By: Rico Albarracin/Asst. Sports Director
The FIU Stadium will host the concert for the first time in the venue’s history, as a way to kick off Homecoming week on Sept. 25. Last year, the band Lifehouse performed in the tailgate area outside the stadium.
The stage will face the east end of the stadium, where the student section is located, according to Mercy Lavado, the homecoming overall coordinator. The Homecoming Council followed the suggestion of the athletics department.
Though the concert is considered the signature event by the homecoming council, the news that tickets were already available came as a surprise to many students.
“I had no idea,” said Justin Garcia, a business major, upon hearing that Lupe Fiasco would be the performer.
The consensus is that students know about the concert, yet are unaware about how to obtain tickets for the show. Ned Chandler, in charge of marketing and promotions at the Biscayne Bay Campus, was unavailable for comment as of press time.
There are 7,000 tickets available for the concert, 5,000 of which are free to students, which is just above 10 percent of the student body. The homecoming council has been distributing for the past three weeks on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Tickets will be available for distribution once again on Aug. 31 from 1 to 2 p.m., and also on Sept. 8 from 3 to 4 p.m. at both Campus Life offices: room 2240 of the Graham Center at the Modesto Maidique Campus and room 141 of the Wolfe University Center at BBC.
Two weeks prior to the Homecoming Concert, tickets will be distributed on a daily basis until they are sold out.
Although the show will be at the biggest venue on campus, which is capable of seating 22,000 people, the homecoming committee felt the need to cap the amount of seats available for the show to provide a better experience.
“We’re not gonna have someone sitting on the opposite side of the stadium,” Lavado said when asked about the limited amount of tickets available.
Two thousand tickets are for sale at hc.fiu.edu, with two options available: a $30 VIP floor seat in front of the stage and a $25 general admission price. The prices are relatively low for a concert featuring Lupe Fiasco, whose average concert price is $50 and up on Ticketmaster.
“Usually concerts are $80, so we wanted to cut it and make it easier for students to buy,” said Lavado.
However, $90,000 worth of student money from the activities and services fees were used to pay both Lupe and Tinie. And when asked about the possibility for University students to receive a discount on paid tickets, Lavado refused to comment.
All proceeds made from ticket sales will go towards the production costs of the concert.
“We’re trying to expand the event. We wanted to make it more accessible to the community,” said Lavado. “Also, we don’t feel it’s fair that, since our students are paying for the concert with our fees, people from outside should get in for free.”
Alumni, faculty and staff of the University can also obtain free tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Lavado also refused to comment on what the homecoming council is doing to advertise to the community.
With few signs being seen around either campus, some students believe that the committee can expand the advertisement.
“Have bigger posters, not just little ones,” said Emily Ebanks, a senior majoring in architecture. “Also, put them in all the schools. I don’t walk around campus a lot and it seems that all of the flyers are limited to GC. Not all the students walk around the campus.”
Not all students share the same sentiment about the advertisement for the concert, like Ellen Heitmann, a junior double majoring in international relations and political science.
“I think they’re doing a good job about getting the word out,” said Heitmann.
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