Question re: Buying Away Game Tickets

[Grandpa]

I was wondering if any of my esteemed board members / Hoop Club insiders could share some of their knowledge on the following topic:

I'm an out of town Hoop Club member that is interested in picking up tickets to the couple of games that the Hoyas will play vs. the NY/NJ area BE teams (SJU, SHU, and RU, to be specific). In calling the number provided in the Hoop Club e-mail newsletter, I requested 2 tickets to the SHU game and gave them my address and credit card info. As has been discussed on this board in the past (and as I've experienced personally), I was informed that if there are tickets available (at my "Hoya Hoop Club" giving level", I would receive them "a few days before the game". While I imagine it won't be an issue for the SHU game, I wondered to myself whether it really made sense to go through the Hoop Club for my tickets, or would I just be better off getting tickets myself through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster has plenty of tickets (center court in the upper level) that would be the same price as the Hoop Club is charging, albeit with the additional "ticketmaster tax"'; net net it would cost about $10 more than going through the Hoop Club for 2 tix. Now, while I know if I order through the Hoop Club, I likely would be placed near other Hoya fans, which would be nice, I'd almost rather have the peace of mind knowing I've got pretty decent tickets at center court and pay a little more than play the waiting game and have the potential to be surprised with either worse location tickets or no tickets at all. I realize I've sort of answered my own question a bit in this scenario, but I was curious if anyone knew if the GU Athletic Dept / Hoop Club gets a cut of the ticket sales through the Hoop Club - if so, I'd have an easier time swallowing the whole "waiting for tickets" game as I'd rather a greater portion of my ticket payment go to the Hoyas than the Pirates! Any insights by those in the know (or at least more in the know than me) would be greatly appreciated!

[casualhoya]

I called yesterday too, and was sort of dismayed at the $5 'service charge' added to each game. Hall tix are $22 (plus $5), Nova tix are $25 (plus $5), and Johnnies tix are a whopping $40 (plus $5). From experience it's just as easy to get tix for these games at the various box offices or even via Ticketmaster at lower prices - unless of course, the games are sell-outs. Also troublesome is the lack of definitive seat locations.

[DanMcQ]

The $5 service charge (per game) has been in effect ever since I can remember for away game tickets.

Some of the disarray about away game tickets comes from the fact that the ticket office often does not know what their ticket allotment will be (in terms of number and location) until very shortly (sometimes a week or two) before the games.

When you think about it, if they don't have tickets in hand until a week or two before, they will be sending your order to you via some sort of expedited delivery which will cost them a minimum of $4.05 if they use priority mail. So it's essentially a wash.

I would be happy if they put some of that money towards new comprehensive ticket managing software that would improve the handling of these issues immensely (the other part of the problem I think).

[Gold Hoya]

I've heard several HHC board members say they recommend buying through Ticketmaster because you will likely get better seats.