Got my season ticket and Hokie Club priority information this past week. Wanted to see where people are lining up for their seat pick day, to see how low I am.
My seat pick is June 4th at about 12:10.
Has anyone heard how season ticket sales are doing?
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Hey fireman. My slot is June 1 @ ~noon. I am a silver Hokie and been donating for 3 years.
From the info coming out of the Hokie Club, it seems like coverall donation $ is way up (probably mainly due to change in donation rules/structure). Looking at the overall # of members, looks like a ~10% increase.
I have no idea when mine is. I got a letter showing 5/3. And two emails: one with 5/17, the other with 5/25. Guess I'll log into to each and see what it says.
May 3rd is the first day of the seat picking process.
Our slot is May 30 ~ 9am. Fiancee has been HC member for 13 years, been piggybacking on her for tickets. I guess after we are married we will combine my minimum account with hers...
June 7th around 3:30pm *brushes dirt off shoulder*
I'm 5/23 around 9:45AM. HC member for 14 years. My priority rank went from ~1650 last year to ~3700 this year with the new formula. Made me realize there are more longterm HC members out there than I thought.
June 5th at 11:2X am. I'm around 8k in HC. Had to increase donation, begrudgingly, in hopes of maintaining decent seats. Reality is we will be moving to East stands from West. Not paying double prices for same seats.
5/24 @ 12:17 pm. Love those times. I ended getting three seats instead of four so I am not sure how that will affect my reseating.
Officially I dropped from a gold hokie to a silver hokie because I wasn't willing to pony up $400 more a year.
TKP saves the day. Somehow I missed the appointment email the first time through. This thread made be search my inbox and find my appointment
Tuesday May 16th 11:55 AM.
Thanks Everyone !!
Decided to figure out the number of days when the seat selections start and when my selection date was for the years I have been a season ticket holder.
2015: 31 days
2016: 34 days
2017: 30 days
It's interesting that I have increased my giving each year, but my selection date has not really changed that much. I guess with the influx of new members as well as existing members increasing their donations to keep their seats has kept me exactly where I started.
Just hope I can keep my existing seats. I kinda' like them.
Same here. I needed to donate $400 more to keep my seats where they were, instead I dropped a seat so I should still meet the per seat requirement.
05/03 at 3:53 PM for me
I am scared to imagine how much you give to have first day ticket choices.
Just wondering if there's anyone else that has not received their time yet?
They have already released that public season tickets go on sale June 21 at 10 am. This seems exceptionally early for that compared to previous years. I get the feeling that season ticket sales so far are not that stellar. I've read and heard that a few are dropping extra seats because of the per seat donation. Curious how widespread that tactic is.
https://twitter.com/VTPromos/status/859142089736687616
I'm not too shocked by this at all...
And to be honest, I think it is a good thing for donors overall. This way the "big wig" donors aren't gobbling up seats just cause they can - to only go a resell them cause they only use 2of4 or 4of6 on a regular basis.
Like many others have noted, at first I was kind of upset at how different my overall place in line was from 2016->2017 (see below) when I actually INCREASED my giving level. Was worried I would get significantly worse seats for more money... we shall see, but if what you're saying is true maybe I will stay in basically the same spot...
2016 = 4,859 / 9897 (~49%)
2017 = 7483 / 10409 (~71%)
What's that 10,409 number?
overall membership?
It's at over 13,000. The question is how many bought season tickets.
It's from the "official" priority points statement from VT with an effective date of Apr 6 2017 (ie right after the donations for this year closed).
So, that means, at least to my knowledge, there were 10,409 official tix donors "in line".
Can anyone confirm my thinking?
I'm not sure when, but it seems at some point they calculated everyone's priority level it was out of 10,409. Obviously, the overall number has increased since. How they are doing priority levels for those who gave after they calculated out of the 10,409, I have no idea.
Edit: I guess it was the donor level as of 6 April. Also, I really need to slam F5 before I comment. This is what happens when you open a thread, do a little work, then come back and comment.
Or could it be that AssPocketFullOWhiskey? ;)
I wish it was. Typically frowned upon in the office though.
Pretty sure it's the number of donors who signed up for season tickets, not the total number of donors. We had more donors than that in March.
That seems a little odd, given that it's priority for everything, not just football season tickets.
I have a ranking, and I'm not a season ticket holder.
Is your "ranking" out of that same 10,409 number? If so then I'm at a loss, since I'm fairly certain that we had over 12k in March.
Yes
They used to rank it by "giving level", and tell how many people were at each level.
Maybe that total was as of the end of 2016?
Maybe, but that also doesn't make much sense as contributions all the way up to 3/31/17 were purportedly used for setting priority.
Kind of makes me wonder about the accuracy of that "Drive for 25" tracker...
As others have mentioned, I wonder if it might be another category of donation that doesn't get reflected in the scholarship club numbers. Maybe specific capital improvements? Student members?
Yeah, there are some confusing aspects to this. There is a number on the letter sent to show us the priority ranking versus the total number, as Vtkey has said. I am at work and don't have the letter in front of me to verify. There was a statement about the total being accurate as of April 6.
Deleted.
Any donations after March 31 do not count to buying season tix this year. Meaning...
DonorNet = will show a different # than 10,409. It's basically a reflection of what NEXT years numbers will be based on donations they have received since 3/31.
Apr Paper Statement = your official place in line for this years tix purchase (doesn't mean all the people ahead/behind you purchased season tix though - ie people could be only interested in basketball).
That's what I've gathered from all comms from VT...
10409 is total active Hokie Scholarship Fund donors as of the deadline. You are correct some of them may not have bought season football tickets.
13k is the number they are reporting for total Hokie Club membership. Some of those are people who joined after 3/31 (although that seems minimal since the donor site only says 10,415 as of today). Some are folks who donate to a different Hokie Club fund. You're a Hokie Club member if you donate to any Hokie Club fund, but only donations to the Hokie Scholarship Fund count for Hokie Club priority. But are there really 2400 people who are donating to other Hokie Club funds? That is much higher than I would've expected.
Personally, I'm skeptical of the 13k number they are reporting. The part that is odd to me is they started tracking the Drive for 25 around 10k members. Early this year, they released the new donor site, and it had roughly the same number. At a certain point (I believe in February) they refreshed the donor stats to be current based on who was active (i.e. who had donated since 1/1/16). When they did that, the number of people in the priority ranking dropped several thousand- I think to something in the 7000s. It has since climbed back up to 10,409 (10,415 as of today). But it strikes me as odd that the Drive for 25 count never dropped at any point. I don't understand how that is possible-- it seems to me they never adjusted for attrition (i.e. people who were active members in Dec 2016 when they kicked it off [based on donations in 2015] but became inactive on 4/1/17 because they did not donate between 1/1/16-3/31/17). They have access to the data, so I guess I just need to believe them. But it seems odd.
Okay someone explain to me where I missed some vital information. I have a priority number on my HC account, and I donated before March 31st, because (quoting the Hokie Shcolarship Fund website):
"The new Hokie Scholarship Fund Priority Point system rewards loyalty and generosity to Virginia Tech Athletics. In order to be ranked, donors need to be sure to make a gift of at least $100 to the Hokie Scholarship Fund before March 31, 2017. This gift will activate priority points and ranking for 2017-18 benefits, including priority seat selection and parking."
http://www.hokiesports.com/hokiescholarshipfund/
So when I email HC to find out why I haven't been assigned a seat selection time, I get this response:
"As you contribution was made after the ticket office deadline of March 16, 2017, you will be contacted by the Ticket Office in early June to order your season tickets."
Can someone link me to the location of this other date, and how I could have been made aware of it before joining? My priority rank apparently means nothing if I'm understanding their response correctly.
Just checked and I was invoiced my donation on March 20th. I realize I left it until late but... all the information I can find on the website says that should have been fine.
You have to put in your ticket order form by the due date- in this case 03/16/2017. So you missed getting in the application in time for the initial re-seating that is going on now. For away games the ticket order form usually must be in by the first week of July- how your seats are assigned on the away games is based on your priority points (ie what you gave by 03/31/2017)
Okay. I guess that makes sense. It's not clear at all on anything I've seen or received from athletics. Aside from their payment confirmation I haven't really even heard from them since I joined.
Oh well. Guess I'll know better next time. Thanks for your response.
Did you order tickets AND make your donation? The ticket deadline might have been different date than the Hokie Club deadline I can recall.
It apparently is. The problem I have right now is that I still can't find the information on ordering tickets on that website, just getting he donation in by March 31st. And it tells you on your account homepage (somewhere, can't remember where) that seat selection will happen at whatever time.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it wasn't super clear to me what the process was, and that March 16th deadline is still not visible to me anywhere. I won't deny that I dropped the ball apparently, but I still feel a tiny bit mislead.
Totally understood and don't blame you.
I was in the same boat back in March. I got my donation in with plenty of time, and realized I hadn't seen a specific email about tickets yet. I think I ordered them with 48 hours before the deadline.
So here's a question, did you get the email about tickets AFTER you joined HC? If so, that would be why I didn't know about this deadline to request tickets, as I hadn't joined HC until after that point. That would be an unfortunate way to operate this program IMO.
I got a lot of email reminders, although I was an existing HC member and season ticketholder, so not in your same situation. They had some reminders on Facebook & Twitter, but that only helps people who are active on those.
I don't understand why the ticket order deadline was before the donation deadline. That seemed odd to me from the time they announced it.
Sorry, that sucks...
So I am awaiting my time to re-select my seats and am watching how folks ahead of me (#183) are selecting in the East side.
Seems many are selecting Section 7 in the $350 and Section 9 in the $600 section
The website is actually up now? Last I looked it was still "being built"
Did you get the HC email that was sent earlier today? In it, it explains what may be happening to the seats:
While you are near the pinnacle of Hokie donors (Congratulations!), there are reasons these seats are already "gone."
Before the selection process began you could see the seats and parking spots that were already blocked off. I was observing what was happening with the 182 folks ahead of me who were selecting seats at their appointed time. I guess I was expecting to see more of the $800 per seat being selected.
Yeah it just means there are people with a higher ranking who didn't donate enough this year to select their seats in the $800 section. This is part of the strange nuance of the new process that will be interesting to watch play out...
www.LaneStadiumSeating.com- you have to log in with your ticket account number and your personal access code from the email with your time to select
So, I went to the site just to see what is getting filled. It lists my seat donation as the sum of my donation of last year and this year. It also lists $100 parking donation that I didn't give. That is...um...strange.
Edit: I figured out what was going on... http://hokieclub.com/new-recent-graduate-program/
Who else knew about this? I had never heard of it. They have gotten so much better about marketing the HC, but they definitely need to play this up more.
Not sure what is going on. There is $100 parking listed for me as well. I've never bought parking passes through VT and also have not recently graduated. Maybe it will clear up once the actual selection takes place.
I have recently graduated.
I think it means that you could qualify for parking (because you have given at least $100) if there is a spot available in one of the lower donation lots.
I read about the recent graduate program back in 2014 or so. I ended up joining shortly thereafter because back then it was only for folks who were 2 years removed from graduating or earlier. They ended up expanding the age range recently. The last time I spoke with my Hokie Club rep he said there are only a couple hundred recent graduates in the whole program, and this was back in January.
When I talked to them the other day they mentioned that they didn't have great numbers. They also said in the past that you had to initiate the program and now they just do it for you. I think it's a great idea and like I said, they really need to get the info out there. The funny thing is, had I known prior to my donation for this year, I probably would have donated less because my financial situation wasn't great. But now that things are picking up, I'm inclined to donate a little more to get that boost.
There are minimum donations for seats and parking under the new system. The parking donation is not separate from the seat donation.
When you login, you should see the following at top left of the selection page:
Seat Donation: [amount donated to Hokie Scholarship Fund between 1/1/16-3/31/17]
Parking Donation: [Min donation for parking tier you qualify based on donations] (Zone [corresponding zone A thru C])
There are 3 parking zones under the new process (see map here):
Zone A: Available to Golden Hokies and above (i.e. donations $2500+) - Yellow lots on map
Zone B: Available to Silver Hokies and above (i.e. donations $550+) - Orange lots on map
Zone C: Available to all qualified donors (i.e. donations $100+) - Maroon lots on map
So, for example- if you see "Parking Donation: $100 Zone C" this means you donated between $100-549 and can select a spot from the maroon lots in the map I linked above.
It will be interesting to see if all of those who donate 550+ get a spot in 7, 8 or 12. I would up my donation to that amount if it meant I got to park in 7 or 8 (I have been in Lot 9 the past 2 years).
I will be honest, I like parking in the cage. I could get a spot in a higher level area. But more than half the games, I end up not tailgating (blasphemy, I know) and the ability to get in and out of the cage is very nice.
I can't imagine all 550+ donors will get in one of those 3 lots, esp if they've only donated a year or two. If you have a top half priority rank you probably can get in no problem. The fact that ranking doesn't directly correlate to where you can select makes this all really hard to forecast though.
Data point: Im a golden hokie and my point priority rank is 4461/10418. I just selected my seats (5/24/2017) and lot 8 is already full. I even called the ticket office to confirm because that was surprising to me based on previous years' experience. Interesting that there were still a few spots left in Lot 1, but maybe that's because everyone has figured out that Lot 1 isn't great for tailgating and getting out after the game can be a nightmare. We ended up in the upper half of Chicken Hill.
Probably a dumb question, but what's Chicken Hill?
The lots across southgate drive from the stadium lot. There is (was?) a poultry research facility there complete with the smell of bird crap.
Adding to what 07ME said, Chicken Hill is what the VTAD calls Lot 5. There is a lower half (5A) and an upper half (5B).
A big part of this is Lot 1 is considered a Tier A lot, so anyone lower than Golden Hokie would be forced to pick Lot 8 (or another Tier B/C lot), even though there are open spots in Lot 1. The change in priority points formula combined with the minimum donation requirements is making this play out a lot differently than past reseatings.
This is the reasoning behind why Lot 1 isn't full yet.
I have been a Golden Hokie for over 10 years. My picking time is May 17th at about 1 p.m. In all the years I have been doing this on-line ticket picks, my seats have basically moved over 1 section and down a few rows. Currently, I am right on the line of section 5 and 7, 5 rows up from the field. For the most part it has been the same people around for years. I am curious to see if that all changes this year because the people in the first row have a lot of tickets and must be at least 3 generations of Hokies.
if they ever have any extra tickets they need to get rid of, give me a call. Asking for a friend.
I'm guessing that this grouping is going to have priority no matter what the fine-line details are.
I picked yesterday and based on seats still remaining then, I'm guessing you got to keep your seats (as long as your donation was high enough to cover the min seat donations)?
EDIT: originally phrased this like a statement but meant it as a question- wondering how you made out?
So where should I pick in the East Stands? We still making Lot 18 the TKP lot?
So, this has been a borderline epic fail in terms of providing info up front on what to do. Wondering about others interpretation
Do they beta test this stuff?
1 - Speaking personally, I thought this was explained and rehashed a LOT in emails, the Spring 2016 Town Halls, mailings, the Hokie Scholarship and vtfootball sites, interviews on Hokiesports, etc. Your donation by 3/31 impacted what seats/parking you could make. If you selected seats whose total donation is more than the donation you'd made, they will actually let you go through with checkout as long as you donate the difference within 24 hours.
2 - Did you purchase parking in your renewal? If you did not purchase, I do not think it would even let you select a lot if you tried (but I'm not sure- I bought parking). The system should be smart enough to skip past this screen if you did not buy parking. (FWIW this is 3rd party software, but I would hope something like that could be customized for individual clients (i.e. Tech) based on the client's requirements)
3 - Since it's a reseating year, there are no "prior year" seats this time around. Not sure why they didn't update the instructions to make it more applicable to this year's circumstances. Next year, you'll see the "prior year" section populated.
We did actually increase our giving this spring.
I just have not paid close enough attention I guess re: the seat donation requirement... that said, it's probably prudent for the site instructions to be set up for someone approaching it with little background knowledge.
Yeah, fair enough.
If I were Designing this, two changes I'd make:
#1 - Add a checkbox to "Filter seats based on your donation?" Checking this box would only show availability of seats that you can you could select based on your avg donation per seat. For example. If you donate $2500 and purchased 4 tickets, this filter would show availability of seats <=$600. The checkbox could be unchecked if you want to view all seats. In my example, this would allow you to select 2 $800 seats and 2 $350 seats if you wanted. Having this feature would help a lot with showing whats available at the overall stadium view without zooming in and out all over the stadium to seeing the different section donation requirements. (I understand there is a map you could look up separately on Hokiesports, but you should be able to integrate this the seat selection tool as one integrated elegant solution.)
#2 - I'd show 3 line items on the seat selection page:
(1) "Total Donation Made by Giving Deadline" (this is already shown)
(2) "Required Donation of Seats in Cart" - Starts as $0 and updates as you add/remove seats to your cart
(3) "Additional Donation Required" - Starts as N/A. If during the process of adding seats to cart, your Required Donation exceeds the Seat Donation, display the amount of additional donation needed and present the user with a pop-up notification that explains an additional donation will be needed to purchase the selected seats. Then this line item continues to update as you add/remove/change the seats in your cart
There was probably something about this later in the checkout process but you could make it easier upfront while picking seats so the person better understands the donation requirements and the impact as compared to their donation as they are selecting them.
I thought they were clear in past briefings, but those are excellent suggestions for the ordering system.
These are great suggestions. You should share with Whit.
So, complete the selection process, log out with a $550 balance owed. Selection site gives NO indication of how/ when this is to be done- did anyone get prompted of how to do this on the selection site- I didn't. Then get this email today:
Seriously? One day's notice via email or my seats are dropped? What am I missing?
So log into your account or call them and donate $550.
Either that or select seats in a section that your current donation allows.
Are you wondering about the system not giving you enough guidance, or how the process works?
OK got it figured out. We're good. :-)
TOTALLY overlooked the donation button on the seat selection, and of course then can't get back to that point to see what i missed... hangs head in shame
Good.
If you want the seats you chose, just don't miss the deadline on the donation plus-up. I don't think it matters how you get it done, as long as you get it done before the deadline.
Well my new tickets are selected and ordered once I got back to the office from the field. I had a mildly nasty email from Tech that I missed my time slot and was screwing things up. I am sorry but work comes first.
Was very annoyed that the selection said there were lots with spaces available, but when you selected the lot all the dots were red.
Some lots have handicapped spaces still available but since you have to preorder those not just anyone can select them. Happened to me my first year.
That's exactly right. Same thing on the seat map too. If you catch the timing right, a section may show as having seats in the overhead view but when you drilldown they all appear red. Due to some being reserved for ADA.
I don't know the exact language they use, but the general idea of the follow-up once your timeslot has been missed is as a courtesy to make sure you knew it was your turn. If you don't respond, they will pick "best available" for you, to try to get you best benefit based on your priority and donation.
As a FYI - if you'd rather not receive the "courtesy follow-up", you can check the group seating/group parking on your order form in the future. That doesn't actually trigger anything other than letting them know you'll be waiting on someone else, so they won't bother following up with you when your selection time comes & goes without a selection.
relevant question: so how much do you think people will be selling Clemson tickets for? Asking for a friend
Not sure, but they will NOT be available for single game purchase through the ticket office. Too early to start the 2017 Ticket Exchange Thread?
I know a guy who is piggy backing off his friend's priority and getting said friend to buy 4 extra seats section 11 row F. BUT original guy doesn't want to lose his priority points so he is still buying season tickets in section 17 row CC-ish (not sure about the row) but wants to sell them to recoup at least face value. If I, err, someone could get enough money for the Clemson game, the season tickets would pay for themselves.
Well, I do need one ticket for the Clemson game.
What makes you say that? Was there an official announcement made or do you just assume it'll be sold out before it goes on sale to the public? Curious since I've got a group planning on going but none of us have season tickets and aren't sure the best way to purchase for this game (aka I second the need to start the 2017 tickect exchange thread)
The ticket office said as much when I asked them when/if they would be sold as a single game ticket. I think there is still a chance they are sold as a mini-plan with a couple other games though. It will all depend on what happens with season ticket sales.
My record was getting offered $800 per ticket for my seats to the 2003 Miami game. To my parents regret, I turned down the money and we watched the team get spanked.
Could you possibly mean the 2005 Miami game? I remember the 2003 game quite fondly.
Might have the wrong one, it was the game with Marcus was horrible and we got slaughtered.
Yeah, that was 2005.
The interesting thing is I haven't seen any communication about what "face value" is for the Clemson game (or any game). I'm guessing it will be around $100 face value but it will go for more on the secondary market.
My seat pick is coming up Monday and I'm doing some recon. The parking passes are going much faster this year. I wish the seating website told me what seats I was eligible for without clicking on them. I'm going to end up in nose bleeds in East. Anyone else in East high side?
I 2nd that notion on parking... I would say I got a "worse" lot this year than last year even though I went from Bronze -> Silver Hokie :( If I remember correctly, they removed at least one available lot - probably why.
Seat-wise I got almost identical ones to last year.
How does your rank compare this year to last year? If you dropped in ranking, that may be partially why the parking doesn't seem as good. The way they tiered the parking also caused the lots to fill in differently than past years.
I'm higher ranked by at least 1,000.
The other thing with parking is I'm pretty sure that any higher tier lots than your giving level will appear red, even if there are spots available.
It shows me lot one with spaces left same with chicken hill and one other lot up there.
Don't know what level you are but if you're Silver or lower, you won't see any spaces available when you click into those lots, even though it says there are spaces available. I know that was confusing some of my friends.
I don't know what else to make of it to be honest. I take notes on this each year when my friends and I are picking parking. I can say, I fell 2000 spots in HC ranking this year but there were only 400 less parking spots available when it was my turn to pick as compared to last year. I had a friend who picked last Tuesday morning and there were only ~150 less parking spots remaining compared to 2016 despite the fact he fell 1,100 spots in HC priority. Kinda surprised you went up in ranking and are seeing less spots available than last year. I guess more folks in the 25-50 percentile range ordered parking this season than last season.
If you hover over the seat, it should tell you the minimum donation amount for that seat without having to click on it.
It should have an option to place a colored overlay of the stadium with the seat donation sections colored coded like in the chart they sent out.
Got my seats and parking pass. TKP LOT 18 baby!! Seats in section 33.
Having never gotten season tix before, I got a little confused, but overall I think it was a pretty smooth process.
Section 2, Row BBB here
I'm with this guy
Section 2, Row AAA here!
I almost had a panic attack because it would not let me add any seats. Then I realized that I was trying to select seats 30 minutes before my actual selection time.
What's left open? What about parking passes?
This happened earlier this week. My parking spot is in the Cage. I tailgate in lot 5, so I just park and leave the car there.
Which one is the cage?
Lot 16. It's near English Field.
I actually like the cage, it is easy to get into and out of the cage both before and after games, the walk isn't bad, and I tailgate over in chicken hill at a friends anyway.
Hey, guys! Long time, no talk. Ticket renewal time was at 9:28 this morning. We paid a small amount extra and moved from section 502, row P, to section 503, row C. I'll be stuck in the SEZ forever... Only been a member of the Hokie Club for this year (and a small amount at that) so not much of an upgrade or parking passes... Hopefully some time in the future! Hope you're all doing well! Fall will be here before we know it!
You could sit near the top of East.
SEZ represent!!! 509 row C here. I actually prefer the SEZ. A lot of people crack on it, but the fact that I can be out of my seat and to the restroom, concession stand or exit stairwell in < 30 seconds is absolutely worth it to me.
I've been 508 row C the past 2 years. And the ease of in and out to the concourse is sooo awesome. But I feel like an idiot most times when I'm "ohhhh!"ing on defense up there...no one else wants to "ohhhh!" with me...except one cat in front of me screaming "hike! hike!" when the other team has the ball on the opposite goal line. Love his enthusiasm, but damn. So...when my (loooong awaited) time to call comes up today, I'm going to inquire about sec 3, but if it's too close to the student section* I'll likely be back up to the cozy confines of sec 508.
(*Disclaimer: I like to "ohhhh!" But the student section might just be too many drunken children and greek rows for my taste. I have my limits you guys.)
I feel your pain and OMG does that guy get on my friggin' nerves. He keeps doing it every game like they can hear him and it helps. God bless him, but yeah...damn. I'm always standing and "ohhhh!"ing on defense as well. I don't care if I look like an idiot or anyone else cares. If anything is open in 509, feel free to come on over and we can "ohhhh" together. No homo. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Yeah, he has sat directly in front of me the last two seasons. Last year wasn't bad...but all those losses in 2015 had me on the verge of smacking him lol
You'll get there - just takes time. My first year with season tickets (2004) I was in Section 21 Row 5P. Literally top row in the corner of the East Stands. Now I'm in Sec 7 in double letters. Slow and steady you can work your way to better seats.
So I'm only going to make one or two games this year so for this year anything new in Blacksburg or on campus I need to try/see/eat for the new season? Who has a tailgate I can come and crash for a game or two?
I don't think there's a whole lot new in terms of restaurants since last football season.
There is a new place called Nom Noms that opened on South Main in the old Lefty's building (a little north of the South Main Kroger). I went in there once this spring - sandwich was good but it was reallyyy slow. Took about 10 min to get my sandwich and I was the only person there. Hoping that was just due to being new and training a new worker.
Cabo started doing brunch. I haven't been but heard it's good. Might try it next time I'm in town.
Maybe I missed something in the fine print. On top of the price of the tickets, there are now mandatory pricing for picking seats? Additional donations ON TOP of the ticket cost? Who has an extra $200 to plunk down to pick seats? I have 4 season tickets, so I'm now on the hook for $800 to maintain my seats from last year, or at a minimum $200? Am I the only one who missed this?
I think you might be the only one because this has been a topic of conversation several times since it was announced last year. Here is a link to the details. There are seats that do not require a minimum Hokie Scholarship Fund donation but they are farther up in the stadium.
Hokie Scholarship Fund seating info
Note: Something wrong with that link.
EDIT: Works now.
Yeah, I had the link and text in the wrong boxes. Thanks,
Each seat has a minimum donation requirement. The amount you already donated should be taken out of that total to determine how much, if anything, you owe in addition to your previous donation.
Personally, I got confused thinking the price indicated the minimum donation for a particular section, rather than per seat. I was a little disappointed, thinking I was getting way better seats than I expected to.
Did you not get the giant packet they sent out with all the information on reseating this year? New per seat donations and why? Drive for 25 etc?
The problem with the giant packet is that it is, in fact, a giant packet, and I only thought one thing when I got it
I did, but honestly, I did not open it because I just assumed it was pro-forma from the year before. Guess I am the only person who missed that big change.
*facepalm*
It isn't new. Your annual Hokie Club donation covers the costs of the seats. Essentially they are rewarding the annual money givers. If you have just been costing on old donations or just longevity in buying tickets you are going to likely need to move.
It's an interesting nuance-- the update to the points formula greatly shifted priority to the benefit of longevity over current year. But regardless of your ranking, you are limited on what you can pick based on your current year donations.
I feel like the changes were mainly aimed at the people who gave $50k at some point the past and could buy like 10 tickets in the best sections as long as they continued to give $500 a year. This new system forces them to continually support the team in a more material way.
Yep - those were definitely the people impacted the most. For others, I think the biggest impact was giving up "extra" seats they were getting for friends.
The ranking formula changes shifted a lot of peoples rankings pretty significantly (e.g. mine fell from ~1600 to ~3700), but at the end of the day it didn't seem to impact actual seats as much as the rankings implied it would. I think the ranking change impact was largely offset by the donation minimums.
I would have definitely have done that in the old system but this new system let me jump from section 13 YYY to section 15 TT this year so I am not complaining one bit.
This has been discussed multiple times on TKP, been the subject of several mailings from Virginia Tech, been mentioned at season ticket renewal time, etc... so I gotta ask..
basically if you're wondering why they're doing it this way instead of jacking the ticket prices up on a per-section basis ... it's because donations are (partially) deductible but ticket cost isn't.
Section 9 season ticket = $350 ticket + $800 donation = deduct $400 off your taxes = save $100 at 25% marginal rate = net cost of $1050 to purchaser.
Section 9 season ticket 'simple' price = $1150 ticket = $0 deduction = net cost of $1150
FWIW I went from 4 to 3 tickets to cover the additional donation I needed to stay in the general area where I was sitting last year.
Same here on the four ticket to 3 ticket. As a side benefit, I can get two basketball tickets in prime locations.
Only thing I would mention is Hokie Club donations are 80% tax deductible, so on an $800 donation you can itemize $640 as a donation on your tax return.
Thanks, I forgot the exact percentage so I went with something that made the math easy :)
I hear ya. Like you, I'm glad they make the seat difference as a donation rather than varied ticket prices due to the tax benefit.
Wish basketball did the same - I think the new basketball model where section tiers have both a different price and a different seat donation minimum is a bit confusing when factoring in you also have to use your priority ranking at a later date (after everyone submits orders) to then determine where your seat will be located and could result in not being able to get a seat at the tier you wanted and ordered. I realize they can refund the price difference but it's an additional layer of complexity beyond what we have for football. I wish they would've just further differentiated on the donation minimums.
Went with Sec 3 Row EEE. PUMPED.
You know you're gonna miss the "hike" guy.
Lol let em know I said hey this season. However, I will miss the family that sat behind me. Very nice people and good to talk ball with.
I'm hoping he moves on to other seats as well. LOL. Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll follow you.
My wife said the same thing. We actually ran into him at Gameday in Bristol. I was just trying to be nice and say hey...it was awkward.
If he replied with "hike" I would NOT have been surprised.
My family is Section 3 Row DDD, see you in Lane! Won't be there until the Clemson game though.
Sec 3 Row AAA for me.
I stuck with the same seats as last year in Touchdown Terrace. No problems here.
Didn't want to start a whole new thread.
Got my form for away game ticket request. ECU - $65 can request unlimited
BC- $30 can request unlimited
Miami - $70!!!!!!! can request unlimited
GT- $50 can request unlimited
LOKUVA - $65 only request 4
Why the hell is Miami charging 70 dollars for tickets? Anyone have insight on where GT, LOLUVA and Miami place visitors?
Nobody else shows up at Miami, gotta extract every penny from the ones that actually do.
Having no actual knowledge, my bet would be that it has something to do with their use of an NFL stadium driving up the ticket price. Anybody buy tickets to Pitt last year that could weigh in on those costs?
Teams that are bak can charge as much as they want. Duh.
Why the hell is Miami charging 70 dollars for tickets?
It's only $5 dollars more than UVa, and you get to see two teams in Miami instead of only one in Charlottesville.
On a serious note, though, if you're going all the way to Miami, $70 for a football ticket doesn't seem that bad.
I was looking at Stubhub last night to see how Clemson tickets were looking and noticed Miami tickets start @ $10. That seems much more appropriate.
For anyone who's curious, Clemson tickets started @ $174.
Uh how is anyone selling tickets yet?
I'm guessing selling the season tickets they've bought to be delivered later.