Championship Subdivision Football | FCS Football | Stadiums | Blogs | Forums

I just got the brochure in the mail this afternoon. Here are per-seat donations required for 2011:

Premium Boxes in front of D & K - $500
Premium Boxes in front of C, E, J & L - $300
Premium Boxes in front of B, F, I & M - $175
Premium Boxes in front of A, G, H & N - $125
Sections D & K - $125
Sections C, E, J & L - $75
Sections B, F, I & M - $50
No donation required for A, G, H, N, NEZ (U-Z) or SEZ (student section)

Some selected excerpts of interest:

"Beginning with the 2011 football season, University of Delaware athletics will implement the Blue Hen Club Seating Program. Under this plan, a per-seat donation will be required in order to purchase football season tickets. The seat donation will NOT be in addition to existing donations made to qualify for preferred parking, it will be inclusive of those requirements. It is also important to note this will NOT be a complete re-seating of Delaware Stadium and during the implementation all season ticket holders will have the first right of refusal to maintain their current locations."

There is much more info in the brochure, which is about 10 pages including stadium and parking maps. It touches on the one-time seat transfer policy, how to declare your 2011 seating intentions (retain, upgrade, relocate or waive), and a formula for calculating your minimum donation for 2011.

About the only eyebrow raiser for my particular situation was this passage:

"In an effort to accomodate as many Blue Hen Club members as possible, season ticket holders will receive one parking permit for every four season tickets held in the 2011 football season (1-4 season tickets, 1 permit; 5-8 season tickets, 2 permits, etc.)"

I have 3 season tickets. Does this mean I can't get a parking pass or does it simply mean I still have to pay $150, while if I got a fourth season ticket my pass would be complimentary?

93henfan wrote:I just got the brochure in the mail this afternoon. Here are per-seat donations required for 2011:

Premium Boxes in front of D & K - $500
Premium Boxes in front of C, E, J & L - $300
Premium Boxes in front of B, F, I & M - $175
Premium Boxes in front of A, G, H & N - $125
Sections D & K - $125
Sections C, E, J & L - $75
Sections B, F, I & M - $50
No donation required for A, G, H, N, NEZ (U-Z) or SEZ (student section)

Some selected excerpts of interest:

"Beginning with the 2011 football season, University of Delaware athletics will implement the Blue Hen Club Seating Program. Under this plan, a per-seat donation will be required in order to purchase football season tickets. The seat donation will NOT be in addition to existing donations made to qualify for preferred parking, it will be inclusive of those requirements. It is also important to note this will NOT be a complete re-seating of Delaware Stadium and during the implementation all season ticket holders will have the first right of refusal to maintain their current locations."

There is much more info in the brochure, which is about 10 pages including stadium and parking maps. It touches on the one-time seat transfer policy, how to declare your 2011 seating intentions (retain, upgrade, relocate or waive), and a formula for calculating your minimum donation for 2011.

About the only eyebrow raiser for my particular situation was this passage:

"In an effort to accomodate as many Blue Hen Club members as possible, season ticket holders will receive one parking permit for every four season tickets held in the 2011 football season (1-4 season tickets, 1 permit; 5-8 season tickets, 2 permits, etc.)"

I have 3 season tickets. Does this mean I can't get a parking pass or does it simply mean I still have to pay $150, while if I got a fourth season ticket my pass would be complimentary?

1+1=2... You'll get a parking pass

Didn't Tinky Winky teach you anything?

What's the over/under on the number of season ticket holders that Delaware will lose heading into the 2011 season?

I suspect that the Hens had better win BIG this year or their fans will have plenty of room to spread out in the Tub in 2011. The gang that can't shoot straight (UD Admin) sure picked a great time to implement this new season ticket policy.. an economy in the toliet.. a losing record over the past two years (10-13) and 2010 home schedule that treats fans to the likes of West Chester and Duquesne. Meanwhile we STILL wait for any firm plans relative to the much hyped athletic facilities upgrades.

Like I said.. UD had best win big this year or the Tub may look a lot different in the fall of 2011.

ChickenMan wrote:What's the over/under on the number of season ticket holders that Delaware will lose heading into the 2011 season?

I say it stays the same if we host and win a first round playoff game. Anything short of that and you'll see a drop-off, IMHO.

This plan is not terribly bitter to swallow. It really comes down to the individual season ticket holder. For instance, if you are a long-time season ticket holder with four seats in Section D and have a VIP parking space, you'll pay less in 2011. For 2010, you shelled out $1,000 to UDAF for the right to purchase your space and another $150 for the space. Now you get the parking pass complimentary (by virtue of having four seats), if I'm reading the brochure right, saving $150. Your $1,000 donation level exceeds the per-seat donation that would have been required for your seats (4 X $125 = $500), so you don't have to pay that.

I'm not so lucky. I have three seats in Section C. For 2010, I paid the $100 required for the right to park in the Gold Lot and $150 for the actual space for a total of $250 above my tickets. In 2011, I'll have to pay the $75 per seat (or $225) plus the $150 for the parking pass (because I have less than four seats), for a total of $375. That's a $125 bump for me. I may just buy a fourth ticket to have on hand for friend/family/out of town fan and enjoy the complimentary parking pass. The net between the extra season ticket and the $125 bump would be less than $100.

We have 16 seats in Section C s that's an extra $1,200. I'm just looking forward to this year & actually am glad gohens is currently down so I wouldn't need to go thru 10+ nauseating pages of gloom & doom there.

When it comes down to it, there'll certainly be a drop-off of some amount in terms of season tickets once this goes into effect, even if the Hens have, as expected, a very good year this year. Basically, for most of the seats in the building, you're looking at an increase of $8 to $20 per seat per game - that's a bump of around 50% increase in cost from year to year. That's substantial at any time, and certainly very substantial in an economic climate like we'll be in for another few years. I can certainly understand why they are doing this and they will make millions of dollars doing this even if they lose 1k-2k season tickets - heck, the parking thing raised probably just $5M-$7M per year despite all the protests and people parking elsewhere. People will complain, and some people will just flat out stop coming, but at the end of the day there'll still be plenty of people there and the University is going to make a boatload of money doing this. Someday I may even leave (kids are getting bigger and we'll have our own events to go to - probably will even miss the SDSU game this year due to the bad start time), as I can't see myself spending almost $40 a seat to go to games (any game), but that's life.

And yes, gohens being down is a blessing - having to listen to the moaning about this would be almost unbearable - but hey, at least people would be complaining about something real rather than trumped up, third hand tidbits about the tipping practices of University employees.

'Donation' is not in addition to amounts already given if you pay for a parking space, which should at list limit the additional amount they're asking you to give for some. If you're not paying for UD parking, or paying for parking in a lot across the street or operated by the Boy Scouts, it might actually be a good idea to think about getting a UD gameday parking pass.

App has a similarly convoluted program - if I was close enough to make a lot of games I'd likely shell out some more cash to the university, but since I can only make 2-3 home games a season it's hard to justify the cost. Now I'm just stuck having to park 2 miles from the stadium and tailgate with the wife. At Wofford, Furman, and The Citadel last season we had great tailgating a couple of hundred yards from the stadium - App, not so much anymore without a lot of $$. It's the price you pay for having success with your program I guess.

I'd think this is going to put parking in more demand now. The monies that you pay in the form of a donation count by whichever you pay more for season tix vs parking. So for example, we'll pay $1,200 in donation for tickets, $75 for 16 seats. That will get you a # of parking passes, we need 3 or 4.

IIRC, there was a noticeable drop off in Gold & Green lot parking spaces last year, if spaces occupied each week was any indication. I'd suspect a similar response to season tickets sales in 2011, though, on the bright side, single game sales will likely increase.

This plan is one that essentially requires FB season ticket holders to raise money to cover the red ink run up by the schools non-revenue sports. Time will tell if the effort to tap the FB well to benefit sports most UD FB fans don't follow was worth the risk. The AD's attempt to milk area high schools for chump change in the Band Day fiasco recently didn't inspire much confidence and turned into a PR nightmare.

Of course the UD is running the risk of turning hundreds, if not thousands, of long time dependable season ticket holders into single game buyers. I suspect that when it gets to be too much trouble or too expensive to attend FCS games at DE Stadium, people will find other things to do with their Saturdays.

henfan wrote:IIRC, there was a noticeable drop off in Gold & Green lot parking spaces last year, if spaces occupied each week was any indication. I'd suspect a similar response to season tickets sales in 2011, though, on the bright side, single game sales will likely increase.

This plan is one that essentially requires FB season ticket holders to raise money to cover the red ink run up by the schools non-revenue sports. Time will tell if the effort to tap the FB well to benefit sports most UD FB fans don't follow was worth the risk. The AD's attempt to milk area high schools for chump change in the Band Day fiasco recently didn't inspire much confidence and turned into a PR nightmare.

Of course the UD is running the risk of turning hundreds, if not thousands, of long time dependable season ticket holders into single game buyers. I suspect that when it gets to be too much trouble or too expensive to attend FCS games at DE Stadium, people will find other things to do with their Saturdays.

You're correct with the Gold Lot, never saw it filled at all last year. I didn't read the info too closely, was a single-game ticket policy even addressed? It'll be interesting what they do to fill any empty seats, especially in C-E and J-L.

Don't get me started on the Band Day thing, cheap, and I'm not talking about UD either. You yourself said other people should pay the freight, where the heck do groups suddenly get comps?? It's a practice that has run it's route, that's why you have group ticket sales. The bands & their families should pay, I'll go for a real cheap ticket (i.e. - the $5 ticket mentioned in the article) for the band members, but families & friends should get the standard group ticket rate.

henfan wrote:The AD's attempt to milk area high schools for chump change in the Band Day fiasco recently didn't inspire much confidence and turned into a PR nightmare.

I'm not sure I even heard this story. Do you have a link or maybe you could fill me in on the details?

State Line Liquors wrote:

henfan wrote:The AD's attempt to milk area high schools for chump change in the Band Day fiasco recently didn't inspire much confidence and turned into a PR nightmare.

I'm not sure I even heard this story. Do you have a link or maybe you could fill me in on the details?

There's this really great site called Google where if you go to the news tab and type in "university of delaware band day $5", you get this as a first result...

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2 ... D-Band-Day

ASUG8 wrote:App has a similarly convoluted program - if I was close enough to make a lot of games I'd likely shell out some more cash to the university, but since I can only make 2-3 home games a season it's hard to justify the cost. Now I'm just stuck having to park 2 miles from the stadium and tailgate with the wife. At Wofford, Furman, and The Citadel last season we had great tailgating a couple of hundred yards from the stadium - App, not so much anymore without a lot of $$. It's the price you pay for having success with your program I guess.

At UNI I tailgate within 100 yards of the dome doors

I can understand how it might be difficult in a trying economy to get public schools on razor thin budgets to pitch in any money to help the UD bolster the UDAF or fill seats in its FB stadium. There's a little something unseemly about a school with a $1B endowment, one on public assistance no less, requesting fees for high school kids to participate in its halftime entertainment show, one that serves a complete recruiting tool for UD.

The AD pretty much acknowledged that they bungled of the situation, which was resulting PR nightmare for them. I suspect that's why Band Day is back on again, shortly after being cancelled for lack of interest from area schools.

There are plenty of opportunities for UD to improve finances of its AD; some that would involve actual pain and sacrifice on the part of the institution. Milking cash-poor area high schools for a few bucks is not one of them.

Are you kidding me about the outrage over the band thing? $5 a head requires "fundraising"? F 'em. Make it $25 a head and have them sit on temporary bleachers in the corners of the SEZ like when Navy came to town in the 80's.

93henfan wrote:

State Line Liquors wrote:
I'm not sure I even heard this story. Do you have a link or maybe you could fill me in on the details?

There's this really great site called Google where if you go to the news tab and type in "university of delaware band day $5", you get this as a first result...

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2 ... D-Band-Day

Come to think of it, I definitely hadn't heard this story. But it's probably in part because the only area of DelawareOnline that I would ever consider getting news from is the /UD sports page, and also because I couldn't care less if High School Band Day ever occured again.

While asking the schools for $5 seems cheap, I think it's probably a stretch to consider this a 'fiasco' or PR nightmare. It is a familiar symptom of UD's chronic small minded thinking. If 1,000 kids participate, and the AD is looking to offset some costs, why on Earth wouldn't he look for private sponsorship of the event? Do you think it might be in the interest of a company like Accent Music (with retail locations on Kirkwood Highway and Concord Pike) or a website like http://www.wwbw.com to get some advertising amongst young performers and their families and band directors???

Count me in on the group who never really understood Band Day and was actually shocked to find out that they weren't, and apparently still aren't, paying a dime for their tickets. I mean, my kids like Band Day because you see all these different bands on the field and there's always some small kid from a middle school band (seriously, how cash strapped are some of these places if they're fielding middle school marching bands?) who's playing a tuba or something big. But for me, all it means is a less interesting half time show (it gets to a point where a marching band can be too big, and since they don't even march once all the bands are on the field then it's not even a marching band anymore), and crowded aisles going down for at least most of the second quarter as it takes that long to get all those bands down out of the stands.

Now that we're paying, for seats in Sec C, something close to $35 per ticket per game, I don't see the problem in asking friends of the band member's family from paying something like a $5 nominal fee for them to have similar seats during Band Day. And this recruiting thing is just silly - plenty of in-state kids are going to be coming to UD with or without a Band Day. I certainly understand the point about the University having a $1B endowment, but I'd rather see that be spent on things like lowering tuition rather than subsidizing a certain number of people to come to a game for free just because their kid is going to be standing in place and playing a song or two at halftime. Just saying.

Band Day is basically Heidi I.'s chance to shine every year. I agree with not caring if it never happened again.

Can't agree with (what I'm merely inferring) the possibility of cutting more sports at UD. I guess it's a necessary evil anymore if you want to have a fiscally functional AD, but I like that we participate (note, not "compete") in a wide variety of athletic programs.

I'm willing to pay the extortion, but my fellow season ticket holders and tailgating mates are not. I hope some of you are correct with assuming that we will get a free parking pass with 4 season ticket purchases, and two with more than 4. If that is true, it will help me convince my peeps to donate and maintain what we currently enjoy

Blue Hen Fanatic wrote:I'm willing to pay the extortion, but my fellow season ticket holders and tailgating mates are not. I hope some of you are correct with assuming that we will get a free parking pass with 4 season ticket purchases, and two with more than 4. If that is true, it will help me convince my peeps to donate and maintain what we currently enjoy

If I read it correctly, you're not going to have to pay double the donation to get tickets & parking, whichever $$ figure is higher, they'll use that one. You'd still have to pay the price to park for the reserved or VIP lot, you just avoid the "cover charge" or donation.

93henfan wrote:No donation required for A, G, H, N, NEZ (U-Z) or SEZ (student section)

GF, the UD is hardly subsidizing Band Day participants. It's pretty simple really. If you invite an entertainer to perform at your halftime event, it's crass to try to charge them admission. Period. Since Muir backpeddled and issued a public statement recanting his screw up, I'd suspect the school was finally sensitive to how bad the policy made them look. I see no issue with charging the parents & friends of the performers, however.

If UD is really that hard up for a few extra shekels, they should permanently cancel the event and move on. If the AD thinks it can sell Section A seats for full price, hey, good luck trying. Personally, I don't care one fig about marching bands, Band Day or half time entertainment. It's just not cool though when my alma mater gives the impression to area high schools that it's being run by money grubbing jackals.

henfan wrote:GF, the UD is hardly subsidizing Band Day participants. It's pretty simple really. If you invite an entertainer to perform at your halftime event, it's crass to try to charge them admission. Period. Since Muir backpeddled and issued a public statement recanting his screw up, I'd suspect the school was finally sensitive to how bad the policy made them look.

If UD is really that hard up for a few extra shekels, they should permanently cancel the event and move on. If the AD thinks it can sell Section A seats for full price, hey, good luck trying. Personally, I don't care one fig about marching bands, Band Day or half time entertainment. It's just not cool though when my alma mater gives the impression to area high schools that it's being run by money grubbing jackels.

See I disagree, and I'll give you a parallel example. Many minor-and major-league teams run a career day, where college students,(who are just as "poor as HS students) come to a venue & meet with people in the sports business, talk/interview about potential internships or jobs, mostly all entry-level. And you know what, they pay to go, and they pay a heckuva lot more than $5. They pay a group discounted ticket price, which is a couple bucks off the regualr price for whatever section they're in. IMO that's what UD should've done from Day 1 with Band Day, and if they're going to up-charge STH's a donation just for the right to buy tickets, then other than FB recruits, their families & whatever is put in sponsor deals, people shouldn't be getting in for free. Cmon HF, you wrote many times & I agreed with you that if STH's are going to be asked to pay more than other groups should too. One was students & their activities fee got jacked up, I even remember you saying it wasn't enough, but yet you cry poor that a HS tuba player has to fork over a measly $5 to participate in Band Day?? I can't think of a free field trip that schools take nowadays, UD could've maybe handled it better, I have no idea, but there is no reason to comp 750-1,000 tickets, that's just dumb.