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Post by michiganhoya on Jun 29, 2011 7:29:56 GMT -5
So like many of you I recently received my package for season tickets. I have to make a $100 deposit by July 15.
I called to see if I could upgrade my tickets. I currently donate $500/seat to Hoya Hoop Club and pay an additional $1137 for the tickets. I'd like to move to the sections where contributors give either $750 or $1000 donations per seat.
I was told that in order to move to a higher donation there is a one time donation that is the equivalent of a 10X seat donation. For example, if I moved to the $750/donation per seat then I'd have to give $7500. The rationale was to prevent ticket scalpers and fans of other teams from purchasing season tickets.
I've been a season ticket holder for more than 20 years. I think there's a pretty solid paper trail that indicates that I'm neither a scalper nor a fan of another team. I recognize almost everyone who sits within 5 rows of me at games ... I can vouch for them as well.
I think this is a terrible move by the Hoya Hoop Club or the University or whoever is behind this policy. Plus, I challenge any of you to find this policy in writing on a website or in any of the printed materials the University puts out. It's like the Hoya Hoop Club knows this extortionary practice is too embarassing to publicize but probably too profitable to do away with. Shame on the University for trying to extort large contributions from faithful fans and alumni who just want a better view of the court.
I sat through the Esherick years, the final years of JTII and Summers Experience a couple of years ago. My loyalty is on record. I think that I and other long time fans should be excluded from a practice that has been put in place to prevent scalpers and out of town fans from purchasing tickets.
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TC
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 9,450
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Post by TC on Jun 29, 2011 7:48:30 GMT -5
I was told that in order to move to a higher donation there is a one time donation that is the equivalent of a 10X seat donation. For example, if I moved to the $750/donation per seat then I'd have to give $7500. The rationale was to prevent ticket scalpers and fans of other teams from purchasing season tickets. How would that in any way prevent ticket scalpers or fans of other teams from purchasing tickets? What a load of BS. |
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Post by strummer8526 on Jun 29, 2011 8:19:16 GMT -5
Georgetown again exhibits its keen ability to drive its most loyal supporters to hate it over petty bull.
This sounds like a problem for — da da dada! — Steve Alleva.
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lichoya68
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
OK YOUNGINS ARE HERE AND ARE VERY VERY GOOD cant wait GO HOYAS
Posts: 17,438
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Post by lichoya68 on Jun 29, 2011 8:24:42 GMT -5
ouch didnt know about this policy quess im never gonna upgrade ouch  |
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guru
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,600
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Post by guru on Jun 29, 2011 8:28:15 GMT -5
100% agreed. The upgrade "donations" are beyond ridiculous and completely unrealistic. To say nothing of the increasingly shoddy product that has been put on the court the past couple seasons.
I've been told its because of a waiting list so that story seems flexible too.
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Post by BubbleVisionBiff on Jun 29, 2011 8:49:35 GMT -5
I've been told its because of a waiting list so that story seems flexible too. That's always been my understanding, and been relayed to me in the past by Steve. IIRC, there is usually a waiting list to get into some of those lower bowl sections, so to "jump the line," an additional donation is required. There are already a fair amount of people who would like to move up. Having said that, if we have alums and fans who are willing to provide additional revenue for the program, I hope some reasonable efforts could be made to accommodate them. Not to go OT, but it would be a great time to try to identify scalpers (just look at the list on Casual Hoya for a start) and move them out. And just out of curiosity (mods, feel free to move this since it is OT), how do scalpers get into the lower bowl without making a four figure donation? We're always told that anyone can join HHC for a mere $25, but how does that get SUcks fans into the lower rows of 111 without an additional substantial donation to the HHC? |
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Post by LizziebethHoya on Jun 29, 2011 8:51:04 GMT -5
This is shameful. Not everyone has that money, especially in DC where a lot of Gtown grads are faithful public servants not making a whole ton of money.
Don't we want the most loyal fans to sit in those seats? Those fans that have been season ticket holders for 20+ years, not the ones who can afford to buy the tickets to take their Duke business buddies out to the game.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2011 8:52:34 GMT -5
I had a somewhat similar situation before last year. I was offered a switch to the pair of seats on the aisle right next to mine- the call was unprovoked, which I thought was a pretty nice move on their part.
When I inquired about buying both pairs to have all four, I was told that the second pair I wanted to buy would come with that extra - 10x the normal 500 - donation per seat.
the logic doesn't make much sense to me. I would think that getting the entire lower bowl sold would be priority #1. Weeding out potential scalpers can come later.
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Post by HoyasAreHungry on Jun 29, 2011 9:00:51 GMT -5
wow had NO idea this was the case...was going to try and upgrade this year as well.....sheesh! guess THAT'S not happening. Pretty frustrating
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Dhall
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,679
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Post by Dhall on Jun 29, 2011 9:11:37 GMT -5
I would rather that they do this compared to raising everyone's required donations across the board to increase revenue. The rationale they give is bogus and they should just be up front about it though - they'd rather charge the wealthiest than the entire pool of ticketholders. Kind of like the Democratic tax plan.
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rosslynhoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by rosslynhoya on Jun 29, 2011 9:26:01 GMT -5
And just out of curiosity (mods, feel free to move this since it is OT), how do scalpers get into the lower bowl without making a four figure donation? We're always told that anyone can join HHC for a mere $25, but how does that get SUcks fans into the lower rows of 111 without an additional substantial donation to the HHC? What makes you think they're not making the donation? The only thing that makes it harder for a scalper is that the nominal face-value ticket price is possibly lower than the cost of the ticket. Michigan's seats for example come out to ~$44 per ticket once you factor in the $500 HHC donation. If the scalper can recoup over $100 for the UConn, Nova, SU, and maybe one other marquee game, then he only needs to sell the rest (AU, Loyola, et al.) at face value to break even. Any money made on UWV, Marquette, Louisville, and the rest of the BE schedule is gravy. This 10x penalty scheme has absolutely no logic undergirding it. Why even bother to "upgrade" if you're a scalper? Just make up a new name and buy in as if you were a first-time donor in the community. |
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Post by BubbleVisionBiff on Jun 29, 2011 9:33:08 GMT -5
I would rather that they do this compared to raising everyone's required donations across the board to increase revenue. The rationale they give is bogus and they should just be up front about it though - they'd rather charge the wealthiest than the entire pool of ticketholders. Kind of like the Democratic tax plan. Why is it bogus that if there is a waiting list to move up into other sections and if you want to get to the front of the line, you have to pay more? (Again, this is what Steve told me last year when I was inquiring for friends who wanted to get into my section) How else should they handle it? Maybe 5x or 10x is too high, and maybe it is completely arbitrary (which would not surprise me either), but I don't think they just came up with it on a whim. Having said that, I hope they find a way to move MichiganHoya up. And as for revenue, we're lucky the donation levels for everyone aren't higher, seeing as we have all of one endowed scholarship for men's BB. |
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Post by HoyasAreHungry on Jun 29, 2011 9:44:51 GMT -5
if it's truly to "skip the waiting line" I can see them charging this...however if it is simply to upgrade..don't really agree with this. You're upping your donation level and ticket price already...why should you have to pay a penalty for doing so?
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Jun 29, 2011 9:51:40 GMT -5
how does that get SUcks fans into the lower rows of 111 without an additional substantial donation to the HHC? Syracuse fans sometimes acquire these tickets on StubHub and other ticket websites. Last year, I got a great seat to the Senior Day Syracuse game on StubHub (though paying a lot for it - probably overpaying). The seat could have just as easily fallen to a Syracuse fan if they had bought it instead of me. |
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Post by BubbleVisionBiff on Jun 29, 2011 9:52:50 GMT -5
And just out of curiosity (mods, feel free to move this since it is OT), how do scalpers get into the lower bowl without making a four figure donation? We're always told that anyone can join HHC for a mere $25, but how does that get SUcks fans into the lower rows of 111 without an additional substantial donation to the HHC? What makes you think they're not making the donation? The only thing that makes it harder for a scalper is that the nominal face-value ticket price is possibly lower than the cost of the ticket. Michigan's seats for example come out to ~$44 per ticket once you factor in the $500 HHC donation. If the scalper can recoup over $100 for the UConn, Nova, SU, and maybe one other marquee game, then he only needs to sell the rest (AU, Loyola, et al.) at face value to break even. Any money made on UWV, Marquette, Louisville, and the rest of the BE schedule is gravy. Fair enough. I just have heard it explained many times on this board that we can't keep them out because it costs little to join the HHC. Of course it doesn't, and as you point out, scalpers can still make their money back and then some. AND GU still gets revenue from them. So to even attempt to move them out means we had better be filling those seats with the same revenue. This 10x penalty scheme has absolutely no logic undergirding it. Why even bother to "upgrade" if you're a scalper? Just make up a new name and buy in as if you were a first-time donor in the community. My understanding is that you can't just "buy" in. If you want to sit in 111, for example, it is sold out. To jump to the head of the waiting list if/when seats become available requires a premium. Even if a scalper made up a new name and joined as a new donor, I don't know how they avoid it. As I said above, I don't know if 5x or 10x is arbitrary or not, this is just what was explained to me by Steve. |
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Post by michiganhoya on Jun 29, 2011 9:55:04 GMT -5
There was nothing about a "waiting list" this year. In fact, the gentlemen identified a few open pairs of tickets that were mine for either for a one time $7500 or $10000 donation. I understand when we come off a Final Four appearance and there is more demand than seats, but that is not the case. In fact, in Sec. 121, where you can get in on seats for $5000, there are a bunch of empty seats that GU owns and controls.
I was/am insulted by the rationale. I'm going to remain where I am.
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Post by BubbleVisionBiff on Jun 29, 2011 10:13:04 GMT -5
There was nothing about a "waiting list" this year. In fact, the gentlemen identified a few open pairs of tickets that were mine for either for a one time $7500 or $10000 donation. I understand when we come off a Final Four appearance and there is more demand than seats, but that is not the case. In fact, in Sec. 121, where you can get in on seats for $5000, there are a bunch of empty seats that GU owns and controls. I was/am insulted by the rationale. I'm going to remain where I am. Well if they are sticking with the rationale without the justification (i.e., those sections where you want to move are no longer sold out), then that is pretty lousy. |
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guru
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by guru on Jun 29, 2011 10:19:44 GMT -5
I was also offered an option that required a $15,000 donation. Yeah, right.
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Post by nolahoya on Jun 29, 2011 11:57:59 GMT -5
I got my season ticket package and added 2 seats in the same section and didn't have to pay a premium donation. I'm in the lower bowl. Don't want to make the section publicly known. Seems as if it's a fluid policy.
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Post by michiganhoya on Jun 29, 2011 12:02:03 GMT -5
I think it is when you want to move up to a higher donation level, but of course all of the information comes over the phone and doesn't appear to be written down ... so who knows what the policy is.
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