For you season ticket holders out there .. you should have received a letter describing the new process for re-seating. This year, while an open house will be held at the Bradley Center, actual seat selection will occur at the Al McGuire Center, from June 18th-July 1st.
All sorts of information can be found here.
This year, MU has released a nice document detailing the number of "points" you need for the lower, middle, and upper rows of each section. Read the chart at your own peril. For anyone who isn't a multi-decade season ticket holder, it's pretty depressing how many more points you need to improve your view!
It's amazing to think how hard it is to move into any of the 10 center sections. Say an MU couple (20 points) have had tickets for 10 years, (20 points) and donates $250/year (10 points + 10 conseq. points). Those 60 points will get you a corner, which is probably where you've been for the past decade anyhow. After 20 years, you'll sneak into the prime sections, in row W-Z. -- Just goes to show how enduring and charitable the center seat people are.
Note to MU: Forget cheerleaders throwing t-shirts, fleeces, mini-balls into the crowd. Throw "point" certificates! And .. everyone who goes to the Morgan State type game gets one bonus point (if they are wearing gold).
And how about some bonus points for working at Cracked Sidewalks!
There are MU families who have held the rights to thousands of tickets for YEARS!! However, there are a number of younger posters - both here and on the respective message boards -- who think that Tom Crean is solely responsible for fan interest. It's obviously inaccurate if you look at the point system.
ReplyDeleteI hope MU holds the line on ticket prices for awhile. There's nothing quite like paying $30 a ticket to watch Cardinal Stritch.
While it's granted that there are 1,000 season ticket accounts that have been around for decades, it's not a stretch to believe two things.
ReplyDelete1. STHs have a churn rate. It may have been tiny BC (Before Crean), but I have no doubt it's even smaller after Crean has injected so much interest (and, of course, the BE stems the tide.)
2. I'm guessing here, but I'll bet donuts that new grads get season tickets in much greater numbers than ever before, i.e., someone who graduated during Deane's years .. 1% chance they get tickets in the couple years after they graduated. "Crean" graduates, that number is 10x. Just a guess, of course, but easy to believe.
.. As for ticket prices, the lower bowl seemed to stay the same price .. the upper $25 section got bigger, though. -- With the ESPN, BE, and NCAA money coming into MU, I would hope they could freeze the ticket prices for a while.
Yes, there have been season ticket holders for a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteSome that were here before Al, through Al, through the ups and downs.
Terrific fans.
But there are more season ticket holders today then there were in 2000, the year I left the department. The prices have gone up considerably yet the tickets have been consumed in greater numbers, mostly due to the product on the court.
The sick thing is that not everyone has to go through the reseating process. One of my co-workers got to keep her seats during the last reseating. Think about how many seats that practice eliminates from reseating.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing most of the people in the middle sections don't have to worry about going through the process at all. Doesn't seem right, but money talks.
I think there may have been some miscommunication there. From the FAQ:
ReplyDelete14. Can I get my same seats that I had for the 2006-07 season?
Yes, if they are available at the time of your assigned appointment time. The only seats that do not have to go through the Reseating process are seats in the preferred seating section. There are some preferred seats available for the 2007-08 season.
So .. unless your friend is buying the super-expensive preferred seating (cheapest is $3300/seat!) then they are going through the process like everyone else.