Even though the UVA football team has played relatively well at home this season, going 4-2, Scott Stadium has appeared somewhat empty. And though the fans present have tried to make up for their missing brethren, some of them have been making plenty of noise elsewhere—namely in the Virginia Athletic Foundation (VAF) office about the restructuring to UVA football’s season ticketing and game-day parking system.
The new system gives parking and seating preference to donors to the VAF, an independent, nonprofit group that funds much of UVA’s Athletic Department. Priority is based on the amount of money donated (with a $2,500 minimum), increases in the amount of money, and the period of time over which that money was donated.
It used to be that your fanhood was practically enough to get you good tickets.
“I held my season tickets for 40 years,” says UVA alumnus Thomas Johnson, “back when there was no one in the stands and they were practically giving the tickets away.” Johnson, a “double Hoo,” is one of those longtime ticket holders who feels he has been left in the cold by the VAF and the Athletic Department, to which he has donated for 40-plus years.
“I was able to hold my tickets at the 50-yard line by maintaining my minimum donation of $600. Then this season they wanted me to go to $2,500,” says Johnson.
“I tried to keep my tickets,” said Johnson, “and [during a phone call] I asked, ‘How many 40-year season ticket holders do you have?’ The answer I was given was, ‘We understand that some people are going to get angry, but there’s a lot of money that the University is missing out on right now.’ I said, ‘Thank you very much,’ and I didn’t renew my tickets. I couldn’t afford to. I’m still angry.”
Anyone who has attended a game recently can see that attendance is hurting this season. After a record crowd of 64,947 to see the Cavs annihilation at the hands of USC’s Trojans, attendance since has plummeted and averages under 52,000.
Ticket sales per game, which don’t include student tickets, is 48,316—about 8 percent lower than last year. Not shockingly, the numbers of season ticket sales for this season were low.
Last season, under the old system, there were 39,532 season tickets sold, which at the time was the lowest in four years. This year, the number dropped to 35,538, the biggest year-to-year drop in season ticket sales in program history.
Rich Murray, UVA athletics spokesman, points out that “because of a restructured sales approach, fewer season tickets were available this season.”
“There were approximately 35,500 available,” he says. “[This was] because of the decision to restructure the sales approach after the priority season ticket sale period.”
The priority sale period is a time when VAF donors are allowed to purchase tickets before the general public is allowed access to the same tickets. If that group’s season ticket sales are low, it follows that season ticket levels on whole are going to be lower.
Regardless of the empty seats, the VAF is quite satisfied with its new approach. Its goal was $15.4 million for the 2008 annual campaign; to date, it has raised $16.6 million with approximately 1,900 new donors, according to Murray.
It remains to be seen how this year’s home campaign will be remembered on the field. The Cavs (5-5, 3-3 in the ACC) recovered from the USC loss and won back-to-back-to-back home games against Maryland, ECU and North Carolina. But the Hoos were set back at home against the Miami Hurricanes in overtime on November 1.
With thousands fewer fans and millions more dollars, the Cavs face the Clemson Tigers on Saturday, November 22, at Scott Stadium.
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