Forced to be reseated in a non-reseating year????

[xjohnx]

I heard that 48% down didnt count last week. So that number an move up significantly given many people wait to the last minute. But none the less, I have no doubt we finish down, again. We did better than Mason, and other 1 hit wonders in March Madness. But it looks like we are not going to back to the days of even coming close to selling out during season ticket renewals (especially at these prices).
So what is the answer? Dropping donation levels ? How far? Cut expenses? What this means for the programs, I have no idea. It's not good though.

If the 48% is accurate they need to stop the bleeding and get some / any kind of donation for those seats rather than leaving them to single game sales.

I'd say it's time to throw the donation requirements based on seat location chart in the trash. Give the ticket sales guys the power to bargain and try to salvage whatever relationships/donations they can before fans get too comfortable with the idea of having walked away. Get every non-renewing season ticket holder from the past two seasons a phone call and make it known that VCU wants them back. It'll only be for one year so one-off deals shouldn't be a huge problem.

Do this with the expectation of a reseating next year (with a commitment for a more fair process at that time. Drop the donation requirements per section, let the selection order be by donor level first, then overall raf point ranking. This would allow the big money donors to be prioritized get the lowest/best seats, while still rewarding loyalty long term smaller donors, all without leaving an entire section blocked off and unsold waiting for $10k donors that aren't coming back any time soon.)

 

[VCU Finance 2008]

Personally... I would not have done either. What I would've done is leave things the way they were for the 23-24 season.... not worry about reseating people right away (since there's a reseating next year anyway), and certainly not change deadlines unexpectedly with little to no notice.

Then, state something saying that following the 23-24 Mens Basketball season... season ticket renewals & RAF donations will now be done simultaneously the renewal date will be June 2nd (or whenever in june)..... so that people can be ready for it & budget their money accordingly.

I'm sure if the Staff did that.... none of us would b***h or complain about it because at least they gave us plenty of notice.

When they announced that there would be no reseating this season after the coaching change I was relieved thinking that everyone would have an easy renewal process this off season. Then they managed to screw that up in almost every way possible. I hope that Danny is not leaving though. He is a nice guy and one who does communicate with season ticket holders. I fear that his absence would make things worse.

 

[AlienAiden]

When they announced that there would be no reseating this season after the coaching change I was relieved thinking that everyone would have an easy renewal process this off season. Then they managed to screw that up in almost every way possible. I hope that Danny is not leaving though. He is a nice guy and one who does communicate with season ticket holders. I fear that his absence would make things worse.

Heard Danny is leaving and Bryan Allen. That is at this point. Maybe more cuts but who knows? Not sure at this point if they are simply leaving for different jobs but seems sudden.

 

[VCU Finance 2008]

If the 48% is accurate they need to stop the bleeding and get some / any kind of donation for those seats rather than leaving them to single game sales.

I'd say it's time to throw the donation requirements based on seat location chart in the trash. Give the ticket sales guys the power to bargain and try to salvage whatever relationships/donations they can before fans get too comfortable with the idea of having walked away. Get every non-renewing season ticket holder from the past two seasons a phone call and make it known that VCU wants them back. It'll only be for one year so one-off deals shouldn't be a huge problem.

Do this with the expectation of a reseating next year (with a commitment for a more fair process at that time. Drop the donation requirements per section, let the selection order be by donor level first, then overall raf point ranking. This would allow the big money donors to be prioritized get the lowest/best seats, while still rewarding loyalty long term smaller donors, all without leaving an entire section blocked off and unsold waiting for $10k donors that aren't coming back any time soon.)

If they are doing a reset of the athletic department this is probably their last chance to get this right and gain some trust with donors/season ticket holders. Many are too far gone, but maybe some can be brought back. They have made that job extremely difficult after the past 4 years or so. These are good suggestions though.

 

[AHEF]

If the 48% is accurate they need to stop the bleeding and get some / any kind of donation for those seats rather than leaving them to single game sales.

I'd say it's time to throw the donation requirements based on seat location chart in the trash. Give the ticket sales guys the power to bargain and try to salvage whatever relationships/donations they can before fans get too comfortable with the idea of having walked away. Get every non-renewing season ticket holder from the past two seasons a phone call and make it known that VCU wants them back. It'll only be for one year so one-off deals shouldn't be a huge problem.

Do this with the expectation of a reseating next year (with a commitment for a more fair process at that time. Drop the donation requirements per section, let the selection order be by donor level first, then overall raf point ranking. This would allow the big money donors to be prioritized get the lowest/best seats, while still rewarding loyalty long term smaller donors, all without leaving an entire section blocked off and unsold waiting for $10k donors that aren't coming back any time soon.)

If that holds around 50% then there will only be about 1,100 to 1,250 seats sold. It also means donors have also dropped out. Someone should request the information, via the FOIA. It will be a 6-year trend if more are lost. There are no new 10K donors joining to replace them either. Your reseating plan makes sense to everyone but Ed. Resetting the B&G back to $1,000 would be a good idea, since none of the higher levels had an increase. I suggest for every donor dollar lost; Ed's salaries should be reduced a dollar.

 

[Ramaholic]

Heard Danny is leaving and Bryan Allen. That is at this point. Maybe more cuts but who knows? Not sure at this point if they are simply leaving for different jobs but seems sudden.

I am sad to see Bryan go. He has been offered several jobs as head fundraiser in the AD at different schools so he is moving up and on his terms. Maybe something made him start to look but who knows.

 

[TampaKAP]

I know there are a lot of emotions involved in these discussion so let me first say everyone has the right to make the choice that best fits their individual situation. No one can tell you how to feel about any situation as your emotions are just like your decisions, yours individually.

Things I ponder

• Do I think there will be thousands over even hundreds of vacant seats in the STU next year? no
• By what percentage has in person attendance declined across college basketball as a whole
• Does VCU have a budget that was built on counting multiple NCAA win shares and absent that are donors being asked to do more?
• Does Ed's perceived flaws outweigh his perceived good talents?( Would you rather be able to sit on the front row for a $50 donation and still possibly be searching for a new staff or have a coach and staff in place that appears to have put together a team that conceivably win the conference again next year less than 24 hours after the previous regime and half the team is out the door)
• How do VCU Alum and fans actually feel? The Stu hold 7.5k Everyone on the board has a friend or two because people will say my freind this or me and my friend that. If you quadruple the number of people on the forums now , you are still only talking about 11% of the Stu capacity which is nowhere near the actual size of the fan base so can you really glean anything thing from such a small sample size.
• For what its worth, losing to Jacksonville at home does not help boost ticket sales

We initially looked at going in with a group of out of towners to by season tickets this year but opted not to do so only because we expect there may be some scheduling challenges as VCU is a real unknown quantity for the first time sine the hiring of SS. That didn't however prevent us from making the donation to the AD because that was our choice. I suspect we will be part of a season ticket group next year. Hope to see some of you on the road this year and if it works out maybe a game or two in the Stu. As I read, it shouldn't be hard to get single game tickets

Go Rams

 

[xjohnx]

• How do VCU Alum and fans actually feel? The Stu hold 7.5k Everyone on the board has a friend or two because people will say my freind this or me and my friend that. If you quadruple the number of people on the forums now , you are still only talking about 11% of the Stu capacity which is nowhere near the actual size of the fan base so can you really glean anything thing from such a small sample size.

Can you glean anything from the 48% drop in ticket sales?

 

[Ramaholic]

Can you glean anything from the 48% drop in ticket sales?

I heard that 48% wasn't the final number but the number before the last week. My guess is we lose 20% when the dust settles. Much of it self inflicted with the seat map donor sections reflecting such high price points for required donations.

 

[xjohnx]

I heard that 48% wasn't the final number but the number before the last week. My guess is we lose 20% when the dust settles. Much of it self inflicted with the seat map donor sections reflecting such high price points for required donations.

I'm interesting in seeing the final number, I'm betting it's closer to 40% at best.

 

[TampaKAP]

Can you glean anything from the 48% drop in ticket sales?

That depends. In a bubble by itself one could make a number of assumptions.

• The popular low hanging fruit answer is Ed is a jerk and people are rebelling against him
• People believe the price exceeds the value
  • Playing Morgan St, Howard and losing to Jax would certainly make that a fair point
• Maybe like a lot of things post covid, the ability to be part of the game from almost anywhere has people staying away
• Maybe people don’t realize basketball is THE money generator and while donations may allow you to get certain seats the actual money also supports WBB,Baseball, Tennis, track etc.
• Maybe people have a distaste for NIL and are pulling support for that reason

Anyone or combination of these could be the reason. Funny thing is if it is the Ed is a jerk reason then I guess no 1 person is bigger than the program only applies to players and staff but not the AD. A lot of people despised WW but that didn’t change attendance or support. Like I said in my original post, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and emotions

 

[PhantomRam]

That depends. In a bubble by itself one could make a number of assumptions.

• The popular low hanging fruit answer is Ed is a jerk and people are rebelling against him
• People believe the price exceeds the value
  • Playing Morgan St, Howard and losing to Jax would certainly make that a fair point
• Maybe like a lot of things post covid, the ability to be part of the game from almost anywhere has people staying away
• Maybe people don’t realize basketball is THE money generator and while donations may allow you to get certain seats the actual money also supports WBB,Baseball, Tennis, track etc.
• Maybe people have a distaste for NIL and are pulling support for that reason

Anyone or combination of these could be the reason. Funny thing is if it is the Ed is a jerk reason then I guess no 1 person is bigger than the program only applies to players and staff but not the AD. A lot of people despised WW but that didn’t change attendance or support. Like I said in my original post, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and emotions

I had somewhat considered getting season tickets again, with a new coach and excitement building around the program, I was almost hooked again. But then, part of the reason I decided not to was not wanting to become so emotionally attached to a team that may change by 75% every year with NIL. In concept, I agree the players should be able to make money off their likeness. But I do not agree with how this debacle has transpired. I will wait and see on NIL. So to KAP's point, I would say I have some distaste for NIL. Concerning RO, no secret, if he does well, he is probably gone around the 4-year mark. Nothing wrong with that, I wish him well, but again, our luck will run out one day "rebuilding"

 

[VCU Heel]

I had somewhat considered getting season tickets again, with a new coach and excitement building around the program, I was almost hooked again. But then, part of the reason I decided not to was not wanting to become so emotionally attached to a team that may change by 75% every year with NIL. In concept, I agree the players should be able to make money off their likeness. But I do not agree with how this debacle has transpired. I will wait and see on NIL. So to KAP's point, I would say I have some distaste for NIL. Concerning RO, no secret, if he does well, he is probably gone around the 4-year mark. Nothing wrong with that, I wish him well, but again, our luck will run out one day "rebuilding"

I’m not sure why out luck will run out… or why it’s even luck.

If/when Odom gets a P5 job, that will make 6 straight VCU coaches to move up to P5 jobs. Has that ever happened at any school? That just makes the job even more attractive. Every mid major coach in the country will want to come here and make about $2 million a year.

 

[Ramcounter]

If the 48% is accurate they need to stop the bleeding and get some / any kind of donation for those seats rather than leaving them to single game sales.

I'd say it's time to throw the donation requirements based on seat location chart in the trash. Give the ticket sales guys the power to bargain and try to salvage whatever relationships/donations they can before fans get too comfortable with the idea of having walked away. Get every non-renewing season ticket holder from the past two seasons a phone call and make it known that VCU wants them back. It'll only be for one year so one-off deals shouldn't be a huge problem.

Do this with the expectation of a reseating next year (with a commitment for a more fair process at that time. Drop the donation requirements per section, let the selection order be by donor level first, then overall raf point ranking. This would allow the big money donors to be prioritized get the lowest/best seats, while still rewarding loyalty long term smaller donors, all without leaving an entire section blocked off and unsold waiting for $10k donors that aren't coming back any time soon.)

For what it is worth I was called as a former season ticket holder asking about renewing last year.

Also, I have posted a bunch on the price subject but it seems odd to me that there has been such a wide delta between single ticket get in prices and season ticket prices the last few years. Seems like an easy fix help to fill the place up.

 

[Posse COFOUNDER]

I heard that 48% wasn't the final number but the number before the last week. My guess is we lose 20% when the dust settles. Much of it self inflicted with the seat map donor sections reflecting such high price points for required donations.

It was 42% prior to the final day, and you will definitely have a small bump for the procrastinators and people that were on the fence about renewing, but there’s no way it ends up nearly doubling that late in the game. 50% would be a reach and light years below industry standard. Simply put, it’s a disaster.