Seat Selection Rankings

[xfactor9600]

Well... i'm sure there is some sort of pecking order. It's just not announced publicly in the form of points. I know as a member of All For One that i get some sort of priority in getting tickets, but I have no way of knowing how many people have that opportunity before me or whether it's first come first serve. I suspect you're correct though, the high roller's have better access to tickets.

[SluSignGuy]

gives people the weekend to calm down about their draft position....

That may be very true

[TRN]

I recall distinctly that I talked to Margo and she did it while I was on the phone and they sent me an "updated" point breakdown after they consolidated. (for what its worth, we are both SLU grads and neither got credit for being alumni, pretty nice huh?)

Maybe to correct one is coming in the mail tomorrow but it still doesn't explain why my wife's 8 points are still on her own....

I've got a question- it says that we get 20 points for being an alum, does this mean 20 per spouse or just a general 20 points for alumni status? My wife and I both are alumni but only got 20 points, I'm wondering if we should have 40 or not...

[Clock_Tower]

I've got a question- it says that we get 20 points for being an alum, does this mean 20 per spouse or just a general 20 points for alumni status? My wife and I both are alumni but only got 20 points, I'm wondering if we should have 40 or not...

Mark Wright explained that accounts can only be in 1 person's name. Therefore, if the account is in your name, your wife's alum status is meaningless. She might, dare I say, have graduated from Mizzou and you'd be treated the same. Wright's response is that your wife can have her own account just like you. If you each had your own account, though, then you would be accumulate points at half the rate of married couples using a single account. Also, if you read Wright's rules, there is protection for the spouse in the event of death (surviving spouse can assume the points) but no protection for divorce. Instead, the non-account holding spouse would be treated the same as if they were buying their tickets from a cartel/ticket broker. Then again, Wright's rules don't assist families in other respects as well so no one should be surprised.

[Clock_Tower]

To my knowledge their are two reasons to keep your points in good standing and to accumulate as many as possible.

1) They plan to reshuffle the seats every 3-5 years (the exact time frame will likely depend on how hot the ticket is) and those with top points will again get to pick the best seats

2) Any post-season tickets will be sold with first priority going to the higher points people. Hopefully someday we'll actually get to test that part of the system out

I have a question for you, if Xavier doesn't do some sort of points thing how would Final Four tickets have been sold to the X fans if they wanted more than the amount alloted from the NCAA? Big boosters would surely come first, right?

Shoe. Not sure SLU plans to reshuffle in 3 to 5 years but clearly SLU has stated that they have the right to re-shuffled every 3 years.

My biggest question with this system: why require all ticket holders to join the BC, or else everyone jump ahead of them, for only 1 year? After this year, all Blue, Gold, and Red seats will have the BC membership be automatic. Why not charge a $150 application fee, PSL, etc.? Also, why not charge a real arena fee (1 time fee) in lieu of the massive (for an annual fee) "arena fee" indefinitely? Everyone I had talked with would have written a $500, $1,000 or $2,000 check (one time) for good seats. Now, you can sit in the first row behind the basket for no fee?

[TRN]

Mark Wright explained that accounts can only be in 1 person's name. Therefore, if the account is in your name, your wife's alum status is meaningless. She might, dare I say, have graduated from Mizzou and you'd be treated the same. Wright's response is that your wife can have her own account just like you. If you each had your own account, though, then you would be accumulate points at half the rate of married couples using a single account. Also, if you read Wright's rules, there is protection for the spouse in the event of death (surviving spouse can assume the points) but no protection for divorce. Instead, the non-account holding spouse would be treated the same as if they were buying their tickets from a cartel/ticket broker. Then again, Wright's rules don't assist families in other respects as well so no one should be surprised.

That's what I figured. Just another example of how SLU doesn't recognize it's alumni like other Universities do- you would think they could at least give you credit for both paying over 100k to attend the University and give a little perk for season basketball tickets. Oh well, it's to be expected...

[cheeseman]

I have no problem with the accounts being in one name and not a family set up. Somewhere you have to draw the line or else people will start saying that I want credit for my parent(s) who graduated, by children who graduated and my dog who did not piss on one of the statues on campus when I walked him. I do agree that they should send out a full spread sheet of your points - they use to do that - that is the only way you as member can make sure no mistake has been made. They made a mistake once on mine about 3 years ago and I was simply lucky that I caught it and it was a pretty big one. The only reason they would reshuffle after 3 years or so would be if a number of BC members start ponying up big dollars and find themselves not able to move up to better seats because others have locked them in like before. My guess is if you are in the 300's or below, then you should be relatively safe if this reshuffling happens should you buy the $400 fee seats. If you have a good ranking but buy the cheaper fee seats or the no fee seats then you will probably find yourself bumped - but then again, the high rollers would not want your seats anyway.

[billiken_roy]

if this reshuffling happens should you buy the $400 fee seats. If you have a good ranking but buy the cheaper fee seats or the no fee seats then you will probably find yourself bumped - but then again, the high rollers would not want your seats anyway.

imo the error in your thinking is we have a lot of "High Rollers". the fact i am still almost in the top 300 even after offering to let all the non billiken club members get their place back in line and only approx 50 did (i am pretty sure i was in the mid 400's before they reshuffled the order last year and moved all non-billiken club members to the end of the line) is pretty sad. my annual donation is mid 3 figures. so for me to hold that level in the line with a very modest 3 figure annual donation doesnt say much for our booster list. while many are shooting arrows today about our fund raising arm of the athletic dept, the truth is that our fan base needs a slap in the face badly. to think hundreds of season tix holders refused to pony up for a minimum billiken club membership sure seems cheap to me.

i now fear that when the actual seat choice day comes a significant number will by pass the higher levels and instead take the red or no fee seats and us mediocre afforded boosters will be in a tight spot come selection day when they see how good all the seat views really are. i hope i am wrong and the "high rollers" indeed take all the blue seats. we shall see.

[isotope]

This might make alumni feel a little better. I am a professor at Saint Louis University and a long-time avid fan of Billiken basketball. Initially, as a professor who has been working at the university for longer than a decade, I was not even going to be given any extra billiken points while an alumnus would get 20 points. I argued unsuccessfully that at least I should be treated like an alumnus. They ultimately conceded by giving me 10 billiken points. Thus, I rank as "half" an alumnus. And of course, since an alumnus need only attend the university for two years to get this ranking, I am treated equivalent to a student who attended the university for one year. I find this frustrating in part because one of my colleagues and I talk up the games with our students, and my colleague frequently takes students with him to the game. I am also frustrated because I give a lot of extra time and effot to the university with relatively low compensation (though parents paying the tuition bills probably imagine that we are well paid - not true, pay is well below market rates) and it would be nice to at least have 20 billiken points as a perk. And now even though I pay $500 a year for parking on campus, they were going to charge all faculty and staff an extra $7 to park in the lot for each billiken event at the arena. I dropped my parking last week and am parking off campus in protest. Well enough of my rant.

As SLU alumni, you hopefully realize that you are being treated somewhat fairly. And thank you to all the alumni who support the University. We have wonderful alumni assoicated with our department, which really helps us provide valuable opportunities to our current student body (e.g., internships, employment, scholarships).

Go Bills.

[NH]

i fell from 284 to 337 even adding 39.25 points.

what i wish i still had was my letter following the 2005-2006 year to see what my ranking was then.

if you all remember, last year's rankings took out all the non billiken club members and put them at the end of the line. if i had that 2006 rankings, it would give a better view of how many non members reupped from before. i am thinking i was around 450 before the reranking last year. but not sure.

We have group tickets under our name so even though we are the most basic billiken club members we still have 346 ranking because of the 10 tics

[slufanskip]

I think I just screwed myself. I got my ranking and it says I'm 1220. I think I was in the 300's. It says I didn't make a Billiken CLub donation last year, I think I did, but with my Dad passing and going to Texas a few times for my Mom, my mind wasn't all there and myabe I missed it. I need to check it out. I've been a Billiken Club member and season ticket holder at $300-$600 per year for 13 or 14 years. I've had the all sports pass the last 2 or 3 years. I've brought over 50 people to the ladies games 5 times now over the last 3 years and attend almost every home soccer game for the last 15 years and am now being pushed down to number 1220. If I did fail to make my donation, I know it's my own fault, but I won't be happy with selecting at #1220. I don't know if it will help to call Margo who I know or Mark Wright who I don't know and see if anything can be done. In no way did I intend to miss my donation and lose my spot over a couple of hundred buck after this long. I even referred a person to the club this year and sent in my seat deposit for the coming year.

Any ideas?

[cheeseman]

imo the error in your thinking is we have a lot of "High Rollers". the fact i am still almost in the top 300 even after offering to let all the non billiken club members get their place back in line and only approx 50 did (i am pretty sure i was in the mid 400's before they reshuffled the order last year and moved all non-billiken club members to the end of the line) is pretty sad. my annual donation is mid 3 figures. so for me to hold that level in the line with a very modest 3 figure annual donation doesnt say much for our booster list. while many are shooting arrows today about our fund raising arm of the athletic dept, the truth is that our fan base needs a slap in the face badly. to think hundreds of season tix holders refused to pony up for a minimum billiken club membership sure seems cheap to me.

i now fear that when the actual seat choice day comes a significant number will by pass the higher levels and instead take the red or no fee seats and us mediocre afforded boosters will be in a tight spot come selection day when they see how good all the seat views really are. i hope i am wrong and the "high rollers" indeed take all the blue seats. we shall see.

I am not saying that there are all these high rollers - that is why I did say that I really don't expect them to reshuffle. I think you are right that some will take the lesser seats and then push others into the more expensive seats. While you said only 50 moved over you - that is how it impacted you and me but others have posted they dropped 150 or more so there were more than the 50 you noted. In time I think some high rollers will have to be addressed in some way.

[cheeseman]

I think I just screwed myself. I got my ranking and it says I'm 1220. I think I was in the 300's. It says I didn't make a Billiken CLub donation last year, I think I did, but with my Dad passing and going to Texas a few times for my Mom, my mind wasn't all there and myabe I missed it. I need to check it out. I've been a Billiken Club member and season ticket holder at $300-$600 per year for 13 or 14 years. I've had the all sports pass the last 2 or 3 years. I've brought over 50 people to the ladies games 5 times now over the last 3 years and attend almost every home soccer game for the last 15 years and am now being pushed down to number 1220. If I did fail to make my donation, I know it's my own fault, but I won't be happy with selecting at #1220. I don't know if it will help to call Margo who I know or Mark Wright who I don't know and see if anything can be done. In no way did I intend to miss my donation and lose my spot over a couple of hundred buck after this long. I even referred a person to the club this year and sent in my seat deposit for the coming year.

Any ideas?

Tough break - I can understand how your mistake might have happened. I would question it also but the problem you will have is that now that all the letters went out, they can not move you or anybody up and recalculate rankings. If they made a mistake then maybe you can get them to work with you on it but if it was your mistake then I think that puts them and you in a tough spot. Good luck.

[Bill_Ken R]

I received my letter today. I slipped from 96 to 123 after adding 96 points.

[Bill_Ken R]

I think I just screwed myself. I got my ranking and it says I'm 1220. I think I was in the 300's. It says I didn't make a Billiken CLub donation last year, I think I did, but with my Dad passing and going to Texas a few times for my Mom, my mind wasn't all there and myabe I missed it. I need to check it out. I've been a Billiken Club member and season ticket holder at $300-$600 per year for 13 or 14 years. I've had the all sports pass the last 2 or 3 years. I've brought over 50 people to the ladies games 5 times now over the last 3 years and attend almost every home soccer game for the last 15 years and am now being pushed down to number 1220. If I did fail to make my donation, I know it's my own fault, but I won't be happy with selecting at #1220. I don't know if it will help to call Margo who I know or Mark Wright who I don't know and see if anything can be done. In no way did I intend to miss my donation and lose my spot over a couple of hundred buck after this long. I even referred a person to the club this year and sent in my seat deposit for the coming year.

Any ideas?

With that loyalty I think you should have received a phone call prior to the deadline to make sure of your intention given the severe consequences. If they had been careful enough to review the list of non renewals they could have avoided you being in this situation. Not saying you don't bear a responsibility but a well run business would have looked things over before they finalized it. They should think about what they are doing and be more careful in taking care of business. I won't give details but I have personally experienced several situations where the athletic department just failed to get the job done. My clients would be long gone if I failed them in such an elementary way, and they should be.

[BleacherBum593]

I didn't receive a phone call, but I did receive a letter towards the end of February reminding me that I needed to make a payment for this year's Billiken Club membership. So they did take steps to notify the non-payers and reminded me that no payment on my part would effect my standings as far as the selecting of seats at the C.

Skip - I would contact Margo and ask her why your payment was not posted and that you sent it in via the mail before the deadline ;-)

And make sure you got credit for my naming you as a referral.

[Chicago Billiken]

I got my Bills club ranking and season ticket notification in the mail today.

The one thing I thought was interesting was the arena diagram. I had thought that all seats in the arena would require an arena fee not it appears that a majority of the seats in the arena do not require the fee. It appears that a majroity of the seats in the arena are general reserved. Is this a change in the past couple of months?

[Major Majerus]

With that loyalty I think you should have received a phone call prior to the deadline to make sure of your intention given the severe consequences. If they had been careful enough to review the list of non renewals they could have avoided you being in this situation. Not saying you don't bear a responsibility but a well run business would have looked things over before they finalized it. They should think about what they are doing and be more careful in taking care of business. I won't give details but I have personally experienced several situations where the athletic department just failed to get the job done. My clients would be long gone if I failed them in such an elementary way, and they should be.

Right! If Bonwich's deceased father got a phone call, they surely should have double checked on you...

[Major Majerus]

My letter came yesterday. I DO have most of my rank letters from the past. I've always been in the real low 200's; then rose to 169 for 07. Now I'm at 196. What's obvious is there is a ton of movement with the newer fans because so many are grouped so closely; a brick purchase, club joining, and an all sports ticket can give a guy a big jump. If you've been around for years, it seems your point totals hold up pretty well. Because I get to pick so early, I'm going to take a good look at seats not requiring a contribution. Jeez; I can buy 2 tickets near my old seats for the new price of my old seat. I really think they missed the mark on the red seats. The seat schematic they sent me seems identical to the original schematic I saw. One worry I have is that if they redo the seating in 3 years, I may not like my options. We'll see.

[bonwich]

In fairness, they did call about Dad's account just over a week ago, so probably they weren't retroactively updating points.

However, I'd also like to note that I sent a letter March 21 along with my new membership in the Billiken Club and initial donation. I noted that we used to have Dad's account, gave the account number, and asked how much I'd have to donate to get up to the old point total. Here's a direct quote from the letter:

Since it’s all a bit complicated, I hope you can take the membership application as submitted, calculate the appropriate point total and rank, and then advise me as to the donation amount required to meet or exceed our prior point total. My best guess is that this $250 entry-level application will give me 20 points as an alumnus and 5 points for active membership for a total of 25 points.

I show 133 points on my dad’s account. If I’m doing this right, I’d need to donate enough to make up 82 points, which appears to be $4100 to the Arena Fundraising Campaign, although we’d also like to be considered for Billiken Gold seating if we have enough points, which would account for $1600 of that $4100. (Note from me -- it wasn't clear to me whether I was supposed to donate the per-seat charge for blue-gold-red-whatever to be included in this year's total.)

So please give me a call to sort all this out.

My membership application was processed, but I heard precisely nothing from the Athletic Department in response to this letter. I did finally speak to Margo, but that was only a day or two before the deadline -- and between a busy schedule and general annoyance and how the thing was handled, I didn't donate any additional money.

And since my dad got a points notification the same time as I did, I'm wondering whether I just should have kept the tickets in his name, kept the points and just paid with a cashier's check to see if they even noticed.

The really sad thing is we're only talking about 1300-1400 total accounts here. They could easily have had a personal rep from the athletic department to every single one of us.

The good news is that Skip and I will likely be sitting together next year.

[slu72 fan]

I got my Bills club ranking and season ticket notification in the mail today.

The one thing I thought was interesting was the arena diagram. I had thought that all seats in the arena would require an arena fee not it appears that a majority of the seats in the arena do not require the fee. It appears that a majroity of the seats in the arena are general reserved. Is this a change in the past couple of months?

No, its always been that way. Most of the building does not require an annual donation.

[kshoe]

No, its always been that way. Most of the building does not require an annual donation.

SLU72, weren't you the one expecting a 50 point drop frm 50ish to 100ish? If so, how did it turn out?

[slu72 fan]

SLU72, weren't you the one expecting a 50 point drop frm 50ish to 100ish? If so, how did it turn out?

I ponied up some more money, but still dropped 8 spots. I'm in the low 50's now.

[slufanskip]

In fairness, they did call about Dad's account just over a week ago, so probably they weren't retroactively updating points.

However, I'd also like to note that I sent a letter March 21 along with my new membership in the Billiken Club and initial donation. I noted that we used to have Dad's account, gave the account number, and asked how much I'd have to donate to get up to the old point total. Here's a direct quote from the letter:

My membership application was processed, but I heard precisely nothing from the Athletic Department in response to this letter. I did finally speak to Margo, but that was only a day or two before the deadline -- and between a busy schedule and general annoyance and how the thing was handled, I didn't donate any additional money.

And since my dad got a points notification the same time as I did, I'm wondering whether I just should have kept the tickets in his name, kept the points and just paid with a cashier's check to see if they even noticed.

The really sad thing is we're only talking about 1300-1400 total accounts here. They could easily have had a personal rep from the athletic department to every single one of us.

The good news is that Skip and I will likely be sitting together next year.

We'll have to yell in together from the nosebleeds to be heard, on the plus side another person to come up with stupid crap to yell.