Seat Selection Process -

[GOO]

I found that there was more available than last year or the year before.  Unfortunately, that means fewer season ticket holders, unless Rocket's post is indicative of people moving up or into cheaper seats.

One other way that the constant reseating hurts MU is that one can decide to go to cheaper seats or fewer seats for a year to two and have no problem with upgrading each year.

[MU62]

Everything goes back a long time since this is my 52nd year of season tickets.  We sat in the upper portion of section 213 for many years.  We did have some sort of reseating but the only thing that ever happened was a switch of four seats in our row.  This was before that section required a higher donation then the sections not between the baskets.  One year everyone in the top 10 rows was displaced.  We found section 202 which was not between the baskets but lower to the court.  That worked fine for probably five or six years again getting to know the folks near us.  Then suddenly things changed rapidly.  I keep donating extra every year but where was everybody.  Gone to a corporation whose four seats were only filled half the time, gone to a Bradley center row invaded by lots of folks that did not like MU and finally by folks that sat next to us every game whom I had no clue who they were because it changed every game.  Where were all our friends?  They were pushed up maybe 15 rows.  All in one year. Many of those have now left.  I hung in there and then it was my turn.  The only possibility were seats much father from center court and guaranteed to give you a stiff neck.  MU bench moving in front of this had something to do with this.  Off we go to section 212 across the way.  Each year my seats are gone but as of now I think I am holding my own there.  I do contribute extra every year. 

I am sure that if I were 110 years old and had those long held seats in the wonderful six sections, I would not have a complaint.  I know some of those seats are being used by the children of deceased parents whose names are on their tickets.  I am aware of a couple who use the tickets of a friend who passed away 15 years ago.  Such is life in the big city.  Long live reseating!     

We know many folks that have given up their seats.  I guess youth and wealth need to be served.   

[augoman]

Goo makes a good point- I had to move down in the pecking order years ago when I went from 2 to 4 seats-and have had 4 seats ever since Marge handled tickets.  Now I could have had 1 seat for 25 years and decided to get 4 this year with no loss of ranking-all that additional investment and donation is irrelevant.
MU62 I empathize with your lament.  I, too, have suffered the corporate seatmates with different 'clients' (if anyone) in the seats every time; the drunken UW-Madison fans at the MU-UW game, the clueless, distracted, uninterested, loud-talking employees, etc.  Many of my friends and classmates have 'given up' their tickets for various reasons. And certainly some simply spend the winter months in a different climate, but many have lost interest due to constant reseating, changing coaches and failure to match the success of Marquette in the not so distant past.  Sigh.

[rocket surgeon]

Everything goes back a long time since this is my 52nd year of season tickets.  We sat in the upper portion of section 213 for many years.  We did have some sort of reseating but the only thing that ever happened was a switch of four seats in our row.  This was before that section required a higher donation then the sections not between the baskets.  One year everyone in the top 10 rows was displaced.  We found section 202 which was not between the baskets but lower to the court.  That worked fine for probably five or six years again getting to know the folks near us.  Then suddenly things changed rapidly.  I keep donating extra every year but where was everybody.  Gone to a corporation whose four seats were only filled half the time, gone to a Bradley center row invaded by lots of folks that did not like MU and finally by folks that sat next to us every game whom I had no clue who they were because it changed every game.  Where were all our friends?  They were pushed up maybe 15 rows.  All in one year. Many of those have now left.  I hung in there and then it was my turn.  The only possibility were seats much father from center court and guaranteed to give you a stiff neck.  MU bench moving in front of this had something to do with this.  Off we go to section 212 across the way.  Each year my seats are gone but as of now I think I am holding my own there.  I do contribute extra every year. 

I am sure that if I were 110 years old and had those long held seats in the wonderful six sections, I would not have a complaint.  I know some of those seats are being used by the children of deceased parents whose names are on their tickets.  I am aware of a couple who use the tickets of a friend who passed away 15 years ago.  Such is life in the big city.  Long live reseating!     

We know many folks that have given up their seats.  I guess youth and wealth need to be served.

i think today, when they honor long time season ticket holders, it is a real honor.  as i'm reading 62's post, i'm thinking, look at his perseverance. he could have said "chuck it" a long time ago.  this is how they(MU) respects my loyalty to them?  most businesses who treat their tenured customers this way, don't have them anymore.  so i guess, MU b-ball ain't "most businesses".  they are corporate 'merica that many dislike.

as an inheritor of packer season tix thru my bro in law, we were the milwaukee county stadium people who endured some real stink bomb years. but we did get to know all the guys around us.  when they moved all their games to lambeau, we got 1 preseason and 2 regular games(gold package).  many times the reg. games were a thursday or sunday night...wtf?  that kills 2 days(game day and the next) back in my younger, foolish times.  sometimes 3 if it was a really "good game".  but then again, they have a 30 or 40 year waiting list.  MU? not so much

[🏀]

Has this devolved into comparing MU and Green Bay? Wow.

Does anybody really think MU wants to reseat every year?

Does anybody ready think MU wants to coddle to those that cannot operate a computer?

Does anybody really think MU aims to alienate long time fans?

[LCDutchman]

I found that I moved up 5 rows.  What does that mean?  I take it that people believe MU will be down again.  Wojo better bring a tournament team soon or reseating or not MU will begin to look like DePaul.

[jsglow]

This might come in handy for some folks:

http://www.gomarquette.com/bluegold-fund/bgf-priority-point-system.html

I agree with those who have suggested that season ticket sales seem to be down significantly again this year.  I'll stick with my prediction from last winter that we fall below the 10,000 threshold once students make their $99 purchases in September.

[Strokin 3s]

I am curious, I see on two seats in the online reseating page they are listed as "grandfathered".

What does that mean?  I thought everyone had to go through reseating?

[4everwarriors]

Everything goes back a long time since this is my 52nd year of season tickets.  We sat in the upper portion of section 213 for many years.  We did have some sort of reseating but the only thing that ever happened was a switch of four seats in our row.  This was before that section required a higher donation then the sections not between the baskets.  One year everyone in the top 10 rows was displaced.  We found section 202 which was not between the baskets but lower to the court.  That worked fine for probably five or six years again getting to know the folks near us.  Then suddenly things changed rapidly.  I keep donating extra every year but where was everybody.  Gone to a corporation whose four seats were only filled half the time, gone to a Bradley center row invaded by lots of folks that did not like MU and finally by folks that sat next to us every game whom I had no clue who they were because it changed every game.  Where were all our friends?  They were pushed up maybe 15 rows.  All in one year. Many of those have now left.  I hung in there and then it was my turn.  The only possibility were seats much father from center court and guaranteed to give you a stiff neck.  MU bench moving in front of this had something to do with this.  Off we go to section 212 across the way.  Each year my seats are gone but as of now I think I am holding my own there.  I do contribute extra every year. 

I am sure that if I were 110 years old and had those long held seats in the wonderful six sections, I would not have a complaint.  I know some of those seats are being used by the children of deceased parents whose names are on their tickets.  I am aware of a couple who use the tickets of a friend who passed away 15 years ago.  Such is life in the big city.  Long live reseating!     

We know many folks that have given up their seats.  I guess youth and wealth need to be served.

Dude, if ya were 110 years old, ya ain't got no complaints and even if ya did, no one would listen, ai na?

[Benny B]

Nope, JB is king in MN.

So.... that would make him.... Prince's... father?

[🏀]

So.... that would make him.... Prince's... father?

Damn.

[GOO]

I found that I moved up 5 rows.  What does that mean?  I take it that people believe MU will be down again.  Wojo better bring a tournament team soon or reseating or not MU will begin to look like DePaul.

And why not drop to fewer tickets when the team is down.  The system as currently set up lets one drop down to fewer tickets for any given year, and go back up to 4 seats any year when the team is better and get seats as good as if you had kept 4 seats all along. 

Those of us who get the same number of tickets year to year, despite the team being down and tickets going unused at times because of it, maybe making a mistake.  I doubt a lot of people will be rushing to get my tickets this year when I can't make it.  There is no bonus for loyalty.

Points should be tied to each ticket or reduced if you go down in number and then up... or just stop this annual reseating!

 This will be my last post on the flawed annual reseating, sorry if I'm beating a dead horse.

[Benny B]

T~2:00:00 for me here and holy crap, are there a heckuvalot more seats available than there were last year at the same time.  Lower bowl on the sidelines (below the concourse) was completely gone at this point last year, but there's still room in 226 right now... sure, they'll be gone by the time I pick, but my PP total hasn't increased that much that I'm only two hours away from sitting a few rows behind RA Smith.

[Sir Lawrence]

My time slot kicked off Saturday morning.  I was out of town and in a location where I wasn't able to use the internet to make my selection.  My ranking moved up slightly from last season.  I gave my proxy to my business partner, who likes to go to the Al, and was selecting his own seats not too much later.

Last season I had what I considered perfect seats for my taste.  Section 215, on the aisle, row N.  I was fairly confident that I would be able to get the same seats, since I had more points/better ranking.  Nope.  I could've moved into row N, but I lost the aisle.  So he used his best judgment and moved me three rows closer, but one section over (216) but still on the aisle. 

So riddle me this:  why can they tell you that I will be on the aisle, but they supposedly can't tell you specific seats?   I pretty much know that I will be in row K seats 1-2, or my partner went rogue on me and put me on the far aisle. 

[jsglow]

T~2:00:00 for me here and holy crap, are there a heckuvalot more seats available than there were last year at the same time.  Lower bowl on the sidelines (below the concourse) was completely gone at this point last year, but there's still room in 226 right now... sure, they'll be gone by the time I pick, but my PP total hasn't increased that much that I'm only two hours away from sitting a few rows behind RA Smith.

You should be pretty good.  Our priority dropped pretty significantly this year because of more modest points and our timing slid by 2 full days but we still actually slightly improved our seats just half an hour ago.  The numbers are not looking very good.  Still numerous lower bowl seats between the 2 baselines.  Upper bowl center as low as E.  And some darn good railing $275ers.

[Benny B]

You should be pretty good.  Our priority dropped pretty significantly this year because of more modest points and our timing slid by 2 full days but we still actually slightly improved our seats just half an hour ago.  The numbers are not looking very good.  Still numerous lower bowl seats between the 2 baselines.  Upper bowl center as low as E.  And some darn good railing $275ers.

Meh... I'll probably end up doing what I've done the past 3-4 reseatings... tell my wife how we could have had awesome seats in this section or that if we didn't have three kids (who all want to go to the games now) and end up getting our same seats in the slums donation-free area upstairs.

[Marcus92]

Reseating is all about meeting the letter of the law — not necessarily the spirit of it.

Marquette would just as soon make fans happy and allow everyone to choose their seats. There are a couple caveats to this: 1) There have to be some ground rules about who's allowed to choose first (hence the convoluted, multi-tiered points system); And 2) For a number of apparently influential boosters, it's critical that part of their season ticket price counts as a tax-deductible donation to the Blue & Gold fund.

Point 2 is where the IRS comes in. Don't ask me to cite the applicable tax code. But whether or not you can specifically choose your seats has something to do with your eligibility for a deduction. And the whole "state your preferences, and we'll see what we can do but can't promise anything" somehow meets the requirements of the IRS when it comes to Point 2.

What's unfortunate about both of the above points is that they discourage season ticket holders — by making the whole process highly complex and unpredictable. I find the reseating process a source of stress each spring, with the result that I'm more relieved than excited when it's over. Not the best way to kick off a new season, if you ask me.

[jsglow]

Meh... I'll probably end up doing what I've done the past 3-4 reseatings... tell my wife how we could have had awesome seats in this section or that if we didn't have three kids (who all want to go to the games now) and end up getting our same seats in the slums donation-free area upstairs.

Do you guys do the $125s?

[Benny B]

Do you guys do the $125s?

Oh, hell no... do I look like some degenerate who shops exclusively out of the bargain bins?  We do the $275's.*




* (because all the good $125's are already gone by the time our appt. comes up)

[jsglow]

Well, there's some darn good ones Benny.  Had we been pushed a few rows back in Sec 400 I would have strongly pushed for 'em.

[Jay Bee]

Point 2 is where the IRS comes in. Don't ask me to cite the applicable tax code. But whether or not you can specifically choose your seats has something to do with your eligibility for a deduction. And the whole "state your preferences, and we'll see what we can do but can't promise anything" somehow meets the requirements of the IRS when it comes to Point 2.

You don't want to cite it because it doesn't exist. You are incorrect here.

From IRS Publication 526 (2015 Returns):
"Example 1. You pay $300 a year for membership
in a university's athletic scholarship program.
The only benefit of membership is that
you have the right to buy one season ticket for a
seat in a designated area of the stadium at the
university's home football games. You can deduct
$240 (80% of $300) as a charitable contribution."

You can pick your seat and maintain the 80% deduction on the gift. The donation gives you the right to buy a ticket in a certain area. That's it. It's 80% deductible.

The price you pay for the tickets - not the 'donation' - is not deductible. You may select a particular seat to your liking within the section you 'donated into'.

[Marcus92]

You don't want to cite it because it doesn't exist. You are incorrect here.

From IRS Publication 526 (2015 Returns):
"Example 1. You pay $300 a year for membership
in a university's athletic scholarship program.
The only benefit of membership is that
you have the right to buy one season ticket for a
seat in a designated area of the stadium at the
university's home football games. You can deduct
$240 (80% of $300) as a charitable contribution."

You can pick your seat and maintain the 80% deduction on the gift. The donation gives you the right to buy a ticket in a certain area. That's it. It's 80% deductible.

The price you pay for the tickets - not the 'donation' - is not deductible. You may select a particular seat to your liking within the section you 'donated into'.

That's where I'd say Marquette is following the letter of the law.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm buying season tickets to watch MU's home basketball games for the 2016-17. I'm not making a voluntary donation to the Blue & Gold fund.

You can't get season tickets without making the donation — so the true price is, in effect, the price of the tickets plus the donation. They can call it a donation. They can call it whatever they want. Ultimately, it's part of the price of being a season ticket holder.

[Benny B]

Well, there's some darn good ones Benny.  Had we been pushed a few rows back in Sec 400 I would have strongly pushed for 'em.

Actually, I just got a call from my wife along the lines of "the kids are really invested in the games now and I think they enjoyed the tournament in Orlando so much more because we were sitting so close to the court as opposed to in the upper deck at the BC... so I think we should move downstairs even if it costs more."

Now, I think any one of us here could speculate as to the real reason as to why the kids enjoyed the games in Orlando (hint: it wasn't the late starts), but I think she has a point, so instead examining the substance of the argument, I think I'm going to draw the line at simply recognizing its merits and not question my wife at all because dammit, she is so damn intelligent and always right.

Now, Admiral Ackbar may very well be screaming at me right now... but even if he was, he's light years away, so his warning would pertain to events occurring several years back... perhaps he was referring the first time I took my wife to a MU game (in which case, the warning might have been for her, not me), but regardless, it looks like Benny's sweater vest is about to lose its privilege of irony.

[#UnleashSean]

I'm up in two hours. Not sure if I'll be grabbing tickets this year. After the past few season with all my friends disappearing or being moved games have become less fun. Guess I'll see what's available then make a decision

[Jay Bee]

That's where I'd say Marquette is following the letter of the law.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm buying season tickets to watch MU's home basketball games for the 2016-17. I'm not making a voluntary donation to the Blue & Gold fund.

You can't get season tickets without making the donation — so the true price is, in effect, the price of the tickets plus the donation. They can call it a donation. They can call it whatever they want. Ultimately, it's part of the price of being a season ticket holder.

Not really - because the 80% tax deduction on the donation piece is real.