Season Ticket Story

[jp18]

Good story. Well, interesting story. Not going to reveal names, but a guy just recently picked out his seats for the new place. He had seats on the floor for several years. He had his number called towards the end of the process, though. He ended up with seats in the second deck because as we all know, the seats down low went pretty fast. Needless to say, he was very upset.

But here is the kicker, the business he owns donates $25,000 a year to SLU – has done this for several years. He doesn’t donate it to the athletic department, though, just the whole school. He was told Billiken Club members got priority for tickets. So if he gives $125 to the Billiken Club, he gets better seats. The $25,000 he gives to the school apparently means nothing. Wow. Now, he isn’t going to donate anything to the school after this fiasco.

Not sure about everyone here, but I’m not sure this process was handled right. And we played the system, I’ll be the first to say it. We have never been Billiken Club members, but joined this year and jumped ahead of several people we know that had season tickets for many, many years. They have donated a lot more money to the program than us just through their season tickets. I’m not sure what should be done, but I think a different priority system needs to be put in place. I don’t think the current one was thought out too well. Oh well.

[drkelsey55]

Let me get this straight. Guy gives 25 g's to SLU. If a season ticket holder he had to receive the same info we all did about the process and he didn't figure out that for an additional 125.00 (small change compared to the other donation) that he would get to pick his seats a lot earlier. Who's he mad at? Himself for not reading the information???

[billiken_roy]

Good story. Well, interesting story. Not going to reveal names, but a guy just recently picked out his seats for the new place. He had seats on the floor for several years. He had his number called towards the end of the process, though. He ended up with seats in the second deck because as we all know, the seats down low went pretty fast. Needless to say, he was very upset.

But here is the kicker, the business he owns donates $25,000 a year to SLU – has done this for several years. He doesn’t donate it to the athletic department, though, just the whole school. He was told Billiken Club members got priority for tickets. So if he gives $125 to the Billiken Club, he gets better seats. The $25,000 he gives to the school apparently means nothing. Wow. Now, he isn’t going to donate anything to the school after this fiasco.

Not sure about everyone here, but I’m not sure this process was handled right. And we played the system, I’ll be the first to say it. We have never been Billiken Club members, but joined this year and jumped ahead of several people we know that had season tickets for many, many years. They have donated a lot more money to the program than us just through their season tickets. I’m not sure what should be done, but I think a different priority system needs to be put in place. I don’t think the current one was thought out too well. Oh well.

a whole year goes by where this guy is bombarded with "you have to be a billiken club member or else..." including a resetting of the priority numbers last year which should have clued the guy in that there was a problem when he likely took a dive in his number from the previous season. so reading into your post, this guy does nothing and then when he picks with an extremely high number he is upset? if he truly is such a high roller, why didnt he buy the blue seats that were obviously available yet and just lower his annual gift accordingly thereafter?

too many holes in your story. not saying you are wrong, i would say your friend isnt telling it like it is.

[jp18]

a whole year goes by where this guy is bombarded with "you have to be a billiken club member or else..." including a resetting of the priority numbers last year which should have clued the guy in that there was a problem when he likely took a dive in his number from the previous season. so reading into your post, this guy does nothing and then when he picks with an extremely high number he is upset? if he truly is such a high roller, why didnt he buy the blue seats that were obviously available yet and just lower his annual gift accordingly thereafter?

too many holes in your story. not saying you are wrong, i would say your friend isnt telling it like it is.

I don't know. Maybe he just ignored the Billiken Club stuff since he already gave to the school. Who knows? Roy is right, I don't know the whole story.

I'm not trying to cause trouble, I just found the story interesting. I also think SLU would do all they could to make a big donor like this happy, but I guess it is too late. I just think some things could be handled better than how this process all went down. Again, I benefitted from the process because we joined the Billiken Club and got a decent number. I just think you should treat your loyal season ticket holders better, regardless of if they are in the Billiken Club or not.

[billiken_roy]

I don't know. Maybe he just ignored the Billiken Club stuff since he already gave to the school. Who knows? Roy is right, I don't know the whole story.

I'm not trying to cause trouble, I just found the story interesting. I also think SLU would do all they could to make a big donor like this happy, but I guess it is too late. I just think some things could be handled better than how this process all went down. Again, I benefitted from the process because we joined the Billiken Club and got a decent number. I just think you should treat your loyal season ticket holders better, regardless of if they are in the Billiken Club or not.

the solution is to go back to Mark Wright, tell the story, figure the cost of the blue seats, subtract from his previous annual gift of $25,000 to the school and join the billiken club for $125. no reason that isnt a win win. it would be different if there were absolutely no better seats available. that would be a pickle.

[Clock_Tower]

the solution is to go back to Mark Wright, tell the story, figure the cost of the blue seats, subtract from his previous annual gift of $25,000 to the school and join the billiken club for $125. no reason that isnt a win win. it would be different if there were absolutely no better seats available. that would be a pickle.

Why limit it to the Blue seats? Obviously Fr. Biondi took a heck of alot more seats out of play before the seat selection process began.

As to the decision to set up $125 voluntary "join the Billiken Club" for 1 year only to have it be automatic for 2/3's of seat holders beginning next year, I posted that 2 months ago. This story, though, just highlights the bad idea. Not sure who the person is they are writing about, but I know (first hand) a group of 8 (20 year season ticket holders) that is now in the corner 4 rows from the top which should have picked around #400. Unless I am mistaken, two of our regulars forgot and got caught in the trap as well.

If voluntarily joining the BC and paying each year and/or re-shuffling every other year (every third year) was the plan, then fine. Instead, the system merely raised $125 per group (not per person) and unfairly caught a few along the way. A $125 application fee would have made more sense.

As to reshuffling in 3 years, I am more convinced then ever that Fr. Biondi already reserved a large amount of seats and that there will be no reshuffling anytime soon. Accomodations will be made for mistakes and to appease offended donors but, IMO, no large reshuffling.

[Tonka]

Why limit it to the Blue seats? Obviously Fr. Biondi took a heck of alot more seats out of play before the seat selection process began.

As to the decision to set up $125 voluntary "join the Billiken Club" for 1 year only to have it be automatic for 2/3's of seat holders beginning next year, I posted that 2 months ago. This story, though, just highlights the bad idea. Not sure who the person is they are writing about, but I know (first hand) a group of 8 (20 year season ticket holders) that is now in the corner 4 rows from the top which should have picked around #400. Unless I am mistaken, two of our regulars forgot and got caught in the trap as well.

If voluntarily joining the BC and paying each year and/or re-shuffling every other year (every third year) was the plan, then fine. Instead, the system merely raised $125 per group (not per person) and unfairly caught a few along the way. A $125 application fee would have made more sense.

As to reshuffling in 3 years, I am more convinced then ever that Fr. Biondi already reserved a large amount of seats and that there will be no reshuffling anytime soon. Accomodations will be made for mistakes and to appease offended donors but, IMO, no large reshuffling.

It was my understanding that donations to the general University and not the Athletic Department did not matter. I know several donors to the University, some DuBourg Society members, and some with scholarships in their name who did not get favorable seats since their donations were always to the University. SLU, like many schools, and unlike a Notre Dame, has different development people for the athletic department and for the University.

[Clock_Tower]

It was my understanding that donations to the general University and not the Athletic Department did not matter. I know several donors to the University, some DuBourg Society members, and some with scholarships in their name who did not get favorable seats since their donations were always to the University. SLU, like many schools, and unlike a Notre Dame, has different development people for the athletic department and for the University.

Going back awhile, a prominent local doctor friend of mine (now retired) received a phone call from SLU asking him for another $10,000 donation. The good doc replied that he would no longer be in a position to donate in that his basketball seats got messed up and he was put at the back of the line (Debbie Yow fiasco moving into the new Kiel). Later that day, he received a phone call from a very apologetic vice-president of something informing him that he now had at center court only a few rows up from the court. Since then, the annual 5 figure donations resumed.

My point: there are rules and then there are rules.

This time, all went well and he bought his tickets as normal. Understand that he selected the last row of Gold because going down the steps are are problem for him.

Nothing has changed at SLU. There are some really excellent and hard-working people and staff at SLU. The break-down in communications between departments, though, is horrendous. IMO, I believe it to be so much worse at SLU. Between my undergrad (not at SLU) and other personal experiences from friends and family, I truly believe that SLU would be well-served by a different type of President (not a rip on Fr. Biondi and the good things he has done and does) but hopefully a President who can better organize, stream-line and make the University experience more unified and consistent.

[NashvilleBilliken]

My point: there are rules and then there are rules.

Completely agree. The university needs to do whatever it can to get that $25k a year back. That's a large chuck of change and one deserves to play by a different set of rules when you are talking about that type of cash.

[kshoe]

a whole year goes by where this guy is bombarded with "you have to be a billiken club member or else..." including a resetting of the priority numbers last year which should have clued the guy in that there was a problem when he likely took a dive in his number from the previous season. so reading into your post, this guy does nothing and then when he picks with an extremely high number he is upset? if he truly is such a high roller, why didnt he buy the blue seats that were obviously available yet and just lower his annual gift accordingly thereafter?

too many holes in your story. not saying you are wrong, i would say your friend isnt telling it like it is.

Gotta agree with Roy on this one. Seems like a pretty simple solution is to give him 4 blue seats at 10k and tell him the general school will gladly take the other $15k off his hands for general purpose. He gets great seats and the school still gets its $25k. The tax deductibility should be the same.

[Clock_Tower]

Can anyone confirm or deny that SLU tried to call these guys - ticket holders with a fair amount of points but who did not join the Billiken Club.

As previously mentioned, I disliked the system which I saw as one year trap. Assuming only 2% didn't read their mail, that's still 2% too much. Assuming the plan, however, was a good one, the implementation of the plan should have had a provision whereby SLU personally called certain guys to bring this to their attention and personally give them a chance to join. For instance, if you points were more than XXX, you should get a phone call - and not just a message left on your answering machine - explaining the system. If you are below this point level, then no phone call and too bad.

I still laugh that people were surprised and upset on January 1st when they shut down Hwy 40. My point: there is not enough media ads, letters, newspapers, etc. for some people.

[TheOldie]

I asked the question in June as to whether or not donations to the University Building programs (law school and business school) counted towards points. I swear that I was told by someone in the general administration of the school that it indeed counted.

Fortunatelly we were not caught up in the Billiken Club trap -- since we've been non-participating members for a number of years.

I'm sure that if we had slipped up - the administration would have made accomodations for us.

[xfactor9600]

So he's not going to support SLU anymore (something he did long before picking his new seats) because he didn't get the seats he wanted? Wow.

[MB73]

Can anyone confirm or deny that SLU tried to call these guys - ticket holders with a fair amount of points but who did not join the Billiken Club.

As previously mentioned, I disliked the system which I saw as one year trap. Assuming only 2% didn't read their mail, that's still 2% too much. Assuming the plan, however, was a good one, the implementation of the plan should have had a provision whereby SLU personally called certain guys to bring this to their attention and personally give them a chance to join. For instance, if you points were more than XXX, you should get a phone call - and not just a message left on your answering machine - explaining the system. If you are below this point level, then no phone call and too bad.

I still laugh that people were surprised and upset on January 1st when they shut down Hwy 40. My point: there is not enough media ads, letters, newspapers, etc. for some people.

They did NOT call me.

A SLU alumni, I had season tickets for several years in the '90's, had to travel extensively and dropped them, then re-upped last year.

All the stuff I read said Billiken Club Members were to be given "priority", I did not interpret it that they lept over me with fewer points.

I did not pay close enough attention in Carmody's business law class, I guess.

I know those of you that came out OK continue to say everything went great: "I am on board, pull up the ladder".

[thetorch]

There are only so many good seats. Some people are going to get screwed.

My father was a small donor & BC member during the Yow fiasco. We were given horrible seats at the arena. My father gave a generous sum and magically we had much better seats at the arena and kiel.

This time around my father and I dropped the ball. I mixed up the date a couple weeks ago and worked that evening and he went out of town unexpectedly. We were assigned mid court in the last row of the chaifetz. Luckily they have given us a couple more options in sec 102 and 108. We did everything correctly in the year previous and screwed up the date to select tickets.

No matter what someone will get burned by the system. Still I'd give my right arm to see Billiken games in any setting. I don't feel sorry for someone who can donate so much to the school and just not pay attention to the process and then give up his tickets. Stay at home then.

[kshoe]

They did NOT call me.

A SLU alumni, I had season tickets for several years in the '90's, had to travel extensively and dropped them, then re-upped last year.

All the stuff I read said Billiken Club Members were to be given "priority", I did not interpret it that they lept over me with fewer points.

I did not pay close enough attention in Carmody's business law class, I guess.

I know those of you that came out OK continue to say everything went great: "I am on board, pull up the ladder".

Not trying to offend you MB73 but two thoughts come to mind:

1) you aren't what anyone would consider a big donor. You had season tickets for several years in the 90s plus last year. Since you aren't a member of the BC, its hard to believe you've ever given a lot to the program. BC or not, your points just aren't going to be that high.

2) What exactly did you think priority meant? I guess a really weird interpretation would be if we were tied they'd get priority but I think I would ask someone before assuming that.

[Clock_Tower]

In the age of Bill Clinton, a Rhodes scholar and former President, who obviously had trouble with the word "is", I can see different meanings for the word "priority."

In all seriousness, it is tough to say ticket holders were not warned. At the same time, I told several groups that they needed to join the BC. Each group found it shocking that a first time ticket holder who joined the BC would vault ahead of everyone else who didn't read their mail.

As to phone calls, why not try to be more inclusive and call everyone? We only had 2000 to 2500 or so season ticket groups. I would think most joined and therefore SLU would have to make 100 calls or so?