Football is back in Tallahassee and hotels and businesses are already feeling the surge from fans.
Florida State had its first home game this past Saturday, bringing in over 70,000 fans.
Hotel rates also go up during this season. During home-game weekends the prices at hotels go up greatly while during the week you see more normal rates.
Raymond Gissendaner, who is the manager of the DoubleTree in downtown Tallahassee, says this time of year can be extremely busy.
“We have more guests in-house. The mindset people have for football is partying, tailgating, going to the game, and meeting old friends,” Gissendaner said.
College football brings a major boost of revenue to the region and its economic impact goes a long way. Studies have reported that football season produces a total of $47.8 million between FSU and Florida A&M home games.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, last year’s season brought in $161.1 million in operating revenue for Florida State, which was the highest since 2018.
According to USA Today, Florida A&M University brought in over $13 million in revenue in the 2022 season. This was the highest revenue for the university since 2015. The total ticket revenue for FAMU was $1.8 million.
This past football season the rivalry Florida vs. Florida State game was a sell-out with over 85,000 fans at Doak Campbell Stadium, boosting the economic revenue that weekend to near-record numbers. Last year’s FAMU homecoming game brought in increased sales and people are already seeing hotel price increases for this year’s homecoming.
The excitement of college football brings excitement for Florida State and Florida A&M fans.
Local restaurants close to the colleges enjoy increased traffic during the football season.
Ashley Hester, the manager of OG Subs, says FAMU and FSU game days can get pretty crazy for the restaurant. “We get an influx of college students from happy hour at Pots or the tailgates. We have like a couple hundred people come in every game day,” Hester said.
With football season just beginning the rise in revenue is only getting started. With both FAMU and FSU having pretty big expectations this year it will bring more fans from across the state and nation.
FAMU’s first home game is Saturday vs. West Florida, so we will see another surge of fans come out to support the Rattlers.