With a new gameday app, UF football fans can purchase parking spots and tickets with the tap of a thumb.
FanFocus GameDay, a smartphone app developed by two UF alumni, launched last week as a way to simplify Saturdays in the Swamp.
Dan Schentrup, the managing owner of the company, said FanFocus creates a marketplace for people to buy and sell parking spots and game tickets.
“As fans, we felt convicted to take our skills and capabilities — with some money — to create an app that helps you with the gameday experience,” Schentrup said.
Schentrup said he developed the app with his brother, Philip.
The app uses the GPS from users’ smartphones to display available parking spots other users are selling nearby. It connects ticket vendors with interested buyers and also displays nearby events going on during gamedays.
“The idea was to make it hyper-local,” Schentrup said.
From a ticket-sales standpoint, Schentrup said he hopes the app will cut down on ticket scalpers and the hassle of cash sales while also cutting a share of the market from companies like StubHub and Ticketmaster.
By the end of the season, Schentrup said, the company will add another amenity called Skooch to make it easier to sit next to friends at the game.
“We’re using an algorithm, and ticketholders can say how willing they are to move seats,” Schentrup said. “Fans will have an orderly way to figure out how to sit with their friends, and for the people willing to scooch, they get money.”
So far, the company has a few hundred downloads, Schentrup said. The next step is to expand to other Southeastern Conference teams, with the University of Tennessee and Auburn University next to launch.
“We’re starting at UF just out of an affinity for our experience there,” he said. “We’re very excited about it. The graduate school of business has been so supportive.”
Gabrielle Montecalvo, a second-year UF business administration master’s student, manages a team of UF students who work with FanFocus and also runs its social media and marketing.
“To apply what I’m learning in class to a real-world application has been really interesting for me,” she said.
Montecalvo said she’s excited about being part of a startup company and providing a much-needed service to football fans struggling with parking or finding tickets.
“I think once people learn about the app, they’ll find so much value in it,” she said.
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