Collegiate Times

Coach Greenberg most likely anticipates that said alumni season ticket holders don't always show up, and that might be a part of why he always writes. Realistically you can't expect every alumni to be in Blacksburg for every game, but you can always appeal to the student body that lives right next door for a raucous crowd. Cyclically speaking, even though the alumni aren't there, they do pay for their season tickets, so the program's getting some sort of value for reserving those seats...Who knows, one day when you graduate you might remember how much of a good time you had getting some free tickets to a block of games, and then decide to pay for an alumni season ticket yourself...Next thing you know you'll become severely self loathing for not being at every possible game, recalling how you once ranted about the alumni season ticket holders that you've managed to also become.

Tell me why the majority of the alumni seats were empty for the gardner webb game? It was the first game of the season on a FRIDAY night which means you have no excuse for not being there. Also, when the alumni sell their tickets for outrageous prices no one is going to buy them.

It's not a terrible idea to have a system whereby alumni can "donate" unused tickets by alerting the box office when they can't attend. Then the box office could issue a new ticket to someone who walks up. If I knew there were games I couldn't attend, I would certainly put my tickets back into the system if such a process were adopted.

Good idea Jason T, but unfortunately, most alumni have busy schedules. The majority of alumni have jobs and families and wouldn't take the time to do so.

I'm an alum with a job and a family and numerous responsibilities, but my busy schedule doesn't prevent me from calling a friend to cancel our date if I can't make it. It's not unreasonable to think that alumni season ticket holders could call the box office to release their ticket. If I cared about my friend, I would call rather than just not showing up. If I care about my basketball team, I'll release my ticket to a student who will go cheer them on in my stead. This would be good for the athletic department too. They get to keep the season ticket holder's money, and a student gets admitted who hypes the program and generates revenue by buying popcorn and a Coke.

With alumni, it is easier to create a waiting list of eligible people, then just start picking people from the list to replace those who haven't met their attendance expectations from the previous season. I know it'll never happen, but it seems to make sense. I realize that when you buy tickets, you have a choice of what you want to do with them, but if this system is used, the box office wouldn't lose any money (they might even get more - make it a consignment system, where the original ticket holder puts the tickets back in the system, then charge the new buyer for them and maybe return $5 or $10 to the original owner if it gets purchased by someone else), and you'd have a better chance of filling the seats. I don't care how busy you are, it wouldn't be that hard to log in to a website and click a few buttons to return your unused tickets to the box office, but you're right - people wouldn't do it without an incentive.

I have spoken out against student tickets being distributed by a loyalty system because all students should have an equal opportunity to get tickets, but perhaps the alumni tickets should be. Then you could adopt the trade-in system and penalize those who don't either show up or trade in their tickets. Miss enough games, and you go to the back of the wait list for the following year. This would provide an incentive to assure that your unused tickets go to someone else.

Amanda makes a good point. Maybe start by offering the extra tickets at regular price, then if they don't sell by, say, 30 minutes before game time, open them up to students.

The worst part is that some of the most die-hard hokie fans are watching it from a square box (TV) when they would LOVE to add to the overall atmosphere.

How hard is it to log into a system and click a button that says, "Can't make the (Gardner Webb Game, Seat 2 in Section 3)" Once they click it, it gets put into the 2nd round of the lottery, so here is how it'd work. Alumni who know they can't make it would go online like 2 or 3 days before the game, click a button, and then the athletic office would inform the 2nd round of students that they can have tickets if they pick em up. What do we get: Arguably one of the best atmospheres in the country...Our fans are legit

It should be easy, but trust me, most people wouldn't take the time. A lot will care about giving back tickets and a lot won't. I know several people that are alumni that are go, go, go all day. They've admitted to me before that they'd like to take the time to log into a website, but probably wouldn't from just being lazy or not remembering. Amanda makes a good point, but she'd be one of the few busy alum with jobs, familes, and activities that would actually make the effort.

Anonymous, that's why I suggested an incentive. Trust me: if you're in danger of having your tickets yanked next year for not taking 5 minutes to return them, you'd act to avoid the situation. How is it that people who are too busy to visit a website and click a few buttons are able to make it to all these sporting events, anyway?

An online system is a great idea. As an alum with prime seats, I'd LOVE to have students fill them when I can't be there. Interestingly, the athletic dept. does let season ticket holders "donate" our tickets, but it costs us $4.00 to do it, which is a disincentive. We shouldn't have to pay more for tickets we've already paid for--just to give them away! I would gladly give my tickets to students for free, but it seems unreasonable for the athletic dept. to get a fee for it. This seems like an issue that can be taken on at a grassroots level first and then build...

That's insane that they charge you for returning them. I didn't know that was possible, but no wonder it never happens... gotta love that athletic department

yea alumni donation money is always hurting...programs wouldn't be available without their funding. silence.

A better system for alumni would be ask them to select which games they intend to see rather than sending season tickets to all games. They would still get alumni donations since the highest donars get first pick. This would also open the possibility of donors low on the donor list or more students than alotted to recieve tickets for games such as gardner web.

Is that really a legit excuse? Alumni are too busy to take 30 seconds out of 86,400 to help out their college WHEN they cannot come to a game....let's get serious....a system like that NEEDS to be in place..

Our athletic department is pathetic and lacks great leadership. Jim Weaver must go!

In case you haven't noticed, everything at VT is about money. You pay an athletic fee regardless of whether you get to go to the games or not. That is free money for VT. then they charge alums and could care less if they come, the check is cashed. UVA actually has a ticket return system and I am pretty sure it is free. They also have a ticket marketplace to buy and sell tickets. http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17800&KEY=&ATCLID=1104181

Anyone watching VT basketball on national television is constantly reminded of how insane Cassell can be (especially the student section). Could you imagine how Cassell would be if more students could attend games. We have a good basketball team and great fans. Why not use what we have to gain advantage over the consitantly superior ACC.

A better system would be to make the lower tier all students with exception of 1-3 rows made available for family/friends/recruits. The alumi section should be smaller and higher given that many/most arent coming into Blacksburg to watch basketball. The sensible approach would be to charge students for basketball season passes ala football and allow them to sit up close and personal. And no Jim Weaver doesnt have to go he's not the issue and find me a D1 school which isnt after the almighty dollar thats required to fund all the non revenue sports: scholarships, travel, recruiting budget, equipment, maintenance, infrastructure..... And that athletic fee you pay, it covers more than just you getting tickets or the right to get tickets. It also assists the funding of non revenue sports.

To "idiots:" this program was already mentioned, and even if it hadn't been, perhaps it would be sufficient to simply direct people to the site without the abrasiveness. That said, among this program's flaws: you must link up with a specific person who needs a ticket, there is a processing fee charged to the generous person who returns their ticket, and most likely people are just using this to more conveniently transfer ownership of a ticket after they have sold it to another person on eBay or elsewhere. It's a start in the right direction, but there's room for improvement.

Maybe people just don't like basketball. Seems simple enough.

Anonymous, then why are there many people who were upset over being denied season tickets? The demand is there.

What they should do, rather than give the alumni straight season tickets, is give them a ballot type form that they can fill out. It's true, you can't expect every alumni to be in Blacksburg for every game. So why not give them like a checklist of the game, and they can mark the games that they would like tickets to, and adjust the price accordingly. That way, the tickets for the games they won't be there for can be added into the lottery.

What they should do is have an open seating policy for students that show up early can move down and pack in the lower rows. At the Longwood game the entire row infront of me was open for the first half. then a couple of kids moved down, but there werent more then 4000 people there

Ryan, there's a simple answer: money. The only way you get alumni to buy tickets for less desirable games is to sell them as part of a season ticket package. The ticket office has certain revenue expectations, and they should; they're not a charity. It's probably more productive to focus on how to deal with the unused tickets after they've been purchased.