Tier Pricing

H

Horn69

2,500+ Posts
Does anyone else think it odd that that lower level seats (Sec. 1-8 and 25-32) are the same price as upper level seats in first 18 rows or so?

As far as that goes...lower level endzone seats are same cost as 50-yard line.

Seems if there's going to be tiers, there should be more tiers in a stadium that huge.

Oh well.

Hook'em!!!
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Section 108, row 14. Chairbacks with arm rest and extra leg room. We have been in those seats since Carter was President. It will take a bomb to get us out. So it makes great sense to me.

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Excellent. Made me laugh. Sec 102, Row 5. See you Carter and raise you Ford.

My point which hasn't caught on yet - those seats oughta be cheaper than downstairs. They are at American Airlines Center and Winspear Opera House.

Hook'em!!!
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I say when Deloss is gone, blow the system up and eliminate seat renewals. Do the open lottery like Ohio State every year... whoever gives the most gets the seats they want, 2nd most gets 2nd pick, etc. For donors who give the same exact amount, whoever got theirs into the system first gets priority. Only allow individuals to buy 4 seats together, no corporate entities.
 
Thanks for all your years of loyalty throught the thin years!

My first year for season tickets was 1996.......the Lewinsky years....

A person develops relationships with the same seats, I know everyone in my general area and some of them even attend the tailgate that I go too.

In the long run blowing it up will reduce attendance and loyalty, but make some quick and easy money.
 
It wouldn't reduce attendance. It would piss the 20K people off who have been in the same seats for 30+ years, but my guess is that half of them would still shell out for different seats and the other half would be easily replaced once new buyers found out how much seats would go for in between the 20 and the goal line (i.e. way less than now).
 
No offense. But you're nuts. College football is built on tradition. The familiarity of knowing your seats, your area, your folks around you, your ushers, your concession, your head for quick exits...ain't going to happen.

Hook'em!!!!
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My guess is that the same people who want the system "blown up" can't get tickets worth a darn and want intervention, and strangely enough, would be the first ones to cut and run and give up their tickets if things aren't going so well.

No thanks.
 
"My guess is that the same people who want the system "blown up" can't get tickets worth a darn and want intervention, and strangely enough, would be the first ones to cut and run and give up their tickets if things aren't going so well."

Your guesses would be wrong on both counts for me, but I can't speak for everyone who wants it blown up, I suppose. I'd feel the same whether I gave 100x as much as now (probably because I'd get kickass seats) or less than now.

Sure, we're not the only college who bases annual donation and seating on age, tradition, and Nixon-era pricing. But we also wouldn't be the first to make the change to an open enrollment system. Some schools who do it have great success at selling out. If the experience of Texas football is you seeing your oldtimer friends and knowing the "quick exits" (like that's even a thing) instead of watching the on-field product, then fine, you have your way for now. I'm sure you probably wouldn't be able to make new friends and find new exits anyhow if that's what you're worried about. But I think it'll change for cash's sake sooner rather than later, as the athletics department/LHN have made it known that they're looking for revenue outlets. Ousting the dudes who pay $125/year for four 40-yard-line seats is a step in the right direction.

Again, it's not like they'd be banned from the games, but I'm sure a decent percentage would give up their tickets anyhow, based on recent team success and the inability to walk very far.
 
The current system provides an incentive for people to keep their seats even during down years. I'm fine with those people getting a discount based on today's prices based on them paying to see terrible football during the dark years.
 
Horns11, quick points:

I'm not so sure that required donation levels would go down appreciably if the system were changed.

Two, there are tickets available, likely on the west side between the 20's, if you are willing to pay.

Three, those "Nixon-era" folks more than likely helped finance the west-side upper-deck construction in the late 60's/early 70's, and got those seats as part of the deal. Also, some were likely members of the forerunner to today's Longhorn Foundation, the old Texas Longhorn Education Foundation (which originally endowed scholarships, before the Foundation got into subsidizing coaches' salaries and so forth).

I'm not very comfortable pulling the rug out from under those folks who made a deal with the athletics department, so to speak.
 
Even the Buckeyes hate their crappy system. As for us, there are plenty of tickets to be had at multiple price points. The guy next to me didn't renew. His 2 seats are mine now. My neighbor is in the NEZ chairbacks, and he's been notified of availability in that area as well.
 
I think if you opened it up, the cost of those tickets would explode, if you can't afford it now, what makes you think you would be able to afford it now?

As far as watching the game and being around people that I know, it is more than just a game to some of us, it is an event an all day event or weekend that cultimates with the game. One of the great things about our games and traditions is that it is an event not just a game. Hell, I could just watch a game from the couch.........where it sounds like you do very well.

Now what I do see happening is what happened at Notre Dame. Seat Licenses were issue in 1996 or 1997, it took the minimum donation to $1000 and then 5 years later, they took the minimum donation to $10,000.00. The problem they were having is that the people were making money hand over fist on the tickets and ND wanted that money. Texas can't do those numbers, but I could see minimum donations for certain sections or areas.

For all you guys worried about the old folks, you only get to bequeath your tickets once, so if a 22 year old grad got season tickets and he lives to 70, marries a 20 year old at 70, the longest anyone could hold those tickets is 98 years. Donating $100 for 98 years means they would have donated $9800 over the length of buying those tickets.

So when ticket sales dropped in 1997 and 2010, what would all you guys do about donations and lack of season ticket sales? I bet I could guess, discount discount discount.........great business acumen.
 
Those "old folks" have held their tickets for a long period of time through some real ****** football, so they should be rewarded for their loyalty, something the "video game crowd" for the most part is not willing to endure.

My father passed away this past Fathers Day and held his season tickets since 1976. Longer than probably the majority on this board have been alive. He and his peers generous support and donations throughout the Mackovic years should entitle them to a lifetime waiver of any pay to play fee.
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Exactly. Those people were paying for season tickets when they were giving tickets away for spending 5 bucks at Taco Bell. We should thank them for being some of the few loyal fans instead of bitching about them paying less for seats now. Besides, many of those people donate much more than they have to and will leave ut money when they die. It would be a bad financial move to piss them off.
 
"Besides, many of those people donate much more than they have to and will leave ut money when they die. It would be a bad financial move to piss them off."

This is the spot on truth. My dad donated thousands to UT athletics and programs that had nothing to do with the FB program.
 
"My dad donated thousands to UT athletics and programs that had nothing to do with the FB program."

So your dad, and his love/affiliation with the University, would withhold his thousands to "other" programs if he had to pay market value for football seats? Sounds reasonable.

The people who give the millions can afford the good seats if the system became open enrollment. The people who pay $125 for a block of 4 between the 40-yard-lines should pony up and put their money where their mouths are if they're truly giving millions to the University. If not, others will step in where they left off. Maybe not immediately as the economy isn't ripe for lots of donations, but probably in the near future.

As for the early 90s Taco Bell tickets, I applaud the people who continued their somewhat meager Donation levels to keep their good seats through the bad times. I still think they were getting a pretty good deal then, even if the on-field quality wasn't what we had historically been used to. I can't imagine that the same $125 donation in 1988 was as much of a burden... I remember my friend getting a Nintendo for $150 around that time period.
 
"So your dad, and his love/affiliation with the University, would withhold his thousands to "other" programs if he had to pay market value for football seats?"

I never said or indicated as such. The point is that since he "paid his fair share" in the parlance of our times, he should be rewarded for his years of loyal patronage and historical sustained contributions to the University.
 
Horns11,
You continue to reference folks who pay "$125 for seats between the 40's," etc.

Do you know personally (or even by extension) people who fit this description? Or are you just making this up for a hyperbolic example? You act as though there are entire west-side sections between the 20's filled to the brim with minimum-donation level fans. And you know this... how? Have you been going around the parking lots before games asking for seat location and how much they give to the Longhorn Foundation?

You wrote earlier that "blowing up the system" would make required donation levels fall quite a bit between the 20's, and I'm not so sure of that. Moreover, that tips your hand that you are trying to get your own "sweet deal" at the expense of folks who have donated for several years.

Why don't you pony up and put your money where your mouth is? Thou shalt not covet thy fellow Longhorns' seats, my man.
 
"Great copy, but doesn't exsist."

This coming from the man who boasted on the other thread that the people near him pay $4850 more for the same view.

"Do you know personally (or even by extension) people who fit this description? Or are you just making this up for a hyperbolic example?"

While I'll readily admit to hyperbole to make a point, as it's valid, I do know people who fit the description. And all of them have been paying customers since the 70s.

"You act as though there are entire west-side sections between the 20's filled to the brim with minimum-donation level fans."

Not at all. I'm related to a guy who pays for 45-yard-line seats at the $15,000 (diamond) donation level. And he is surrounded by people paying about 90 percent less than he is. And it's more between the 40s and not the 20s... I'd say the average around there is still a high amount.

"You wrote earlier that "blowing up the system" would make required donation levels fall quite a bit between the 20's, and I'm not so sure of that."

No, I said they would fall in between the 20 and the end zone. They would raise substantially the closer you got to the 50, which is kind of the point. Like to the tune of 100 percent to 1000 percent higher.

"Moreover, that tips your hand that you are trying to get your own "sweet deal" at the expense of folks who have donated for several years."

Complete ******** because I am happy with my lot in life and ability to see football games. I'm talking about the system itself. I've watched games from the top of the upper decks, back of the old horseshoe (worst seats in the house), and the middle of either sideline. I've watched from home, I've watched in bars, and I've been to away games. I'm not talking about my personal seats and donations. The folks who have donated for "several" years... i.e. 40 years... are good old folks with lots of love for the Horns, but they're not paying for the value of the service they're receiving. A year-by-year system would enhance revenues, be more fair, and actually fill the middle with paying customers who don't flee for the alumni center at halftime.

Look, I know a lot of you have happy memories in your seats, but until everything else nostalgic and tradition-laden in life comes with a lower price tag, I'm probably going to stick with this thought.

"Why don't you pony up and put your money where your mouth is? Thou shalt not covet thy fellow Longhorns' seats, my man."

And that's the kind of sanctimony that makes me want to blow it all up.
 
We need to make the loyal fans like myself that have had season tickets and made donations for 40 years pay more in donations for their seats? Let's see, why do we need to do that? Not for additional revevue because we are very profitable. So, since it is not for needed revenue, the call for change is for someone that does not want to wait their turn. Kind of like the a..holes that take more than ten items in the less than ten items counter at the grocery store because they deem themselves more important than other people.
 
"the call for change is for someone that does not want to wait their turn"

And there it is again. The idea that services should come at a premium for those who are old. Not just a premium because that implies a discount... maybe an uber-premium? I'm not even talking about myself, as I've stated several times now that I have sat everywhere and anywhere without regard for my own well-being (and, quite frankly, I'm not young).

I guess the question is whether there are other acceptable ways that loyalty can be rewarded, and apparently the answer is a resounding "no" from the in-crowd.
 
While there have not been a whole lot of changes in how things are done since they first started all this (with the addition of the west side upper deck, I think), every change has given consideration to those with a prior investment in the program, and who invested in the program under the scheme in effect at the time they invested, whenever it was. To pull the rug out from under them just to accommodate younger persons wanting a shot at good tickets is not fair; and to do that with a 'f**k the fogies' attitude is downright insulting. I think if I walked by someone with that attitude right now, and they happened to be bending over, their n**ts would probably be in their nostrils.

FWIW, I'm 70, not retired, and not wealthy. However, my wife and I support not only UT Athletics, but UT on the academic side as well (headed into the 9th year of our endowed scholarship - and have given one-time scholarships in memory of deceased family members), including having UT in our estate plan.
 
"And there it is again. The idea that services should come at a premium for those who are old."

Wow, just wow. This has nothing to do with being old. Case in point is no discount is given nor should one be provided to the 70 year old TX fan who now decided he wants season tickets in the premium areas. He is required to pay the "market rate".

However, once again, the old fogies who have been loyal season ticket holders for 40 years should be rewarded due to their consistent support of the horns through the good, the bad and down right ugly times. Seems pretty simple to me, but I guess I come from the old school world of waiting your turn and paying your dues. BTW I am 46.
 
Well, paying (ok... "donating") for the value of what you're getting seems simple to me. When the Houston Symphony is calling for season renewals, they give ticketing priority to the people who donate the most. I'm guessing the people who attend their functions don't hold on to the same donation level since 1970 if they want orchestra seats (unless, of course, they were already donating over $5K back then). And they probably don't complain about it either because they know what they're in for... which is probably why there are so many "reward the loyalty!" fans responding... because they're not having the system changed. Well, they're not having the system changed yet... Deloss is most likely done in August 2014.

So I'll just end my part of this conversation with the same question I posed: are there other acceptable ways that loyalty can be rewarded without regard to seat location?
 
I love the short term business acumen on this board, what I don't have but want should be given to me.

Earn it through time and loyalty.

Most of the so called fogie crowd donates way more than a couple hundred dollars. They helped build this program and some just want to disregard them....

Granted I am not between the 40's, I am between the endlines and I feel that I pay a fair amount, some of my friends got in when things got good and they are paying a premium that they really can't afford.

There is not youngster, under 30/s that can afford what a blowup would entail.....earn your stripes and loyalty through the thick and thin and in 20 years when you earn your way in their will be somebody your current age saying the same thing in 20 years........
 
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