Heard from a hokieclub rep tonight that vt is going to start putting a surcharge on season tickets and that prices would be going up quite a bit. There is a town hall meeting planned from what he said. Has anyone heard anything about this?
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.

Comments
This seems like a really stupid idea considering season tickets already go public sale and don't sell out. Seems like a way to lose even more Hokie Club members. The Hokie Club meeting is prior to the Spring Game so we should hear something then.
Thanks and yes I agree my uncle has been a season ticket holder for 30 years he said if they do this he will stop going.
Seems a little premature, since he doesn't even know what they're proposing.
Did I miss the announcement that we are joining the SEC?
This is a great idea. Immediately following our National Championship!
Until then...nope.
This really pisses me off. Unlike most, I happen to love my seats in the south endzone. I've had them for a while now, but only joined the Hokie Club last year. There's a lot of Lane to fill before me even beginning to worry about losing my seats if I weren't in the HC. So, what the hell would be my incentive to stay in the HC if they begin pricey surcharges? I mean, I love being a member and helping the athletic department, but my wife is already none too thrilled with how much I put down for season tickets and the HC. If they jack things up, I doubt seriously we'd stay in the HC.
Not to mention, we are struggling to grow the HC as is. This is not something you do when you're trying to grow your membership.
This is going to be a really dumb question, but don't you have to be a HC member to have the "privilege" to buy season tickets at whatever level of HC you donate/rank at? I have had season tickets in the SEZ for several years (since the big build around 02/03) and I swear they told me I could not purchase the tickets without being in the HC. Was that something that changed ticket sales started falling?
I know there were public season ticket sales last season.
No, you don't. But let's say Fuente really starts blowing up the competition and Hokie Club membership shoots through the roof. You don't think some regular season ticket holders would start getting pushed out of theirs seats?
It's the principle of it all. Start this after the big wins start rolling in like NitWhitt says above.
No, you don't. I think there was a period of a few years where you had to be a HC member to become a new season ticket holder, but that stopped being the case a couple years ago when we stopped selling out every game. Even during that time, non-HC members who had season tickets were able to renew without joining. I've had season tickets (technically my brother-in-law has them) since about '02 and none of us have ever joined the Hokie Club.
Yea there are actually season ticket holders from the 60's and 70's with prime seats who are not part of HC.
Really? I thought the re-seating process they do every 5 or 6 years was intended, in part, to eliminate that sort of thing. It's never been an issue for me, since I never had 'prime' seats, but I always assumed that the re-seating process gave more weight to Hokie Club membership than to seniority.
I think you're both sort of right. Hopefully I get this mostly right, but my general understanding is the longtime season ticketholders (many of whom have held tickets longer than the Hokie Club were in existence) were brought into the Hokie Club ranks through some process that evaluated how long they'd had tickets and assigned to one of the lifetime levels (e.g. "Lifetime Bronze", etc.). So they are now Hokie Club members but do not need to donate. Of course, they could donate to achieve a higher level if they wish. That said, my understanding is their assigned priority level was such that once we did the reseating in 2004 most of them moved to less desirable seats.
It has changed over time. When I looked into it in the mid-2000's there was no way to buy new season tickets without being in the Hokie Club. (I assume you could renew existing ones without being a member.) More recently, as others have mentioned, they dropped the Hokie Club requirement for season ticket purchases. I am not sure, but I believe that was within the last 3-4 years.
It's not that they dropped the requirement, it's that the Hokie Club did not buy up as many tickets, so there were some available for public sale. Back when we would sell out more frequently, we wouldn't have public season tickets available. Hokie Club was just about your only way in.
Exactly. Ticket priority is:
-Return season ticketholders
-New season ticketholders based on Hokie Club priority
-Public season ticket sales
-Mini-game packages/single game tickets
The last few years, tickets have been available down to the single game level, but that is just because we haven't been selling as many season tickets. If Tech could sell every game in Lane through a season ticket package, it would. (And hopefully it will happen again here in the near future.)
And that right there perfectly encapsulates everything that has been wrong about the Hokie Club for the past 20 years or so. The Hokie Club is about supporting all our sports, not just football. Basketball, wrestling, golf, soccer, baseball, softball, etc. All of these sports need our support, and truth be told, our support flat out sucks donkey dick compared to our peers. This is an attempt by the Athletic Department to close that gap, and I applaud it.
Yes, thank you. I'm perfectly aware of why the Hokie Club is there. And were I better off financially, I'd give much more with no qualms about. As it stands, until I win Powerball or my rich uncle gets out of the poor house, I'm going to bitch about rising prices.
Sec 508 represent.
My assumption is the seat surcharges will only apply to the "better" seating sections and you won't see a change in the SEZ. I have no inside info though. I'm not going to get too bent out of shape about any rumors until we know more information on the specifics.
Yeah how about improving that W avg and, you know, grabbing a few playoff appearances before that. Just a thought.
just a question since we are on season tickets subject... when do we get the option to select our seats? ive already paid my HC dues and reserved my season tickets. I thought it was in march or early april that we got to make our selections? ive had some issues getting communications in the past with stuff because my dad (same name totally different address state, city, etc) is some how linked to my HC account because he was a HC member back in the day (idk if he still is or not we haven't spoken in quite some time) but I know I sometimes get his mail from VT and sometimes I don't get things im supposed to get in relation to VT. any insight would be helpful. ive tried calling the ticket office a couple times but have not been able to get a real definitive answer on anything at this time. thanks
Last year I was able to select my seats at the beginning of June, however last year was my first year in the HC so I'm sure I was very low on the list. I'm not sure when the members at the top of the list are able to select their seats.
The last 3 years, I received my email notification of seat selection time on 4/15/13, 4/16/14, and 4/25/15 respectively, with a physical mailing following a few days later. I don't know when it will be going out this year but I'm assuming it will be soon, just based on past years' dates. Of course, that is just the email containing your assigned selection time and instructions. The actual selection process starts in early to mid-May and then continues into June. The higher your Hokie Club ranking, the earlier your selection time will be within that window. Hope that helps.
EDIT: I just found this on hokietickets.com: "Customers purchasing prior to May 10th will be assigned a selection time to select seats during the 2016 Seat Selection Process in June. Orders placed after May 10th will be assigned in the best location available after all participants in the Seat Selection Process are seated." Based on this, it sounds like it may be mid-May this year before they finalize seat selection times and not until June before actual seat selection begins.
okay I was before may 10th. thanks so much for the info really appreciate it!
do you know if that is the same for folks who did the early bird special before march deadline? that's what we did. does the same thing apply? im like a kid on Christmas morning lol. im so ready to pick my seats, excitement is in my blood.
EDIT::::: I just received an email with my selection date and time for seating so everyone else be on the look out!
just got mine this morning too. Can't wait!
May 17, 9:47 am.
Seat selection depends on your priority ranking in the Hokie Club supposedly. Some time around the end of April or beginning of May they start the clock for people to select seats. It goes in order from the highest seniority to the lowest. That said, they don't let people bump lower priority members to take their seats, they just get their selection of available seats. I think since the online selection, I have changed seats once to go from XX to SS.
I haven't seen any details on any increases and to be honest, I am already irked that basically everything from inside the 30 yard to 30 yard appears to require a seat premium upgrade on the West side. I am already paying for my tickets plus a 2000 golden hokie membership. I don't want to pay an additional $1,000 per seat premium for good seats on the West side or the South side.
As a somewhat recent graduate without the means to drop the big bucks on prime tickets yet, can someone who's done it recently tell me what the best seats I'll be looking at are... if we were to go buy new season tickets at hokietickets.com? It's something I've considered in the past but figured I could get better tickets in the secondary market (and I did) for the same price. Now with the renewed excitement I'm thinking about going through the school for simplicity.
Anybody able to shed light on that?
Part of it depends on how many tickets you need and the other part just depends on how many orders there are. But, more than likely I'd say you can find better seats through the secondary market if you're solely looking at what you will get for the 2016 season. Non-HC season tickets generally end up in the quadruple or quintuple letter sections of the East Stands or the upper deck of the SEZ. Once you get season tickets though, in subsequent years you have the option to keep the same seats (or improve them, if you see better seats available when its your time to confirm your seat location), so that may be appealing to you if you plan to maintain season tickets for years to come, like a certain section, and/or are trying to sit with the same people year after year.
Btw, I joined the Hokie Club in 2003 and bought season tickets for the first time in 2004. Super excited when my season tickets arrived in the mail that first year and I ripped them open to find out I was sitting in Section 21, Row 5P (topleft most secion in the East Stands, very top row). We had a good laugh about that but over time we've worked our way down to much better seats. The good news is that if you buy season tickets now, your season tickets will be better than my first seats!
Thanks for the info.
We're going to eventually go the HC/Season ticket holder route and work our way down just as you have. Might go ahead and start that process now!
ha yeah we are actually gold this year as well. I messed up an extra $1000.00 that I thought was going to be applied towards next years ended up going towards this years. I doubt ill be able to keep that pace up every year but we will see. ill let it ride for this year and see how it works out for me. last year I had seats section 2 row WWW and it was my first time back having season tickets since moving to FL in 2001 (still was making it up for about 2 home games and any road games south of VA) and I cant really complain about my seats but id like to get a lil closer and more towards the 50.
that's still a pretty good chunk of games for us. Between da U, UNC, Duke, ECU, GT (and extremely occasional games with FSU, Clemson, Wake, NCSU) there are always going to be a handful of games south of VA. not a bad deal, really.
yeah I did miss Clemson. and haven't been to ECU. but GT, UM, FSU, DUKE, and WAKE ive been to all the road games. been to one NCST game. When we sat down and realized how much driving we were doing and paying for tickets that's when we decided to just anti up and get season tickets. Specially with the OSU tickets last year costing around 200 a pop we figured if we just applied that towards the season tickets we were about 1/2 way there anyways lol.
im going to do my best to get to the ND game this year and we got 10 tickets for the BOB game. which I may have to end up selling a couple people always say they are going but Ive been trying to collect the money for a couple months now and I keep getting the ill give it to you when I see you but I see you dang near everyday! lol
I've got my BOB tix so I'm good but if you need to sell some I'm just about certain you could find willing buyers here on TKP
yeah im sure! as we get closer if my friends don't pay up ill be reaching out to see if anyone is interested I donated Clemson tickets a couple years back and pitt tickets last year on here. we got pretty good seats. at least according to the seating chart. idk how good they will actually be im hoping its not like races where kinda the higher up you sit the better off you are.
Since I don't believe the town halls have begun yet, the real question is whether the seat surcharge is on top of the current donation level to get those seats or in place of. Then, that would mean that your Hokie Club status wouldn't be as high for your donation and more money would be going to the seat itself. I know there was some complaining on here in years past about how the club seats cost $850 for a season ticket or something like that, but that was $350 for the tickets and $500 donation to be able to have that seat. So if it's still $850 but it's $350 for the tickets, $200 for the seat surcharge and $300 donation, then it's mostly a wash. The only difference is that you wouldn't have as much to be able to deduct as a donation and your Hokie Club donation level would be lower. Now, I have no idea if that's how they will do it, but it's certainly a way that will anger fewer people.
I wouldn't mind that change, as sadly the annoying part is already present and wouldn't be changing (the ticket donation not counting towards HC level).
The donation involved with buying a seat doesn't go towards your Hokie Club status? Didn't know that. I guess I just assumed it would. Oh well, still tax deductible.
The donation part does affect your level.
I don't believe the ticket value affects your level, but you do get Hokie Club points for season tickets, so they do improve your club ranking.
Okay, so basically, what I said originally still holds. You'd pay more for the tickets plus the seat and get less donation value out of it, but if the total cost was a wash, folks might be more willing to look past it.
I think you're right.
Does it? Every time I go to donate online, the seat donation and the HC donation are separate entries in the form. It never lets me select a HC level above the amount in the HC donation box. I get points for everything, but my level seems to be directly limited by "total - seats".
I.e. my $1000 donation for my two club seats plus $2000 in HC donations only qualifies me for the $2000 donation level (for the case of this example, let's assume there's a difference in level between $2000 and $3000).
Oh, well I could be wrong about that, then. I think I may have just assumed that the "seat donation" counted towards Hokie Club level.
I said in a different spot, but unfortunately I think you are incorrect. A lot of people would be less upset at a "seat donation" if it was tax deductible.
That sort of make sense, since it would run afoul of IRS regulations to provide something of value for a donation and to try and allow the donor to deduct that donation.
It's just odd to call it a "seat donation", if it's really just part of the cost of the seat.
Actually as it was explained to me the surcharge or premium for a ticket in the good part of the west side or the south side is NOT tax deductible. It was explained to me that it is a extra fee and not considered a donation. Hence my irritation at being asked to fork over golden hokie money, and then a lot of additional money again for four seats.
It was clearly stated that when folks bought season tickets in the premium boxes, the entirety was not tax deductible due to purchasing a ticket, but everything above it was. That may not be the same as these new seat surcharges, but my point is that if the cost is the same and just the deductible amount changes, then folks will be okay with it.
FYI, there was a donation-based system put into the PSU athletic department ticket strategy a few years back. I wasn't sure about the details so I asked a knowledgeable coworker about it and here was his response:
Not sure if this is the kind of thing they're talking about when they say surcharge.
This sort of system is already in place I believe. It was when they had the club seats for sale last year, so I'd imagine it's very similar for other seats. Obviously, Hokie Club priority gets you better seats, so you can tie that in with this situation as well.
If I had to bet, this will be similar to what we are rolling out. I'll be honest, I've been a Hokie Club member since 2003 and it's never made sense to me that all of the seats (outside club zones) cost the same amount. I'm hoping it is more of a hybrid approach though where the points we have been accumulating don't just become worthless overnight.
Also, we are talking mostly about seats in this thread since that is the rumor the OP has heard, but the same concept applies to tailgate parking (maybe even moreso). Every season parking pass costs the same ($120 this season), but the spots in Lot 1 are worth several times that on the secondary market.
Being honest the vast increase in the parking pass bothered me a lot. It is almost cheaper now to park in someone lawn than getting a parking pass.
I'll be honest, I hadn't even noticed the price increase, but you're right, it went from $90/season to $120/season. To me, the difference of $5/game is neglible, but you're absolutely correct that's a pretty decent price hike from a pure percentage standpoint. I guess it also depends on one's HC priority because if you get a post anywhere near the stadium, IMO it's a pretty good deal. Parking passes are also the one thing that consistently sell above face value on the secondary market.
There will be a Town Hall meeting at the Dublin Lions Club on May 4th. It is for Pulaski area hokies. Scott Hughes will be there to go over things. Encourage you to attend if you live in the Pulaski county area. Also by surcharges, from my understanding the only people that its mainly going to effect are those that have 50 yard line seats and haven't improved their financial giving. So basically you could have someone only giving $500 a year sitting on the 50 which I personally don't think is right if you have someone else putting up a couple of grand. Now I may be wrong on this, which is why I will be attending to get things straight. Following is a link of the town hall meetings coming up so hopefully you can attend one close to you.
http://hokieclub.com/townhallmeetings/
I'm open to whatever ideas they want to propose. I'm a Hokie Club member, but not a season ticket holder as I don't live in the area.
I've always thought it odd the way they currently do it, as the season tickets seem really cheap, which makes Hokie Club membership really focused on the level of game tickets. What if you want basketball tickets, instead? What if you want both?
It seems to make sense to me to bill the market value of the seats to season ticket holders, and Hokie Club donations should be just that, donations to the Hokie Club. I'm guessing that in the long run, the Hokie Club would make more money that way. Some mix of those is also fine.
Out of town Hokie Club members would be on a level playing field with "in town" Hokie Club members, and ticket holders would be paying something closer to market value for their seats. They'd still get Hokie Club points for their season tickets.
I have no idea if this is what they're proposing or not.
My wife and I are West Outdoor Club ticket holders. It is a little on the expensive side and calculate that the $2,000 per seat donation to the Hokie Club is somewhat of a surcharge. However, I still work, make good cake, kids are gone, live close enough to attend games and our seats are awesome. I did not attend VT so this is my way of being part of a great group of supporters I missed while being a "commuter" student in Florida. I think sell outs will quell the surcharge rumor. If there are additional costs added to our nearly $5,000 donation, we be gone!!
Wait - do you mean pie?
The post implies something of value, so I'm sure he meant pie.
Relevant:
Hey at least it looks like we made it over 10,000.
Keep in mind those data are 2 years old. I thought there was a bit of a downswing last year that put us under 10k.
FWIW, here are the Hokie Club membership totals that were listed on the point priority sheets I've received the last few years:
Feb 2014: 9,759
Jan 2015: 9,700
Feb 2016: 9,897
the worst part about this is that we have the 5th largest living alumni base. We have nearly twice as many living alumni as Clemson and yet they have more than twice the number of donors. If our fans want us to be like Clemson on the football field, our fans need to be like Clemson's as donors.
One thing worth pointing out is that Clemson's financial profile looks almost identical to ours (per an article Bitter wrote in the summer). They're pulling in comparable donor funds, so on a per-donor level, we're better off (likely due to Clemson's IPTAY system that has a very low barrier for entry). But your point stands, if we had that level of enthusiasm, we'd be the class of the ACC.
One thing that strikes me (a non-HC member because my ass is broke) in reading the comments above is the complexity of our system. HC donation, seat donation, how it counts and what's deductible, etc. If you want people to give you money, make it easy. It should cost X if you want to join at the lowest level and Y if you want tickets. End of story; maybe it really is this easy but the language is confusing to me.
I'm technically a HC member, though I give a small amount ($100/year) and it was fairly easy for me to do. I just googled "hokie club" and followed this link and clicked on the "Give Now" button in the top right corner.
So I do donate, albeit a small amount. Every little bit helps, I say. My goal is to get to a place of financial stability where I'll be able to donate more than the minimum. I'm sure that will come with time. The last couple of years have been pretty expensive for me but I'm hoping things calm down a little bit after the wedding.
....but I'm hoping things calm down a little bit after the wedding.
*sigh*
i meant as far as spending loads of $$$ on stuff. it'll be a few years before house/kids so I've got a little time to stabilize
Yep. That's what we all say/said.
Shhhhhh. Let him figure it out on his own, like the rest of us did. It's a rite of passage.
Since the wedding, my wife has had me build a fence in the backyard for her dog ($2,500), put in a heat pump ($8,000), replace all the windows ($5,000), and redo the basement ($1,200 and counting...) The expenses don't end with the wedding.
Wait-so you did all that or did you pay someone? Because if that was all you, could I please have a list of your rates?
I did the fence and the basement which is why you are seeing materials rates. I hired professionals for the heat pump and windows.
Hey man I'm engaged and she has already had me building a deck pave the driveway and repainted the house. I miss the single life
Did they just dress up in sexy HVAC outfits, or did you mean actual installers?
I REALLY would not want to see those guys in sexy HVAC outfits.
I don't have a house. or a dog. So, in theory, that's $16,700 and counting...that I could potentially save. I know that life's expenses aren't going to stop after the wedding. I know that once I have a house, and kids, those expenses will seem endless. But I have neither of those. The engagement ring, wedding (which we are getting help with but still have to pay for some things) and honeymoon or not typical expenses that I expect to encounter for the next couple of years.
We all hope that!!
Little does he realize that's the cheap stuff.
yikes
Just wait until kids get involved. I paid over $8000 last year in childcare.
I think the biggest thing is that Hokie Club isn't as outward about the low cost to join (just $100 per year, $8.33 per month) and the benefits that come with it. That was what got Clemson so far when it started with IPTAY. The Student Hokie Club is the best thing that Hokie Club has done recently and was something I wish they had started back when I was in school. Students are foolish not to take advantage of that opportunity.
The biggest problem with the Hokie Club is that there is really only one incentive to join - football tickets.
There really needs to be exclusive Hokie Club events throughout Virginia and surrounding states that you simply cannot attend without a membership, and advertise the hell out of them. Discount parking on campus for all athletic events with a Hokie Club sticker on the car. Mail out exclusive VT and HC merchandise annually to all Hokie Club members. Make joining the HC the cool thing to do, and really make people feel like they're legitimately missing out on things if they don't join. People will join Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu for less than $10 a month, tap into that with the HC. Incentivize the hell out of it, and our membership will soar.
Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. In this era of fundraising, this couldn't be more true. Essentially bribing our alumni to join the HC will pay off tenfold down the line if we do it right. But first, the #1 thing we have to do to really turn our HC participation levels around is to break the notion that you only join for football tickets. At this point, that mindset is harming us more than helping, especially when the football team itself isn't exactly a great selling point over recent years.
Also: why have a mandatory minimum $100 up front donation to join? Why can't we set up some kind of monthly fee or lower the $100 requirement. I feel like a TON more people would be inclined to join and donate $25-50. Every little bit helps.
Case-in-point: I know someone who donates $5 per month to her alma mater. Not a huge amount, but it's what can be done while building a career. If we had more people donating like that, not only would that add up to more revenue, but would help our statistics for percentage of alumni who donate to athletics. A lot of those type of statistics factor into many school rankings as well (as far as donations to academic programs).
Agreed.... and I think that needs to be tackled next. First, completely revamp the 'why' on joining. Then, once people actually want to join, tailor the 'how' to absorb as many people as possible.
At a certain point the cost to get people in the door goes over what they donate. You have to have a low point. New alums are given a discount but I think you have to stay around 50/75 a year to work.
The Hokie Club does support making installment payments - to quote hokieclub.com "HokieMatic electronic transfer option allows the member to have his or her annual donation drafted with even payments on a monthly basis from a specified banking account." As other comments have said - $100/12 = $8.33 per month, not far off from your $5/month friend.
One challenge is the manner in which they collect those donations. Enrollment in HokieMatic is though a paper form submitted by snail mail with a physical voided check or deposit slip. With the variety of methods that monthly payments are collected today this method in not only antiquated but also prohibitively slow. People want to submit their form electronically and get started not dig for a checkbook, find a stamp, make a trip to the post office and then wait for someone to lose their form.
Someone talked at length about this last year. But it boils down to this a a VT system wide issue and there is nothing the HC can do to get rid of that part until the entire school does.
100% agree with your main points. I think Whit started down this road with some of the exclusive perks that began last year for Hokie Club members-- professional on-field photos during Furman weekend, private tour of practice facility, etc. Like you mentioned, going a step further to have an annual gift that is *only* given to HC members (i.e. not for sale anywhere)-- something along the lines of a HC tshirt, pint glass, etc.-- would further make it feel more exclusive and incent more donors on the lower end- those people who maybe can't go to games but like collecting all things VT.
Umm isn't there already a HC store with exclusive HC club items?
Not store... giveaways. Up the incentive to join. Give away free HC shirts every year. I know we already send out HC car decals, so make there be incentives on putting them on the car. Do things that give people kickbacks with minimal effort on their part just by joining.
Anyone can buy items from the Hokie Club store. I'm talking about some free & exclusive that comes in return for your annual donation. There was a thread the other day with people getting very sentimental about having every Orange & Maroon Effect shirt. If there was something equivalent for Hokie Club but the only way to get it was to donate, I think that would appeal to a different set of donors who are sitting on the sideline right now-- the folks who love Tech athletics but aren't buying football tickets and thus don't have much incentive to donate outside the intrinsic value of giving back.
Keep in mind that Clemson is very close to Greenville, Spartanburg and Columbia. It is becoming a very upscale location and lots of grads can find decent paying jobs very close by. They may feel more connected being that close.
It's also 2hrs from Atlanta and Charlotte in either direction. I can confirm Greenville, Atlanta, and Charlotte are very popular places for grads to go and many of them return for games.
THIS THIS THIS SO MUCH THIS.
The average Clemson alum is so much closer to their alma mater than the average VT alum. Also, being so close to Greenville, a lot of people there who aren't Clemson alum will still get tix just for the social scene. While that's probably also true for people in the NRV/Roanoke, there's a lot more people and a lot more disposable income in the Upstate area...
One way to get the percentage up is to kill off the older non-HC alumni. I'm just saying...
Most contribute something, even if it's just sporting a "VT" sticker on their car, or watching a game on TV.
Maybe we can loop more of them in as Hokie Club members.
I think the new slogan could be "Join the Hokie Club or Die!"
Hahaha all I can think of is Puff Daddy singing this with the Vote or Die lyrics, just change 'vote' to 'join' and it's hilarious
lol I was thinking the same
Shake them t!tties when you join, b!tch
Which one of those is Marcus?
Wow, that is just sad. Pathetic AND sad.
Here's what I'm hearing today from my #sauces. I may not have every detail exactly right, but I believe this is the general gist of what will be unveiled...
First of all, there will be some changes to the donation amounts needed to reach certain giving levels. For example, Golden Hokie may increase from $2000 to $2500. Most of the donation amounts have not been changed in many years and at some point you need to make adjustments for inflation. The more complex change is the seating surcharge that was mentioned. Each section in the stadium will be assigned a surcharge amount per seat, and the amount will vary based on the desirability of the section. For example, the seats in Section 10 (50-yard line) may have a surcharge of $800 per seat while the seats at the top of the SEZ may not have any surcharge at all or be a nominal amount. I'm hearing your Hokie Club donation will count towards your seat surcharge, so for most of the folks on this board, there's probably little to no impact. For example, if you were donating $2000/year and buying 4 tickets, you could buy tickets in any section that have <=$500 surcharge without having to increase your donation. Based on your Hokie Club priority there may not be any tickets available in better sections anyway when its your time to select, further making this change a moot point for you. The folks this would impact the most would be the high-end donors who are at the benefactor level and currently do not need to donate on an annual basis. The seat surcharge would basically force them to donate money to keep their prime seats.
that doesn't sound so bad. Thanks for the update.
That makes sense, though I'm still hoping for some affection for the out of town Hokie Club members.
I already grit my teeth when I make my payment for the golden hokie status. If they really plan on increasing the minimum, I will be dropping to silver and will probably drop to the minimum for that level. If there are others like me, this might actually cost them money instead of making money. .