Crimson Club Donations

[homer]

Not sure which category to post this in, but there has been interest expressed on this forum concerning tickets etc. In order to get season Football tickets, one must first be a Crimson Club member.

For this coming year my CC donation level just substantially increased. My level jumped 67% or $1000/year, from a $1500/year minimum, ro $2500/year.

According to the email I received, Football ticket renewals come out tomorrow. Social media scuttlebutt is hold on to your wallet.

[pedro]

This has been Harlan’s plan from the get go.  It bothers me as we live in a very high cost of living state and a very low average wage state.  He’s forcing the average fan out and invite corporations in.  IMHO it ruined the Jazz game experience and will now ruin Utah Football.  But that’s just me.  I know some welcome it.

[younglurch]

It does suck because it ruins the gameday atmosphere, but simple math and profits win out here. The athletic department would rather sell 35k tickets at $150 apiece ($5.25 mil)  than 50k tickets at $100 apiece ($5 mil). Obviously this is an oversimplification but you can see how selling fewer higher priced tickets can be preferable, particularly in this post-COVID sports environment where stadium profits vanished for a year. Factor in the general declining live sports attendance and.. yeah. 

Rice-Eccles is still a fun atmosphere, but I’d wager the only game that will be an actual sellout next season is the USC in October. The Oregon game last year was such an incredible environment and it sucks we only get something like that once a year if we’re lucky. Still, I guess it’s better than being a dumpster fire program with no attendance at all. 

I feel like I’ve heard about top flight English soccer teams having certain price caps for some of their tickets, and their fans go into a tizzy whenever the thought of raising them comes up. Wish we had that kind of team loyalty and spirit here! 

[pedro]

I get your point, but just like the Jazz as soon as they have a down year, those corporations are going to bail which, unlike the Jazz, will hurt recruiting and long term revenue.  EVERY program has down times.  We are not immune.  Lossing a $100 ticket holder hurts a lot less than a $150. 

 

Furthermore here was the explanation:  

Cost-of-attendance legislation, which allowed institutions to provide funding to student-athletes to more accurately reflect the costs our students incur, has been implemented, raising our true cost of a Utah scholarship to $28,460 for an in-state resident

and $49,170 for an out-of-state student. We have also made the decision to invest significantly in services that provide for our student-athletes’ mental health and

overall well-being.

 

What was it before?  That is an arbitrary number unless we know.  The line about ST Mental health is pure made up BS.  They’ve had Sports Physchologist on staff for over 20 years.  

 

I will likely bend over the table and make the payment.  But IMHO, and I hope I’m wrong, it’s the beginning of the end for RES as we know.  I can’t imagine how bad this is going to kill an already dead Huntsman Center.  

 

Given what little he has done for the program and what the potential negative effects this will have pretty much tells me how invested Harlan is on Utah Athletics.  

[Trailgoat]

Harlan stepped into a program trending upward and he’s along for the ride.

[Brent]

I agree. It is a sad state of affairs. The Utes are pricing the average fan out of existence. It becomes more and more tempting to stay home and watch the Utes on TV. I graduated from the U in 1973. I have been a season ticket holder since 1978. I originally had 8 season tickets, but had reduced to 4, simply because of the Crimson Club dues and ticket price increases. I know the U doesn’t care as they chase the dollar, but, some of us were both loyal and financially supportive of the Ute football program when it was mediocre to the say the least. I remember a few Saturdays when there were twice as many deer hunters in the mountains than Ute fans in the stand.

[SkinyUte]

In order to get season Football tickets, one must first be a Crimson Club member.

Just to clarify, this has not been a requirement for all sections. I’ve had NEZ tickets since 2005 and have never been a Crimson Club member.

I don’t think that’s changing this year? From what I’ve heard.

[NarfUte]

If you have NEZ tickets you paid $250 a ticket to be in the crimson club last year, FYI.  the actual ticket cost was $120 a seat for the year + $250 mandatory donation

[SkinyUte]

Thanks for clarifying.  I was entirely unaware that’s how it worked.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Inflation spares no one. The costs for the athletic department are going up, just like everything is for everyone. The only thing you can do is make sure your wages are keeping pace.

This seems like a good time to remind everyone that if you got your usual 3% raise this year, you actually got a pay cut in terms of purchasing power. Go talk to your employer.

[Tony (admin)]

How about 2.5%?  😐

[bopahull]

When you’re retired, pay raises are pretty much a thing of the past.

[Crow]

Someone will pay like me

[Central Coast Ute]

Someone will. I think OP’s point is that at some point, the average fan will be priced out of tickets.