveys and external review, while giving valuable feedback about fan expecations, music choices and game times.
GameDay Consulting, our external source, performed a "Secret Shopper" review during the November 1 Homecoming football game. This review focused specifically on operational and staffing issues, including: stadium access, credentialing, gate operations and parking logistics. The resulting report provided us insight to help improve fan egress in both the stadium and parking areas. The findings illustrated the need for better training and education for our gameday staff.
Our review of JMU Football gameday experience was supplemented by a survey, conducted by the Office of Parent Relations, that focused specifically on Family Weekend, a day that typically features many first-time visitors to Bridgeforth. Thanks to the hard work of athletics and university staff, our campus and stadium continue to impress visitors with an overall positive experience. Much of the critical feedback garnered was related to gameday parking opportunities and access to improved parking locations. As a result, we will focus on improving our direct messaging and our online resources on JMUSports.com to present parking information more clearly before games .
Our most valuable source of information came through direct surveying of season ticket and single-game ticket purchasers. We solicited over 5,400 accounts that bought single-game tickets in 2014 and received 388 responses, approximately a 7 percent response rate. Additionally, 2,144 season ticket accounts were surveyed and we received 544 responses, a 25 percent response rate. We were quite pleased to receive this much feedback, particularly from our season ticket holders, confirming that our most engaged fans care to provide feedback on their experience. The surveys addressed similar topics and concerns, allowing us to compare and contrast season ticket holder feedback with that of single game purchasers to strengthen our findings.  Â
Fan feedback on game times is proving very helpful to us as we plan for the 2015 season. Both groups surveyed reinforced that afternoon game times (3-6 p.m.) were the most favorable at 53 percent, midday games (1-3 p.m.) are the second most popular at 40 percent and evening games (after 6 p.m.) were the least favorable, with only 7 percent of fans indicating late games as their preferred start time. We will keep these preferences in mind as we work with the conference office to confirm TV opportunities and set game times for the upcoming season.
An important portion of the survey allowed participants to provide open comments and feedback. These comments illustrated specific concerns that trend with our fans and allow us to quantitate and put them in perspective of our other feedback. Positive, complimentary feedback from our fans' game experience made up 13 percent of the open comments and was one of the highest category of comments we received. This is something we are proud of and will continue to improve upon our gameday production. Equally important, however, are the critical comments about gameday experience and we will focus on those remarks.Â
The in-game atmosphere inside Bridgeforth Stadium and programming on the videoboard made up 19 percent of the feedback, including engagement opportunities for students and fans using the videoboard, on-field promotions, music and the Marching Royal Dukes. A leading concern, also voiced by the ticket advisory group, was the departure of the animated Duke Dog video utilized before kickoff during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The cost of the video exceeded $50,000 per season and we could no longer justify that expense despite the video being a fan favorite, a decision with which the council agreed. The comments garnered specific to the in-game atmosphere will help us plan our entertainment, promotions and videoboard programming moving forward.
Stadium concessions, including pricing and food options, were the subject of 17 percent of the comments. We have openly shared this information with Aramark, JMU's contracted food service provider. Benchmarking shows that concessions prices in our venues are competitive with our peers in the athletics realm, as well as other entertainment venues across our region. Aramark is actively working to improve its variety of options. Expect changes in that regard this season. We also realize the need to better educate our fans about the availablity of concessions throughout the stadium. A variety of concession offerings exist that are not common knowledge to all fans and we need to provide that information better. We feel confident that we can make improvements in these areas. JMU has a great partnership with Aramark and we have recently renewed our contract with the company for the next 15 years.
The final area we are evaluating, based on the feedback from our fan surveys, involves campus egress and our parking operations. Many fans expressed frustration with the flow in and out of specific lots and shared concerns about accessible parking on gameday. Managing campus travel on gameday is a challenge and we are hopeful that the improvements and road widening that have taken place during the Newman Dam project will improve traffic flow via the Port Republic entrance to campus. Ultimately, the challenge of ushering over 1,000 vehicles from the lots in direct proximity to the stadium takes time and we ask for fans' patience after the game as we work to move cars off campus in the most efficient and fair manner. While we have plenty of accessible parking and shuttles for individuals with special needs available, we found that we need to do a better job providing this information to our fans based on the feedback we received. This feedback also reinforced findings that emphasized our need to improve communication and education efforts for fans coming to campus on gamedays, specifically in regards to egress and parking. We will address this matter via focused pre-game communications using email, social media and better placement on JMUSports.com.
In 2014, JMU Athletics increased its focus on fan feedback and internal review and I want to applaud our external operations team for taking this initiative and striving to improve our football gameday experience. We plan to continue this effort using our season ticket advisory council, both internal and external reviews, as well as both fan surveys and input. In 2015, we will also increase our focus on input from students to improve the experience for the JMU student body while increasing attendance and engagement at games. A student marketing council was formed in the spring of 2015 and we will look to expand our surveying of the student body during the upcoming athletics seasons. Â
JMU Athletics will continue to perform this review and work to provide a great gameday experience to our fans. We hope the changes implemented for the 2015 season will make a significant impact and further improve our gameday experience.Â
Fans wishing to provide additional feedback in advance of the season are encouraged to share your comments at any point.
Go Dukes!
Â
Jeff Bourne (@BourneJeff)
Director of Athletics
Â
While we value the feedback from Duke Club members and season ticket holders, it was important for us to receive input from as many perspectives as possible. We solicited feedback from single-game ticket buyers and attendees of Family Weekend, as well as from a third-party consultant from whom we requested an external review. Information from these groups augmented a survey conducted with our season ticket holders and a focused review from the season ticket advisory council.  Â
In 2014, JMU Athletics assembled a season ticket holder advisory council that met four times during this past year to discuss the gameday experience. Twelve football and basketball season ticket holders were selected to represent different demographics across our fan base. Professors from JMU's hospitality, sports and recreation management program moderated the council and solicited open discussion and dialogue on gameday operations and atmosphere. The council focused on communication with fans, in-game atmosphere and operation details of gameday. This group helped reinforce findings from our surveys and external review, while giving valuable feedback about fan expecations, music choices and game times.
GameDay Consulting, our external source, performed a "Secret Shopper" review during the November 1 Homecoming football game. This review focused specifically on operational and staffing issues, including: stadium access, credentialing, gate operations and parking logistics. The resulting report provided us insight to help improve fan egress in both the stadium and parking areas. The findings illustrated the need for better training and education for our gameday staff.Our review of JMU Football gameday experience was supplemented by a survey, conducted by the Office of Parent Relations, that focused specifically on Family Weekend, a day that typically features many first-time visitors to Bridgeforth. Thanks to the hard work of athletics and university staff, our campus and stadium continue to impress visitors with an overall positive experience. Much of the critical feedback garnered was related to gameday parking opportunities and access to improved parking locations. As a result, we will focus on improving our direct messaging and our online resources on JMUSports.com to present parking information more clearly before games .
Our most valuable source of information came through direct surveying of season ticket and single-game ticket purchasers. We solicited over 5,400 accounts that bought single-game tickets in 2014 and received 388 responses, approximately a 7 percent response rate. Additionally, 2,144 season ticket accounts were surveyed and we received 544 responses, a 25 percent response rate. We were quite pleased to receive this much feedback, particularly from our season ticket holders, confirming that our most engaged fans care to provide feedback on their experience. The surveys addressed similar topics and concerns, allowing us to compare and contrast season ticket holder feedback with that of single game purchasers to strengthen our findings.  Â
Fan feedback on game times is proving very helpful to us as we plan for the 2015 season. Both groups surveyed reinforced that afternoon game times (3-6 p.m.) were the most favorable at 53 percent, midday games (1-3 p.m.) are the second most popular at 40 percent and evening games (after 6 p.m.) were the least favorable, with only 7 percent of fans indicating late games as their preferred start time. We will keep these preferences in mind as we work with the conference office to confirm TV opportunities and set game times for the upcoming season.
An important portion of the survey allowed participants to provide open comments and feedback. These comments illustrated specific concerns that trend with our fans and allow us to quantitate and put them in perspective of our other feedback. Positive, complimentary feedback from our fans' game experience made up 13 percent of the open comments and was one of the highest category of comments we received. This is something we are proud of and will continue to improve upon our gameday production. Equally important, however, are the critical comments about gameday experience and we will focus on those remarks.Â
The in-game atmosphere inside Bridgeforth Stadium and programming on the videoboard made up 19 percent of the feedback, including engagement opportunities for students and fans using the videoboard, on-field promotions, music and the Marching Royal Dukes. A leading concern, also voiced by the ticket advisory group, was the departure of the animated Duke Dog video utilized before kickoff during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The cost of the video exceeded $50,000 per season and we could no longer justify that expense despite the video being a fan favorite, a decision with which the council agreed. The comments garnered specific to the in-game atmosphere will help us plan our entertainment, promotions and videoboard programming moving forward.
Stadium concessions, including pricing and food options, were the subject of 17 percent of the comments. We have openly shared this information with Aramark, JMU's contracted food service provider. Benchmarking shows that concessions prices in our venues are competitive with our peers in the athletics realm, as well as other entertainment venues across our region. Aramark is actively working to improve its variety of options. Expect changes in that regard this season. We also realize the need to better educate our fans about the availablity of concessions throughout the stadium. A variety of concession offerings exist that are not common knowledge to all fans and we need to provide that information better. We feel confident that we can make improvements in these areas. JMU has a great partnership with Aramark and we have recently renewed our contract with the company for the next 15 years.The final area we are evaluating, based on the feedback from our fan surveys, involves campus egress and our parking operations. Many fans expressed frustration with the flow in and out of specific lots and shared concerns about accessible parking on gameday. Managing campus travel on gameday is a challenge and we are hopeful that the improvements and road widening that have taken place during the Newman Dam project will improve traffic flow via the Port Republic entrance to campus. Ultimately, the challenge of ushering over 1,000 vehicles from the lots in direct proximity to the stadium takes time and we ask for fans' patience after the game as we work to move cars off campus in the most efficient and fair manner. While we have plenty of accessible parking and shuttles for individuals with special needs available, we found that we need to do a better job providing this information to our fans based on the feedback we received. This feedback also reinforced findings that emphasized our need to improve communication and education efforts for fans coming to campus on gamedays, specifically in regards to egress and parking. We will address this matter via focused pre-game communications using email, social media and better placement on JMUSports.com.
In 2014, JMU Athletics increased its focus on fan feedback and internal review and I want to applaud our external operations team for taking this initiative and striving to improve our football gameday experience. We plan to continue this effort using our season ticket advisory council, both internal and external reviews, as well as both fan surveys and input. In 2015, we will also increase our focus on input from students to improve the experience for the JMU student body while increasing attendance and engagement at games. A student marketing council was formed in the spring of 2015 and we will look to expand our surveying of the student body during the upcoming athletics seasons. Â
JMU Athletics will continue to perform this review and work to provide a great gameday experience to our fans. We hope the changes implemented for the 2015 season will make a significant impact and further improve our gameday experience.Â
Fans wishing to provide additional feedback in advance of the season are encouraged to share your comments at any point.
Go Dukes!
Â
Jeff Bourne (@BourneJeff)
Director of Athletics
Â
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