Longhorn Foundation: Your Overall Thoughts/Ideas?

Essentially, parking is going to go the way of OU tickets. Different lots will require different donations levels, somewhat like OU requiring its own donation level. The big question, and I say question because it is not decided yet, is going to be if you donate up to a certain level to get a specific parking spot, will that donation be tied as a new requirement for your season tickets. Currently, this is NOT how OU is done. For example, you can be tied to your tickets at only a $500 donation, but donate over $1,000 so you can be above the OU cutoff. That $1,000 is not what you are required for as the annual donation, just something extra you are giving so you can get those tickets.

Parking will probably be the same way. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if the new donation gets tied to your tickets. Likewise, I wonder how it will be done because there is a limit in each lot. What if 3,000 people donate to Lot 80 level, when there is only 2,000 spots available? Then the donation level will most likely increase again.
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Oh man this is going to be a fun season, and transition to next year ...
 
I'd like to chime is as a recent graduate, and current graduate student. I'll never join the LHF with the objective of obtaining athletics tickets, barring a significant change in the way tickets are assigned. It would take likely something like a complete reseating to make me interested. The tickets returned on a new donation in the 2-3k range are just not worth it. And as much as I love this University, when I read stories such as KC's it just really doesn't surprise me. This University in general, and Belmont in specific, seems to be especially adept at finding novel ways to **** people.

I understand that people who have been supporting UT athletics since the 80s and 90s should be shown some appreciation, but at some point you gotta start walking their minimum donations up, they are just way too far below market. I understand the current situation is a product of a great 10 year run on the field, and if we turned out a losing record for a couple years the bandwagoners would bail out, and the situation might be different, but I think that is extremely unlikely anytime soon. In the meantime, I'll skate by on (relatively) cheap student tickets for another year until I have go the scalper route. Until the athletics ticket situation changes, any charitable donations I make will be given directly to my college, not the LHF.
 
I have season tickets to a number of professional sports teams (Stars, Rangers, and a share in NY Giants tickets). Each of those teams raise their season ticket prices every year. But when they do so, I don't feel cheated because unlike the LHF, they do a couple of things:

1) They tell me what I need to pay up front in order to get seats. There's no guessing game and no last-minute revellations that sneak out in the dead of night on the Internet. If I choose to pay it, great. But if not, then that's fine too. But either way, I don't feel screwed.

2) After they raise ticket prices, they explain it with some "value added" gimmick. Whether it be autograph sessions or memorabilia give-aways, a new stadium club, or whatever, there is some value added component that comes along with each ticket price increase. But the LHF is all about "value subtracted." I increase my donation every year to keep up with the arms race. But there is a good chance that I will have increased my donation and still get booted out of Lot 80. That's obnoxious.

The end result, between the increased donations and the value subtracted over the years, is that the donation price well exceeds the value I get. I think this is my last year as a Foundation member, and I'm pretty disappointed about that. But I guess the Athletic Department's loss may be the Colllege of Liberal Arts' gain.
 
I do not see why someone that lives over 2 hours from Austin, or gives the minimum amount, would donate to the LHF simply for football tickets. I freely admit that this would be my motivation. Buying from scalpers/those with season tickets that can’t attend is a much better method.

Run the numbers…

a&m (away game)- $200
ou- $300
Good conference opponent (home)- $140
Good non-conference opponent (home)- $180
2 “cream puffs”/inferior conference opponent (home)- $100
Parking passes (sans ou & a&m)- $80

That equates to $1000 to see 4 out 6 home games, away game at Kyle Field and RRSO tickets. Plus, you will have parking for all of the home games and will probably also receive endzone/goalpost bands with the transaction in my experience.

So…

You get to attend half of the Horns games, including the most desirable, for $1,000. You also get to be selective with your seating instead of an administration telling you where you will be seated. I have personally done this the last 4 years and have never had seats worse than endzone. (Under Godzillatron)

If you donate $350 to the LHF, you still have to buy the season tickets. (Another $385) If a&m is not at home, you will have to shell out an additional $200 for a ticket. And, perhaps most importantly, you will be nowhere near the list for ou tickets…which will cost an additional $300. All in all, you would be spending $1235 to see 2 more home games than someone that buys from “scalpers”. Most likely, your seats would not be the most desirable either.

I completely understand why people donate to support their school, but I personally don’t see it as a viable option. I’d much rather give the funds to the university for future Horns to utilize. (Perhaps the $235 you are saving from football season?) This way you are supporting our team AND our students.
 
Spanky, other than the OU game all your prices are way too high. UT tickets are not as expensive and/or hard to get as people think. If you work in the right industry, they're very easy to get free.

Tickets for last years Tosu were going for about 200, price driven up by Tosu fans it seemed like.
 
The amazing thing to me is just how clueless the Foundation is. It seems to me that you would have to work to be as ignorant about things as they are on a fairly regular basis. Honestly--how far do you have to have your head up your *** not to figure out:

1) If you **** with peoples' tailgates by reassigning them all to different lots, you're going to kick up a **** storm;

2) If you put bleachers up ten yards behind the end line, the people in Sections 1 and 32 (who sit 25 yards behind the end line) are going to have obstructed view;

3) If you tout your big screen for months and then use 50% of it for ads that could have been done with static billboards, people are going to be pissed and feel cheated;

4) When you charge $4.00 for a bottle of water and won't even give away ice on a 105F game that you scheduled for 11:00 the first week in September, people are going to be pissed (assuming they survive the experience).

These are issues that were not only foreseeable, but were discussed on this board ad nauseum for a month before they came to fruition. Yet in each instance, the Foundation and the Athletics Department was apparently blindsided, from what I can gather from my and others' correspondence with them. It is as though the LHF and AD staff do their damndest to avoid campus on Saturdays during the Fall, and have absolutely no clue what happens during, before, and after football games.

I really have no other way to explain their repeated and puzzling lack of planning, foresight, and consideration for their "customers." I honestly don't think it's maliciousness on their part. I think they're just poorly run and poorly organized.

But at the end of the day, one would think that with an annual budget approaching $80MM, the Athletics Department would be able to hire some semi-competent office staff. Oh well, a boy can dream, I guess . . . .
 
Sounds like a black / white PSL type system for tickets and parking would be prefered by many.

xxx amount = these seats

xxx amount = this lot

For as long as I can remember, people have complained about the LF. I wouldn't hold my breath on any changes for the better.

I wonder if a percentage of donations goes to cover LF overhead, salaries and such ?
 
The LHF has been around for a long time with the sole purpose of raising funds for UT sports. They are very good at what they do. UT sports are self funded and not an expense to the academic side of the university.

I have watched Earl, Ricky, Major, Colt and all the ones in between as a student, alum and LHF member.

I became a LHF member to get better tickets as my previous seats were lost in my partners divorce settlement.

Joined at $150 and slowly moved over the bad and good years thru McWilliams, Mackovic and Brown to Sec 104 West side upper deck.

As the team has improved it has been over six years since my seats have improved. We sit around the same group of DKR friends some of which have been in their seats for over 11 years.

My base is $150 per year to retain four season tickets but give over $2K every year to LHF and we have parking, EZ Club, TXOU and an away game when lucky. Each year the ticket brokers offer $300-400 per seat for TXOU so I see the donation as a wash.

Each year I contact the LHF and ask what the chance is to improve my seats. Someone in front of me has to not renew AND no one behind me donates higher than I do.

With new donors willing to pay top dollar to get NEZ seats I won't be changing seats any time soon.

I understand someone who pays $2K+ per seat per year for chairbacks, suites, club etc, etc is making a significant donation to UT sports and expects to get parking to go along with that donation level.

The first come first serve parking in multiple LHF lots is not realistic in light of the donation levels new LHF members are willing to pay. The result is tiered parking in LHF lots much the same as TXOU tickets priority policy.

The sole purpose of the LHF is to raise funds for UT sports and they are very good at what they do.

I plan to continue buying season tickets until I can no longer be a fan of the Horns on gameday.

hookem.gif
 
It has long felt like this:

I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor
I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor
I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor
And I don't like it very much

Oh no (oh no) he swallowed my toe (he swallowed my toe)

Oh me (oh me) he swallowed my knee (he swallowed my knee)

Oh fiddle (oh fiddle) he's up to my middle (he's up to my middle)

Oh heck (oh heck) he swallowed my neck (he swallowed my neck)

Oh - (GULP!)
 
LL, I've said this before and I'll say it again...

We are looking at a jock-aucracy. The AD is full of former athletes who let's be honest could not find another job out of school other than this. Dodds is a PE major former KSU track coach who worked his way up the chain just like Peter Principle. The AD is not full of former McKinsey & Co partners or ESPN/Nike execs.

Case in point is former A&M AD Wally Groff. Groff is a guy who graduated from A&M and literally could not find a job. So he went to work in the ticket office selling tickets. He worked his way from that to the A&M AD. Peter Principle. Dodds is very similar.

And the proof is in the pudding. The AD and LF is completely surprised by the negative reaction. "Why do they care so much about parking?" What is going on is that the AD and LF have no idea who their customers are or what their customers want. In any other business, they would go broke. Of course they have a monopoly (other than the black market) on Texas Football. Quite a drug they have.

The sad thing is not only do they not know their customer but on top of that they don't care to know their customer (ie, no surveys, no focus groups, nothing that "businesses" do). They know that we are easily replaceable. Why spend BTUs and $$$ to better understand what we want and how to achieve it when they can say **** off, who's next.

The Mavericks, Spurs, Cowboys, they cannot do this. Unlike UT, they are run by much smarter execs.

At some point, none of this should surprise us. Sadly, collegiate athletics is no longer small-time. Now we are talking $2MM per year coaches, $100MM budgets. At some point you need guys smarter than Dodds & co running the show. Honestly as much as we laughed at A&M a few years ago, I was scared when they made a run at Jon Heidtke (sp?) from Fox Sports. Even though FSN is no ESPN, we are talking about a guy who is probably 100x smarter than Dodds and Byrne when it comes to sports marketing, forward-thinking practices and ways to please their customer. Maybe I should be pissed actually b/c it might have started a trend that we would follow with our next AD.
 
To those of y'all who were steamed because of your parking situation, did you make a call? Did you get a response and/or explanation? Recourse? Just curious if those who are pissed are actually picking up the phone, or not.
 
The Rose Bowl seemed like an exception. The stadium has such a high capacity (90+k) that we had a big allotment. People who donate less than $1,000 got tickets. If someone was in that situation, it worked out great for them. But for someone who donated thousands of dollars, it still might not have been worth it. Tickets could be purchased BEFORE the game for about $1k/ticket. Of course everyone remembers that at the game there were hardly any tickets available. Just saying that for those that donate a significant amount (thousands each year), even big bowl games can be purchased secondary market and still be cheaper overall.

Now, if by chance we make it to the NC game this year, how many does the SuperDome seat? I imagine it seats less than the Rose Bowl. That, combined with the close proximity of Naw'lins, expect that cutoff to be VERY high. Hopefully we get there!
hookem.gif
 
For the Rose Bowl vs. USC, we only had an allotment of around 25K or so; the RB holds aside a tremendous amount of tix every year for their own use, as do most major bowls. However, with the advent of the 'plus 1' game, which the game in New Orleans will be this year, those agreements don't matter. The Sugar Bowl game will hold aside tix just like the RB, but not for the national title game to be held a week later. In fact, if we make it to NO, our allotment will probably be higher than it was in Pasadena...
 
I went the email route, more colorful that way. From the response I got, you can tell that they're catching some serious heat. My tailgate has been scattered to the four ends of the earth. Although we've been getting together for 16 years, I can only imagine others who have been getting together even longer. I understand their logic on the pricing of the parking, but messing with people's traditions without any kind of heads-up is so, un-Texan.
 
Curious .... for which sports do you hold season tickets? How do you personally prioritize the sports; which ones do you want parking, media guides, etc. when you have to make a choice?
 
So has anyone actually gone as far as dropping their donation for the upcoming year? What are the thoughts on the further parking changes that will come this coming football season? Does the idea of submitting a preference seem like a better idea? Was anyone unsatisfied with the presumably less cars in each lot this past year?

Likewise, any specific thoughts on the baseball construction, most notably the addition of seats in the first row(s)?
 
Parking preference is a good idea. That might work. I don't tailgate, but the folks that like DKR and had a donation that allowed them to park closer were a little ticked they couldn't park there.
 
I was donating over $1600. I am dropping that significantly. I am going to drop to $150-350 range and move the north endzone upper deck. I was lower level east side before with yard line seats.

I have also dropped my baseball season tickets. I used to have parking in both 103 and 104 but dropping my donation means that I won't have the parking pass. As it was, I believe my previous donation was only going to get me parking behind RF and the softball lots. I am going to still go to baseball games but I never could make many games as it was and gave away to co-workers as many as I could.

Why am I decreasing my LF donation? I don't think that I am getting much value. It is obvious to me that a $1600 donor previously used to be a 'middle level donor' but that bar has moved. I am no longer a middle level donor - I would say that bar has moved to ~$2000-3000 range. And I don't want to increase my donation.

When my donation no longer got me into the EndZone Club a few years ago, that was the day I become a low level donor in the eyes of the LF and it really comes down to numbers. More people have hopped me.

So for $1600+ donation, what was I getting?

1) The right to my season tickets. Which are great seats but there are people in my section who donate nothing b/c they came in at the right time.
2) OU seats. Except my OU seats have gotten worse every year. This past year, I had endzone seats. Screw that. I would rather just scalp and get better seats.
3) Parking. Well the parking situation was hosed completely. Our tailgate moved to an entire new area b/c it didn't make sense to buy lot 80 passes. I expect parking to be improved this year but how much do I want to spend for these?

So really the question to me came down to was my yardline lower level seats and crappy OU tickets worth $1600? Would it be better to move to the north endzone at $1400 per year cheaper?

And the answer for me was yes.

As I mention in other posts above, I don't blame the LF. This is a numbers game. The number of donors in the $thousands range has increased significantly. What I don't like about the LF, however, is how little they communicate to us, their "customers". They did not let anyone know that they were raising the bar for the EndZone Club to $2000 donation. They did not let anyone know that they were redoing parking. And on top of that they never do surveys or measure feedback to see how best to do stuff like parking. The parking thing caught them 100% by surprise b/c they have no idea what CRM is.

The thing is you could run the LF like they do 10+ years ago when this wasn't a $100MM+ business. But it is. And they are still run by the good ol' boys. And the technology has improved such that they can run it smoother but they have neither the inclination nor the ability to make these changes.
 
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