Wondering about new football parking donation? I asked Kentucky about that
- Thread starter wildcatman26
- Start date
From an objective point of view... I will watch with great interest efforts by Stoops to build a football program while Mitch Barnhart does the same with a fanbase... I'm feel'n all Jerry Lee Lewis 2016 because there's a whole lot a shake'n go'n on............
folks...it's business...
9 home games next season...so a $300 donation is paying $33 a game in the premium lots right next to the stadium...
paying to park in somebody's yard on Waller or State Street will run about $20 a game...maybe $25 if it's a bigger game...
Athletic department has bills to pay...
9 home games next season...so a $300 donation is paying $33 a game in the premium lots right next to the stadium...
paying to park in somebody's yard on Waller or State Street will run about $20 a game...maybe $25 if it's a bigger game...
Athletic department has bills to pay...
9 home games?
Pretty sure there are only 7.
I'd say that the bottom line is that they are losing parking area so they need to makeup that revenue somewhere. Parking passes are the one thing that the demand > supply so they're probably going to bump that pricing up until they find that equilibrium.
Not to mention the $300 donation is ON TOP of the $280 parking pass....so it ends up being about $83 per game....
Okay 7 home games...i counted wrong...
Article didn't say anything about being in addition to a paying for the pass...
still the point is the same...
you have to pay to park...
the frat boy on state street sets his price for parking on his lawn according to the demand...and UK sets theirs for parking right next to the stadium...
The university wouldn't set such high prices if there was absolutely no demand...
In fact, I would say there is an overwhelming demand for parking really close to the stadium...so, UK sets a premium price...
Parking on campus and in Lexington is a joke to begin with...It's not entirely the athletic departments fault that parking isn't more convenient than what it is...
I suppose the University could buy and pave some more land on the other side of alumni...but another project would cost money which would mean raising the price of attendance and parking to cover it...
Article didn't say anything about being in addition to a paying for the pass...
still the point is the same...
you have to pay to park...
the frat boy on state street sets his price for parking on his lawn according to the demand...and UK sets theirs for parking right next to the stadium...
The university wouldn't set such high prices if there was absolutely no demand...
In fact, I would say there is an overwhelming demand for parking really close to the stadium...so, UK sets a premium price...
Parking on campus and in Lexington is a joke to begin with...It's not entirely the athletic departments fault that parking isn't more convenient than what it is...
I suppose the University could buy and pave some more land on the other side of alumni...but another project would cost money which would mean raising the price of attendance and parking to cover it...
It is my understanding when the new senior center being built behind the old Lexington Mall is complete they will replace the old on at Alumni and Nich Rd will another multi storied parking garage
A lot of spaces for parking are available just down the street. It has plenty of pretty flowers and trees. I think its called a aubortorium or something like that. Put in some of those permanent grills and some asphalt and run a shuttle like at Talladega Speedway and problem solved. How romantic would that be? Sorry I forgot. Valentines Day is over.
I don't think they are out of line in adding the k-fund requirement. The demand is there. I think where they went wrong was doing it right now. Fan support is shaky at best. Last season didn't end very well. There is still a lot of hope and promise but people would take any increase a whole lot better if it came on the heels of a winning season. They have just rubbed a lot of fans wrong by asking for more without giving them something in return.
They can just shrink the stadium and say they are improving the fan experience again. They've already priced me out of going to games. Only time I will go anymore is if I can catch one of those $25 a ticket games. I have more important things to spend money on and can just watch on TV for free.
From where do you suggest that they get the money to build new practice facilities, pay for stadium improvements, pay competitive coaches salaries? I agree that it is getting expensive but UK does not exist in a vacuum. Everyone else in the SEC is constantly improving their facilities and UK can either try to compete or surrender. As expensive as it is, UK is still near the bottom for ticket prices in the league.
There is more demand for parking passes than the supply of spaces at the stadium. Raising the price by $300 will lower that demand pressure some. At least they made it part of the K-Fund so that it is tax deductible.
For 85 bucks a game, I would want to be able to exit the parking lot in less than 2 hours after the game.
People complained for years that UK wasn't putting enough money into its football program so they now have invested $175M plus. They now have to service the debt on the bonds used to pay for those improvements. A very smart agreement in the final days of that funding approval process was that UK could not pass any of that debt burden on to students. So, UK must extract money any way they can from the football program in order to service the debt. "Donations" for parking is one way to do that. It's a personal decision whether you think its worth it to buy tickets and parking for UK football, but nothing in this world is free. You can't ask UK to do something, and then complain when they do it. If you can't afford tickets/parking passes, then the decision may already be made for you. One thing for certain, prices aren't going to go down for parking or tickets.
Renewals are already out.
It's a personal decision whether to attend UK's games. They involves many factors - money being only one of them. If the opportunity cost is more than you are willing to bear, then that is your (or your dad's) decision. Good luck.
Everyone in the conference gets that same TV money, has sponsors, licensing, etc. That is simply ground zero, where everybody starts. At that point it falls to the fans and donors to step up and make up the difference.
Yes, they could cut prices in half...they could make it all free and operate. But they couldn't renovate the stadium, build new practice facilities or be competitive with coaches salaries. It isn't like the money is going into someone's pocket, it is being invested back into the program.
As for having to move...everybody had to move when they moved from Stoll Field to CWS. People had 40+ years in the same spot if they wanted to be there. At some point there has to be a sacrifice in order to progress. There was simply no way they could have made any significant stadium changes without having to move people. Had they replaced all the bleachers with chairs, it would have required moving everyone. I'm sure the thought behind the "New Commonwealth Stadium" marketing was to try and soften that blow. There are only a few of us that have had to move twice...from Stoll to CWS and this past season. It is unlikely that you will ever have to do so again.
What would be great if it were possible is have everyone who complains about such similar decisions be required to give their suggestion as to how it should have been done better. Then have that suggestion virtually applied so that they could accurately judge the acceptance/rejection of that idea.
As someone annexed to the Arboretum last year - I welcome the price increase for parking as a way for me to return to a better parking location. I'm ready to pay more for better. For those who are not, thank you, and sorry for the situation.
Didn't they just sell the ancillary?? rights for $30,000,000 or so, and what was the record SEC distribution this year?
Back when our football program was near zero (TWO wins in conference with four OOC gets you a bowl game, thanks UL-----with near zero support from UK) it was still clearing around $18,000,000, over three times what basketball was clearing.
And while the necessary fan strike drove our attendance and ticket sales way down it was offset by the money the other SEC teams football programs were making available.
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Since mitch only seems to be concerned about how much money he can make from football (and yes, ALL the considerable investment, ten years late, is a good investment, better late than never, LOTS of money available if he sells no tickets) I think he should get rid of another 6,000 or so troublesome fans and create drive in parking like the old drive in movies. You could bring in as many as you like, which would make the bidding for them out of sight, no one in the trunk like we did in high school, use that for bourbon which would probably offset all of the cost of attendance.
Parking is limited, so UK won't have any problem selling the spaces. It just means the "little guy" is getting phased out of attending sports venues. It's supply and demand. In my situation, I can afford it, but I'll stay home this year and let someone else pay for it. I find it much better to pick and choose the games I want to attend instead of paying for Kfund each and every game.
I'm sure your talking about what was once referred to at the Tier-3 rights...rights to the radio broadcast and other non-television rights that were previously owned by IMG. UK will get $210 million over 15 years which included a $29.4 million signing bonus. IMG had offered $246 million for 20 years. This replaces the $80.5 million they received from IMG over the past 10 years.
To look at it another way they were getting a little more than $8 million/yr...now they'll get about $14 million so a net increase of $6 million. Also, the signing bonus is simply money up front and is part of the total $210 million...it's not in addition to.
Same with the SEC distribution...($31.2 million vs $21 million) it is more now with the SEC Network but it isn't $31.2 million of new money. It's about $10 million of new money...
The point that seems to be lost here however is that just about everybody in the SEC has similar deals. They all get the $31 million from the league and they all have deals with IMG or other sports marketing groups that pay them similar amounts as what UK gets. UK still ranks in the bottom half of athletic budgets in the SEC. UK has to maximize revenues wherever it can just to keep up. Parking is one area where the demand is much higher than the supply. As long as there is a waiting list to get parking, why would they not tap that resource?
Some might consider a 100% mark up more than just a tap... Like Cuckinden above....
Business puts a price out there and people can choose to buy.... or not....
But if it don't sell don't blame the customer....
No, the point that seems to be lost by a lot of posters is that while other SEC schools were using that $21,000,000 and $8,000,000 a year to improve the sport RESPONSIBLE for most of that money mitch was investing most of it in the minor sports-----when if he had invested more in football (most businesses invest in their most lucrative product) he would have had more money to spend on his minor sports. The strike cost UK millions of dollars in ticket sales, and mitches policies and public relations goofs cost UK millions more in contributions, including the perception (right or wrong) that any money FOOTBALL fans wanted to donate for FOOTBALL would go into the KFund for mitch to spend on his minor sports. There were long threads on here by MANY fans that wanted to donate to football but said they wouldn't donate a cent for him (or the athletic department) to decide how to use their money.
And now that UK has invested heavily in football the new $40,000,000 football center (about a decade behind the basketball center) is going to be built entirely from donations. AND the improvements to CW PLUS a huge investment in academic improvements will be paid for by the athletics department, and MOST of that is due to football, albeit most of it due to the success of the other SEC schools football teams, ie TV contracts, bowl appearances, etc.
All good and great now, but just about a decade behind the competition in football. Sorry, but the "recruiting center" (which was used, except by our best recruiter, Tee) was an absolute disgrace, and I still think the $160,000 spent to hang some pictures on a wall somewhere (instead of putting up some walls in the warehouse, replacing the FOLDING CHAIRS and portable screens, carpet on the floor, etc, etc, etc,------) was just mitch"s way of showing the microwave fans who was in charge.
No, sorry, I can't get over the injustices done to UK football when it was making three times what the basketball program was with EVERYTHING top class for basketball AND a recruiting budget and operating budget about the same as for SIX times the players involved with the football team.
Just inexplicable (and stupid) to me.
What the ell is going on here, sometimes a missing h makes a lot of difference in the perception of someones name.
Call up Bama, and tell them you want to buy one of those $175 parking passes, and get back to us...
Go check out Alabama's athletics revenues vs UK's. Their football program produces more revenue that UK football and basketball combined. Their total revenue is almost double that of UK's.
They too have a "K-Fund" and a waiting list for tickets. Go see how much it costs you to get moved up that list enough to purchase tickets. That's like the lower arena tickets in Rupp. It isn't what it cost you to keep them...it's what it costs you to gain the privilege to buy them.
Nah...I knew it was a typo. If I got offended over stuff like that I would be miserable all the time lobo.yeah ... hope Chuck isn't terribly offended
I think folks are getting their first little taste of what big boy SEC football really is...
We've been howling at the admin for years to take football seriously.
"Spend more...need renovations...need new facilities...need more competitive pay for coaches...etc..."
Well here we are...renovated the stadium...got a state of the art football facility on the way...paying coaches more...expanding the staff...
Folks...the school ain't going to pay for that all on their own...that money has got to come from somewhere...
"Well, the SEC money..."...yeah it's nice...but it's being spent...need more...
I think we need to come to grips that all the money football makes and all the money we get from the SEC isn't all going back into football...there is an entire athletics program to run...
Mitch just got AD of the year...so he's not just smiling and twiddling his thumbs...he's busting his hump...if you don't like the fact that he's busting his hump to improve the entire program, to get a lot of the other teams competitive...then too bad...it ain't going to change any time soon...
Just wait till they have a 7-8 win and bowl team to sell us...that's gonna cost...
wait til the product on the field actually starts to catch up and then the football fever sweeps the commonwealth...and demand increases...5,000 fewer seats...fewer parking spots...folks...that was by design...it's called economics...
We've gotten comfortable over the years being able to pay relatively low prices to attend games and tailgate right next to our buds and sit in the same seats we've been sitting in for years...
It's been easy on the wallet, convenient, and good times while the team has stunk and there wasn't any effort or investment in football...
This is the cut throat world of big football...
We've been howling at the admin for years to take football seriously.
"Spend more...need renovations...need new facilities...need more competitive pay for coaches...etc..."
Well here we are...renovated the stadium...got a state of the art football facility on the way...paying coaches more...expanding the staff...
Folks...the school ain't going to pay for that all on their own...that money has got to come from somewhere...
"Well, the SEC money..."...yeah it's nice...but it's being spent...need more...
I think we need to come to grips that all the money football makes and all the money we get from the SEC isn't all going back into football...there is an entire athletics program to run...
Mitch just got AD of the year...so he's not just smiling and twiddling his thumbs...he's busting his hump...if you don't like the fact that he's busting his hump to improve the entire program, to get a lot of the other teams competitive...then too bad...it ain't going to change any time soon...
Just wait till they have a 7-8 win and bowl team to sell us...that's gonna cost...
wait til the product on the field actually starts to catch up and then the football fever sweeps the commonwealth...and demand increases...5,000 fewer seats...fewer parking spots...folks...that was by design...it's called economics...
We've gotten comfortable over the years being able to pay relatively low prices to attend games and tailgate right next to our buds and sit in the same seats we've been sitting in for years...
It's been easy on the wallet, convenient, and good times while the team has stunk and there wasn't any effort or investment in football...
This is the cut throat world of big football...
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I get it but one thing is for sure, there is no way we are going to play big boy football on a little boy budget. The investment has to come before the payoff. That is the way it works in the business world and that's the only way its going to work in college sports.