CBJ and the Student Section

#128
#128
Didnt we used to have the 'big orange country' sign? Always wondered why that went away, if it was a legal thing?

I say call em big orange country...
 
#130
#130
ATC_VOL said:
I remember when I was a student they (the university) stated they were going to decrease the size of the student section at basketball games if the average attendance didn't increase over a certain amount of time.

Has their been any serious talk from the University or Athletic Deparment about decreasing the student allotment for football?
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It's been decreased by about 1,000 once. It has averaged less than 70% of capacity the last three years.

It will go down next season. You will probably see a system like what they implemented in basketball where the number of student tickets varies based on the opponent. More student tickets for big games, fewer for other games.

The students are definitely getting moved from most of the upper deck sideline seats. Those are prime tickets that can be sold for big donations that are among the last that students claim.
 
#131
#131
DeerPark12 said:
It's been decreased by about 1,000 once. It has averaged less than 70% of capacity the last three years.

It will go down next season. You will probably see a system like what they implemented in basketball where the number of student tickets varies based on the opponent. More student tickets for big games, fewer for other games.

The students are definitely getting moved from most of the upper deck sideline seats. Those are prime tickets that can be sold for big donations that are among the last that students claim.
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me. I'm sure there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth since its taking something away from the students, but if they aren't using them (and I doubt they would for EVERY game, even if they were free,) then I'd much rather see them go into the market given the current funding situation.

Even if the TN Fund only moved 1k of those seats, that's a chunk of change given the donations they'd bring.

And it ends that pathetic empty part of the stadium for every game but the biggest ones.
 
#133
#133
WallyBalls said:
Sounds good to me. I'm sure there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth since its taking something away from the students, but if they aren't using them (and I doubt they would for EVERY game, even if they were free,) then I'd much rather see them go into the market given the current funding situation.

Even if the TN Fund only moved 1k of those seats, that's a chunk of change given the donations they'd bring.

And it ends that pathetic empty part of the stadium for every game but the biggest ones.
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The students have gotten really defensive when the mention of reducing the allotment has come up. But the numbers show that they don't have a leg to stand on. They don't claim all their seats, often barely claiming half of them. The current rules in place don't turn the unclaimed tickets over to the AD to sell until Wednesday of game week, giving UT less than three days to sell the sometimes thousands of seats.

The other issue we've seen is students buying tickets, but then not showing up to the game. There have been several times when the difference between student tickets sold and student tickets scanned has been over 1,000. That's 10% when the section is sold out. An even higher percentage when it's not.

They complain about charging for the tickets. Never mind that every school in the conference charges, and ours are the cheapest.

Like you said, the worst part of it is that the current empty seats are right in the line of the TV cameras.

We're not the only school having this problem, both with students and general fans. Alabama only sold out their student tickets for two of seven games last year. Florida didn't sell out any.
 
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#134
#134
A few other nominees would include:

(1) Butch's Battalion
(2) Butch's Brigade
(3) Smokey's Section
(4) Smokey's Special Forces (a true call to arms for the student body to make a difference)

(5) Rocky Toppers
(6) The Orange Horde
(7) "A Host of Volunteers" (courtesy of John Ward)
 
#135
#135
DeerPark12 said:
The students have gotten really defensive when the mention of reducing the allotment has come up. But the numbers show that they don't have a leg to stand on. They don't claim all their seats, often barely claiming half of them. The current rules in place don't turn the unclaimed tickets over to the AD to sell until Wednesday of game week, giving UT less than three days to sell the sometimes thousands of seats.

The other issue we've seen is students buying tickets, but then not showing up to the game. There have been several times when the difference between student tickets sold and student tickets scanned has been over 1,000. That's 10% when the section is sold out. An even higher percentage when it's not.

They complain about charging for the tickets. Never mind that every school in the conference charges, and ours are the cheapest.

Like you said, the worst part of it is that the current empty seats are right in the line of the TV cameras.

We're not the only school having this problem, both with students and general fans. Alabama only sold out their student tickets for two of seven games last year. Florida didn't sell out any.
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I graduated in 2005 and I was ok with cutting the allotment even then.

This is the first year since graduating I've been able to donate and get my own seats (I had been buying staff tickets through a family member). I'm thinking/hoping if they're moved from the CC/DD/EE sections that might actually be a large positive for UT (more $$ coming in, better selection, etc). Now that I see how the TN Fund works, I think it might open up a few things for them.

I'm all for the students having seats (and good ones at that) but if they aren't going to show up then, as you said, they have no leg to stand on when they resist cuts. Even if demand is minimal from the season ticket market (and I don't believe CC/DD/EE would be minimal) its still more than what the students are using.
 
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#136
#136
I am a student and have attended all the home games since I have been here.. So this does not apply to me obviously, but looking at the scope of it I can understand why our allotment is not being fully used..

Think about it, the last class at UT that actually saw us beat an opponent of true relevance within the SEC or in general has already graduated.. I believe they would have been the Freshman class that saw the Halloween/Black Jersey win over South Carolina.. So out of all the students at UT, there's not a single kid that has seen us beat a real team during their time as students..

Like I said, I will be there no matter what, but to the casual fan who's attended here and never seen us beat anybody, I'm not surprised all those seats are not being filled..

JMO
 
#137
#137
Winning solves everything. I've been at UT 5 football seasons counting this one and the best win I saw was 5 years ago against South Carolina on Halloween. Unless you're a diehard football fan, students don't wanna go watch an unlikely win.

I am suprised that we haven't sold out the student allotment in a decade. I figured a Florida or Bama game would've been.
 
#138
#138
DeerPark12 said:
It's been decreased by about 1,000 once. It has averaged less than 70% of capacity the last three years.

It will go down next season. You will probably see a system like what they implemented in basketball where the number of student tickets varies based on the opponent. More student tickets for big games, fewer for other games.

The students are definitely getting moved from most of the upper deck sideline seats. Those are prime tickets that can be sold for big donations that are among the last that students claim.
Click to expand...



Thanks
 
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