That required donations associated with getting seats will not be deductible with the new tax law as of 1/1/18. I wonder what affect that might have on peoples willingness to make those donations. I also head that a number of ST holders may become former ST holders. THis sort of goes along with the "be careful what you wish for" . People in the West Parking lot got their wish for redoing it and they lost 40% of the spaces and saw the cost of obtaining one skyrocket. They wanted a new arena and got that but also saw the cost of getting good seats take off as well.
I confirmed with my ticket agent
- Thread starter hdhntr1
- Start date
Saw the same thing happen in St. Louis when they built Busch III. My cousins, who owned a successful business and bought season tickets every year for the Cardinals, got priced out of the new stadium. Typically new also means more expensive. “New money” often comes in to replace long-time ticket holders, but that doesn’t make the former ticket holders any happier.
Well you have said a mouthful. It's ok for those who can pay but the hell with those who supported the program for many years through thick and mostly thin.
Now that you bring this up, hdhtr, I'm wondering if NU is already adjusting.
I'm hesitant to ask this publicly, but I will.
Did anybody else finalize their ST package for quite a bit less than the published required donation?
Before finalizing, I made a call about a very simple clarification of my final cost (tickets + donation). My math wasn't adding up and I just wanted to check. I was nowhere near making a stink about anything.
My rep and I agreed on the final price and she checked with her manager. The manager in the background of the call gave her a final cost for tickets and donation which was significantly less than what the rep and I agreed should have been the published final cost.
Both of us were pretty surprised and admitted it openly. She double-checked the final price with the manager.
I triple-checked with the rep. I didn't want any problems down the road. Same seats? Check. She guarantees them? Check.
I have no clue why this happened. It was a welcome surprise, but an odd phone call. I was wondering about different scenarios why this could have happened.
1) Were they gentle with me because I've had tickets for many years? Maybe, but I don't think so.
2) I'm also a regular donor, but there are people who donate much more than me. Probably not a reason.
3) Did a big shooter recently make a large donation that allowed them to reach their goals and ease up on the smaller donations? Can anyone verify?
4) To go back to the hdhtr theory, I waited until the last week to make my payment. Maybe renewals aren't going as well as they thought.
Those are the only reasons I can come up with. However, I'm wondering if hdhtr hit on something. Maybe NU is adjusting to the effects of the new tax laws. That's the best reason I can put together.
Anybody else have the same experience?
Anyhow, the lesson I learned is that the "required" donations are somewhat negotiable. I COMPLETELY stumbled into it. I hope the better negotiators among us can use this to help themselves in the future.
I'm hesitant to ask this publicly, but I will.
Did anybody else finalize their ST package for quite a bit less than the published required donation?
Before finalizing, I made a call about a very simple clarification of my final cost (tickets + donation). My math wasn't adding up and I just wanted to check. I was nowhere near making a stink about anything.
My rep and I agreed on the final price and she checked with her manager. The manager in the background of the call gave her a final cost for tickets and donation which was significantly less than what the rep and I agreed should have been the published final cost.
Both of us were pretty surprised and admitted it openly. She double-checked the final price with the manager.
I triple-checked with the rep. I didn't want any problems down the road. Same seats? Check. She guarantees them? Check.
I have no clue why this happened. It was a welcome surprise, but an odd phone call. I was wondering about different scenarios why this could have happened.
1) Were they gentle with me because I've had tickets for many years? Maybe, but I don't think so.
2) I'm also a regular donor, but there are people who donate much more than me. Probably not a reason.
3) Did a big shooter recently make a large donation that allowed them to reach their goals and ease up on the smaller donations? Can anyone verify?
4) To go back to the hdhtr theory, I waited until the last week to make my payment. Maybe renewals aren't going as well as they thought.
Those are the only reasons I can come up with. However, I'm wondering if hdhtr hit on something. Maybe NU is adjusting to the effects of the new tax laws. That's the best reason I can put together.
Anybody else have the same experience?
Anyhow, the lesson I learned is that the "required" donations are somewhat negotiable. I COMPLETELY stumbled into it. I hope the better negotiators among us can use this to help themselves in the future.
NU is wrapping up a highly successful We Will campaign, one that raised Billions. It’s all about the $$, just like every big-time program. They do it because they can.
I’m sorry you feel so disrespected, but it shouldn’t come a surprise to anyone, especially the fans around here, that NU is doing this.
There has been a historic issue at WR of filling seats with NU fans. We can agree to that.
The money raise is important and we can all support improvements to NU facilities....academic....athletic...and so forth.
But, over the last 40 years that I've followed NU hoops, the crappy teams have outnumber the good teams by quite a margin. And yet, the stalwarts have shown up year in and year out, often when you could shoot a canon through the lower bowl or the student section and not hit anyone.
So be careful about chasing away the stalwarts. And be careful of relying too heavily on a bunch of people who suddenly gave money when the program was hot. They had money when the program wasn't, and they didn't show up for games.
Like everything else in life, the true fans are the ones who show up when it's most difficult to do.
God forbid, but if a marquis player were to get injured this year and the losses pile up, the newby fans will be the first to throw their tickets on Stub Hub for fifty cents on the dollar. They do it because they can.
True NU fans would never conceive of doing so, because for years they have cringed at games when outnumbered by other Big Ten fans.
I had a similar experience (maybe not to the same monetary extent, I’m not really sure) with getting parking at one of the golf lots for football. I’ve been a season ticket holder for several years and donate yearly, but i hadn’t donated up to what they wanted for a parking spot (granted, i didn’t go for east/west lots).
When i first asked about parking, my ticket rep told me to hold off on donating more until May and they would let me know if/how much it looked like i would have to donate to get parking. Come May, and they told me it looks like i don’t have to donate any additional.
There was no negotiation with courtside or the Wilson seats, nor the corner sections which were 'priced right'. The two sections behind the team benches had some wiggle room along with the midcourt section (non Wilson) but not for the lower row seats. To this day, there are plenty of good seats that remain in the sections behind the benches and those who haven't received ST should put themselves on the waiting list and you will get an email within 30 days (sometimes a lot sooner). Note: The waiting list is just a publicity stunt, plenty of tickets remain.
The upper level first row is all sold out, but any other section in the upper bowl has seats from as close as row 2.
Obviously, NU didn't think it would sell out and I'm still wondering if they will offer partial season ticket packages (Big Ten only).
At any rate, I believe they are over 4,000 season tickets already (and that's great!) with only 5,700 seats to sell (not including students, opposing team, media, etc)
IMO, whoever priced this venue priced it rightly and when Duke is announced it will most likely sell out any remaining season ticket plans.
For those who pushed for a 10,000 seat venue, I think they would have had to lower ticket prices substantially and I still don't think the new place would be sold out.
And there is an upper limit to these things. Baseball attendance is starting to drop, especially in places where there's a bad product on the field. I'm more and more inclined to attend sporting events at my local Division II colleges or high schools for $5 or less a ticket. Obviously it's not the caliber of a pro or Division I college contest, but I'm not spending a small fortune to buy a couple of tickets, either.
I went into one of the corners where the donation was $600. But that is the some donation for getting into E or W lot and for moving me up in the selection process so I paid it early. Figured it put me in could place for this year but likely my total points still won;t get me into E or W lots this year. I did hear from the Ticket Agent last week that many, I presume in prime areas, did not renew ST for this year (maybe because of the real cost being hard to justify) Maybe t is an adjustment to recognize the change in tax code.
I believe it is more about the Tier level of donor that you are. From my phone call with my rep last week, I received the impression at Tier 1 you need a ton of points, probably close to 1000 or more to lock in East/West Parking. If you are Tier 2 you are in.
I heard about 850 and a $600 donation for this year. But if you gave $2500 you were in as being in a higher tier
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You have to either give a lot (like 2500) or give at least 600 and have 850 points
Where does it say there is a season ticket waiting list? I called my ticket agent (handles my football tix) and he said he could set me up with basketball season tickets right away. I jumped right in. And no donation required. I am in section 207, row 2. $700 for two seats. Assuming 17-18 home games, that is $20 per seat per game. And they are pretty good seats, at least based on the 3-D viewer on the site. Not sure there are any bad seats. I am generally behind the Cats bench and will have a great view of the basket the Cats shoot on in the second half. I consider my tickets a bargain.
Here's the link from NUsports
WaitList
2018-19 Men's Basketball Season Ticket Wait List
Thanks to incredible fan support, Northwestern men’s basketball is currently at capacity for 2018-19 season tickets at the NEW Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Season Ticket Wait List has been created to provide an equitable way for fans to access seats when they become available for 2018-19 and subsequent seasons.