Anybody going to the reseat discussion Dec. 11?

[lwjr]

2nd, thank you for your extra service advancing SMU, but you may want to consider deferring to the meeting. Despite what I'm sure are your very best intentions, I'm not sure you're sticking the landing on your efforts. Just my two cents.

Germany 3.9 - Russia 2.4 - Mexico 3.9 - Sweden 2.9 - OTP 10.0

Home cooking

[SMU Section F]

And the "my tickets" comment is ludicrous. How long have they been "your tickets?" If they were yours under Dougherty, you'll have right of first refusal. If they've only been "your tickets" under Brown, I feel no pain for you. You didn't exactly get here before anyone else.

#Iam1of197

If/when this is confirmed, I think most people will settle down a bit...

[mustang1992]

And the "my tickets" comment is ludicrous. How long have they been "your tickets?" If they were yours under Dougherty, you'll have right of first refusal. If they've only been "your tickets" under Brown, I feel no pain for you. You didn't exactly get here before anyone else.

#Iam1of197

I bought season tickets when I moved to the metroplex, three years ago. Not my fault those two things coincided.

There were plenty of open seats in LB's first year here in Old Moody. Anyone that wanted good seats could have gotten them then. First come first served.

Why draw the line with Doherty? Why not Shumate? However you draw the line it's going to be arbitrary.

[NastyStang]

Seriously, you are in fantasy land if you don't think this reshuffle is due to money alums late to the game. Non SMU and non basketball fan friends of mine were begging to go last year, so I can only imagine the loaded big donor you bailed the past 10-12 years and now wants to sit near Romo and company.

[EconPony'10]

And the "my tickets" comment is ludicrous. How long have they been "your tickets?" If they were yours under Dougherty, you'll have right of first refusal. If they've only been "your tickets" under Brown, I feel no pain for you. You didn't exactly get here before anyone else.

#Iam1of197

Well if you are a young alumni, you were a student when Dougherty was the coach so that is not really applicable here. Thanks for not feeling any pain

[Blunt Pony]

At the end of the day I'm sure this is all being driven by large money donor's who can't get decent seats in the new moody because others beat them to it. I'm sure these large money donors are complaining like crazyto SMU, so SMU has to find a solution. The solution they came up with is they will raise prices to the level the big money donors are willing to pay and if previous season ticket holders want to keep their great seats (like center court) they got to step up and pay the market price.

I don't think this is about squeezing current ticket holders as much as aligning the price with what other substantial friends of SMU are willing to pay.

This is not being driven by big donors complaining. That's just outright foolish. This is not in response to last season either. That is just [deleted] poor speculation.

We are doing this now because the plan was to do it as a last phase of New Moody. Last season, we absolutely couldn't do it because the coliseum was not complete until halfway through the season. This past offseason saw new floor seats (row 2) on both east and west baselines and building the hall of fame club into the east baseline stands. We now have a complete coliseum; this is the most appropriate/early time to do it; otherwise, we would have to do it every year (like Kansas).

I am saying this as I know it to be fact. I left the Board of Trustees Athletic Committee Meeting ("Athletics Trustee Standing Committee") where we celebrated with Coach Morris for his birthday barely an hour ago and am President Elect of the Mustang Club Board. I have been intimate with the details of this plan since they were first presented to anyone outside of the department, and there are dozens of posters on this site that can verify that.

And for all of the people that think our tickets are more expensive that Kentucky’s. It isn’t even in the same hemisphere.

http://www.kfundonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RUPP-ARENA-Diagram-KFUND-2014.jpg

25 rows up in the baseline is still $1,000 per seat donation plus tickets. So, $4,000 for top row flat baseline. Ours are $1,000 and twice as close to the floor.

A pair in our midcourt sections next year will run $1,800. A pair in their midcourt, which goes up 25 rows compared to our 11, would be just less than $6,890.

Our entire arena fits in their lower bowl.

Please just be patient.

Thanks for your service on the board and I know that this is a very sensitive issue. I think the point folks are trying to make is "we are not Kentucky or Duke" so comparisons to them when it comes to how programs are run are not relevant. First of all, we don't have the skins on the wall to compare with big time programs and we do not have a conference affiliation that gives us the opportunity to become a big time program. We may get there, but we are not there. You will get much more support when you roll out this program if you at least compare us to schools in our own conference when showing us how SMU is operating like it's peers. In case you can't tell, justifying our increase by comparing us large schools with multiple National Championships is not going to endear you to the SMU crowd.

I think most are happy to endure small increases in ticket prices and donations, we just don't want to turn the whole arena into the wine and cheese crowd that jumps ship at the first sign that that Moody may not be the "place to be". Lots of options in this town that fight for that entertainment dollar.

[SMU Section F]

I think the point folks are trying to make is "we are not Kentucky or Duke" so comparisons to them when it comes to how programs are run are not relevant. First of all, we don't have the skins on the wall to compare with big time programs and we do not have a conference affiliation that gives us the opportunity to become a big time program. We may get there, but we are not there. You will get much more support when you roll out this program if you at least compare us to schools in our own conference when showing us how SMU is operating like it's peers. In case you can't tell, justifying our increase by comparing us large schools with multiple National Championships is not going to endear you to the SMU crowd.

This reflects the concerns I've heard as well. Even if the Athletic Department (or Mustang Club or whoever) wants to pretend our program has already achieved a much higher level of success than it has, a much fairer comparison would be somewhere like Gonzaga or Butler.

[2ndandlong]

I only mentioned Kentucky in my post above in direct response to someone else's post (smumustang11, I believe) who listed some ticket prices and alleged SMU tickets cost more than Kentucky's. I posted that link and those prices solely to refute his claim.

[SMU Section F]

I only mentioned Kentucky in my post above in direct response to someone else's post (smumustang11, I believe) who listed some ticket prices and alleged SMU tickets cost more than Kentucky's. I posted that link and those prices solely to refute his claim.

Fair enough. You are correct.

[Mustangsabu]

2ndandlong, if what you are saying is true, and I have no reason to suggest it isn't then this school bold faced lied to me 3 years ago when they hired Brown and announced the Moody renovation. I was assured that there were categorically no plans to increase the price of tickets, outside of minor increases for inflation etc., on top of what they had announced at that time.

It's a terrible plan, and represents a massive failure to understand how to build a program, but my feeling is that the people who make these decisions actually have no real experience of building a program with a strong local footprint. We have decision makers who only understand money now. It's ignorance at its most American.

[Nedward]

Pointless, speculation is
When in time
All will be revealed

And plus 1 to Cox's comment earlier. You're not going to win an internet argument AS, despite your superior knowledge of the subject matter. But you at least tried.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

The reseat discussion starts at 5pm.

So, knowing typical SMU basketball fans, nobody will be there until 5:30 or 5:45, right?

But, it's OK because there was traffic.

[mustang1992]

The reseat discussion starts at 5pm.

So, knowing typical SMU basketball fans, nobody will be there until 5:30 or 5:45, right?

But, it's OK because there was traffic.

I'll be there at 4:45.

[gostangs]

The unfortunate thing about a re-seat is that it is a zero sum game. For someone to move forward someone else will need to move back. On the other hand, the school has invested greatly in the program and the building, and it is irrational to expect them to not want to maximize revenue. We have been relatively underpriced since Larry arrived. And of course we still lose millions a year that others pay for us, so there is a need to be able to get more income from more of those that enjoy the product.

I think if they do a few things it will be mostly successful -

1) if you have had tickets since "pre-Larry" you can match and keep you seats
2) There has to be some priority for SMU alumni - maybe even at a discount. We don't want a bunch of Dallas bidness entertaining johnny come lately types filling our seats who will bolt at the first sign of trouble. And trouble will come to any program - look at UConn having just dropped three in a row.
3) Long time ticket holders who get bumped should have first choice at the next level back. Fill the seats from the first row first and move backward.
4) be gentle. No need to get every dime on the table this time. There is understandable sticker shock being rumored all over the place.


Not sure a public forum is all that great an idea. Sometimes when you provide an audience you get a performance.

I think the most important thing is to figure out the students. The point system is not the right idea based on the new MOB crowd. What is worth paying for is the very entertaining student interaction with the game - without that the product is really not worth a bump in price. You need to figure out how to somewhat fairly give preference to rowdier students.

[mustang1992]

First come, first served - period! That's the fair way to do this. Anything short of this is elitist and will alienate fans in a way that SMU cannot afford to do.