Coastal Carolina offering free concessions at home football games to ‘elevate fan experience’

Coastal Carolina is looking to make its fans the best-fed in college football this fall.

Fans at the Chanticleers’ six home games in 2025 can acquire four items per concession stand visit from a selection of hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and fountain drinks. They can make unlimited visits and are only required to scan each trip through an athletic department app.

“We’re always looking for ways to elevate (fans’) game day experience,” Coastal Carolina athletic director Chance Miller said in a release Monday. “We’re excited to offer free concessions this fall as a way to say thank you for the energy, passion and support they bring to Brooks Stadium every game.

“This is one thing we can offer back to fans that show up every weekend when there are a million other options for things for people to go do with their families,” Miller added.

Picture this. It’s September 6. You’ve got your free nachos. Free hot dog. Free drink. The Chants have taken the field for the first time. Life is good.

Season tickets ➡️ https://t.co/dHraVZhgUF#BALLATTHEBEACH | #FAM1LY | #TEALNATION pic.twitter.com/gOwoIANKMp

— Coastal Football (@CoastalFootball) March 31, 2025

Miller, who was a senior deputy athletic director at South Carolina last year and ran concessions operations for local parks and recreation as a student at the University of Tennessee, initially pitched the idea of free concessions at Gamecocks basketball games. This year, the program elected to try the practice for three games during Christmas break, some of the most sparsely attended games on the schedule because of holiday activities and students home for the break between semesters. They saw spikes in attendance as a result, and some of the best attendance of the season.

“People might think the lines will be packed, but you avoid the time lost paying for it and ringing it up. You save the time, and it’s a grab-and-go type of feel.”

Miller said that before the decision to offer free concessions, he had adjusted some of the ticket prices in Brooks Stadium to be more expensive in part because they hadn’t raised prices in several years, but much of the stadium’s ticket prices are remaining the same. Some, in fact, are dropping. “We thought it wasn’t a good value,” he said.

Miller expects that spikes in group tickets and single-game tickets will cover the losses from free concessions. He said the players were excited when he told them of the plans and were excited for bigger crowds. He said the plan is to make this the norm at Coastal.

“There wasn’t really an obstacle in doing this,” Miller added. “The people I’m blessed to work with and the athletic department works with, they’re all in alignment that we wanted to try different things to get people to realize Coastal is a great place and people need to come out and watch some games and experience it with us.”

Fans can also purchase other items at concession stands. Using technology, where fans using the app will be required to provide their contact information and the school will use it to contact them with future news and promotions from the athletic department, brings a different outlook that Coastal Carolina is hoping pays off.

“We need to continue to build the fan base. We’re just in a different spot than other schools. That doesn’t mean we don’t need additional help to try and compete and play in the revenue space or the revenue share space and additional scholarships, but there are different ways to do that,” Miller said. “I think if you treat your fans right and you build that base correctly from the ground up, those people are going to get back to you.”

“Everything has been positive. I knew it would get some attention, but I didn’t know it would get some national attention,” Miller added. “I’ve had a couple ADs I know who are buddies of mine reach out and say, ‘Thanks a lot man, now our fans are yelling at us. We need to do the same thing.’”

Third-year coach Tim Beck’s team begins its home slate on Sept. 6 against Charleston Southern.

The Chanticleers have gone 14-12 under Beck, with two bowl appearances. They went 6-7 in 2024, capped by a loss to UTSA in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, which Coastal Carolina hosts annually at Brooks Stadium.

The move to offer free concessions runs counter to what some larger programs are doing to grow their revenue ahead of the House settlement, which is expected to be finalized next week and will allow larger athletic departments to share up to $20.5 million with athletes. The University of Tennessee announced in September a 10 percent “talent fee” on the price of season tickets. Arkansas basketball also announced a shakeup in seating for season ticket holders in January, arranging seats by donors’ donation levels.

The move also is the latest and most dramatic in an effort by some teams to lessen the financial burden on fans attending games. When the Atlanta Falcons opened their new stadium in 2017, they debuted “fan-first” pricing at concessions, featuring hot dogs, drinks and popcorn for $2, beers for $5 and pizza for $3.

The Atlanta Hawks made a similar move shortly after. The Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club have adopted similar policies in recent years. The Phoenix Suns also cut concession prices this season. The Falcons said the move resulted in a 30 percent rise in concession sales.

(Photo: Isaiah Vazquez / Getty Images)

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.