RGV Pony wrote:As to the "I told you so," if by that you mean you foretold the financing of the basketball coaches offices, football locker room, IPC, and finishing the Aquatic complex as a result of the momentum from the reseat, good on you.
Until any of those things actually improves the situation of our "revenue" sports, I fail to see the relevance. Good for us; we can spend money. We've always been good at that part.
But to be fair, I think I said at the time of the reseat, the true "I told you so"s probably need to wait at least 5 years.
RGV Pony wrote:And, of course, attendance is a concern. Before we jump into more 'I told you so' arguments, consider that since 2015 we've not once had 100% or close to 100% of sold tickets scanned for a game at moody. Not 90, not 80, not 70. So to the extent I can move the needle there, I'll use my tix or see that someone does.
RGV, first off, thanks for the good work you do. Secondly, are you telling us that since 2015, SMU has not even had 5,000 fans at any of their games?
That would include the recently mentioned Michigan game, the Gonzaga game and some CT and Cincy games.
RGV Pony wrote:And, of course, attendance is a concern. Before we jump into more 'I told you so' arguments, consider that since 2015 we've not once had 100% or close to 100% of sold tickets scanned for a game at moody. Not 90, not 80, not 70. So to the extent I can move the needle there, I'll use my tix or see that someone does.
RGV, first off, thanks for the good work you do. Secondly, are you telling us that since 2015, SMU has not even had 5,000 fans at any of their games?
That would include the recently mentioned Michigan game, the Gonzaga game and some CT and Cincy games.
7,000 Moody capacity * .70 = 4,900
I thought I was the only one confused by that post.
RGV Pony wrote:consider that since 2015 we've not once had 100% or close to 100% of sold tickets scanned for a game at moody.
This is where the University stepped in it. The faithful 1500 was probably in the 90% for tickets scanned, hence the Faithful 1500. This is who they unfortunately told their loyalty didn't matter to with the reseat. We raised more money but gave the lower seats to the people whose season tickets sit in their desk drawer unless a big game comes to town.
Austin friend was in town for the weekend and we got together. Finally I got the skinny on his deal. He had been at the level to get Hall of Fame section. He liked to be able to eat while watching. He doesn't pay too much attention to things as he is out of town, he travels extensively, and has more money than Carter has pills. In any event, he has his secretary renew him at same dollar and location levels. Oops. SMU lets him know that he has to Pony Up more if he wants to stay in HoF club & seats. He says kiss my rear end as I'm already giving you xxxxx. They tell him at that dollar amount he may want to go to sections x, y, or z. He says adios! He's done. Flash forward. Not exactly sure the time lapse but he gets a call from SMU. Hi Mr. XXXXXX. We wanted to see if you wanted to do the HoF deal at what you had been paying after all? Not a higher amount. To this he said xxxx you. And by the way, once my child graduates, SMU will never see another dime from me. (NOTE: This is one who could have, and likely would have, written very decent checks to SMU for decades.) I know of several more along this line but this is the first where I got it face to face. We eat our young (and old, and middle aged).
78pony wrote:Austin friend was in town for the weekend and we got together. Finally I got the skinny on his deal. He had been at the level to get Hall of Fame section. He liked to be able to eat while watching. He doesn't pay too much attention to things as he is out of town, he travels extensively, and has more money than Carter has pills. In any event, he has his secretary renew him at same dollar and location levels. Oops. SMU lets him know that he has to Pony Up more if he wants to stay in HoF club & seats. He says kiss my rear end as I'm already giving you xxxxx. They tell him at that dollar amount he may want to go to sections x, y, or z. He says adios! He's done. Flash forward. Not exactly sure the time lapse but he gets a call from SMU. Hi Mr. XXXXXX. We wanted to see if you wanted to do the HoF deal at what you had been paying after all? Not a higher amount. To this he said xxxx you. And by the way, once my child graduates, SMU will never see another dime from me. (NOTE: This is one who could have, and likely would have, written very decent checks to SMU for decades.) I know of several more along this line but this is the first where I got it face to face. We eat our young (and old, and middle aged).
I enjoyed all of you guys spending time up there donating but something's wrong. Very rarely my wife we'll put on an SMU sweat shirt down here in Mansfield - inevitably an older graduate will come up to us while we're shopping or some such and start talking the same s*** we're talking here
78pony wrote:he gets a call from SMU. Hi Mr. XXXXXX. We wanted to see if you wanted to do the HoF deal at what you had been paying after all? Not a higher amount. To this he said xxxx you. And by the way, once my child graduates, SMU will never see another dime from me.
Although I can understand his frustration, IMO his reaction when they realized their mistake was rather harsh. Ok somebody made a mistake, but the point is they realized it, and attempted to correct it. I would not want to work with or for your Austin friend.
78pony wrote:he gets a call from SMU. Hi Mr. XXXXXX. We wanted to see if you wanted to do the HoF deal at what you had been paying after all? Not a higher amount. To this he said xxxx you. And by the way, once my child graduates, SMU will never see another dime from me.
Although I can understand his frustration, IMO his reaction when they realized their mistake was rather harsh. Ok somebody made a mistake, but the point is they realized it, and attempted to correct it. I would not want to work with or for your Austin friend.
IPP, you and I view this a little different.
People feeling ripped off tend to get angry.
And it appears there was no contrition on the part of SMU, but rather an acknowledgement that the price point 78ΓÇÖs friend thought was too high was indeed too high.
Real contrition will occur when the next AD admits this was all a fiasco. I donΓÇÖt think it comes from Hart as he has lost too much credibility now.
If SMU wanted to repair things they would offer Mr. XXXXX a free year of tickets in his old seats. That would have been the smart move. Whenever you get up in age you lose patience for petty stuff like SMU pulls sometimes.
Bottom line is that the reseat was a money grab that was poorly timed and went horribly wrong. The only question now is whether this administration will realize how big a mistake they made and price more appropriately for next year in hopes of bringing some fans back...with special consideration for those who actually ponied up and paid way "over market" for this year's product (throw in some extra seats for some games we know won't be well attended in hopes they might bring friends or give tickets to someone who might actually attend?). Except for a few of those LB years, SMU has never been able to consistently fill our bball/football venues and I just don't think our administration has ever understood how important that is for recruiting and building/sustaining a program.
78pony wrote:Austin friend was in town for the weekend and we got together. Finally I got the skinny on his deal. He had been at the level to get Hall of Fame section. He liked to be able to eat while watching. He doesn't pay too much attention to things as he is out of town, he travels extensively, and has more money than Carter has pills. In any event, he has his secretary renew him at same dollar and location levels. Oops. SMU lets him know that he has to Pony Up more if he wants to stay in HoF club & seats. He says kiss my rear end as I'm already giving you xxxxx. They tell him at that dollar amount he may want to go to sections x, y, or z. He says adios! He's done. Flash forward. Not exactly sure the time lapse but he gets a call from SMU. Hi Mr. XXXXXX. We wanted to see if you wanted to do the HoF deal at what you had been paying after all? Not a higher amount. To this he said xxxx you. And by the way, once my child graduates, SMU will never see another dime from me. (NOTE: This is one who could have, and likely would have, written very decent checks to SMU for decades.) I know of several more along this line but this is the first where I got it face to face. We eat our young (and old, and middle aged).
I'm calling bull [deleted]. I didn't increase my donation a penny. Was in red seats in the corner by the player tunnel. I could have, and was offered, HOF club seats. There's no way someone who was already giving at the level to get HOF seats was told they HAD to pay more.
Ok this is getting ridiculous...I agree with Dutch on THIS ONE POST by him totally
78pony wrote:Austin friend was in town for the weekend and we got together. Finally I got the skinny on his deal. He had been at the level to get Hall of Fame section. He liked to be able to eat while watching. He doesn't pay too much attention to things as he is out of town, he travels extensively, and has more money than Carter has pills. In any event, he has his secretary renew him at same dollar and location levels. Oops. SMU lets him know that he has to Pony Up more if he wants to stay in HoF club & seats. He says kiss my rear end as I'm already giving you xxxxx. They tell him at that dollar amount he may want to go to sections x, y, or z. He says adios! He's done. Flash forward. Not exactly sure the time lapse but he gets a call from SMU. Hi Mr. XXXXXX. We wanted to see if you wanted to do the HoF deal at what you had been paying after all? Not a higher amount. To this he said xxxx you. And by the way, once my child graduates, SMU will never see another dime from me. (NOTE: This is one who could have, and likely would have, written very decent checks to SMU for decades.) I know of several more along this line but this is the first where I got it face to face. We eat our young (and old, and middle aged).
I'm calling bull [deleted]. I didn't increase my donation a penny. Was in red seats in the corner by the player tunnel. I could have, and was offered, HOF club seats. There's no way someone who was already giving at the level to get HOF seats was told they HAD to pay more.
You can call anything you want. I'm telling you what he said to me. I have no reason to doubt hiim. Always been a stand up guy with me.
