Kirby Hocutt, fresh off his botch job in prying more money from President Shalala, announced plans to cut the ticket prices for some sections for the 2009 season. Of course, my section, Alumni, will see none of those benefits. Kirb-dawg, you do realize the Alumni section is full of all the recent grads, right? The ones who can’t afford season tickets, but get them anyways? And most importantly, the ones who will potentially be big donors in 10 years, for the next 20? (Hell, I only went to Miami for a year, and I want to go all Alex Rodriguez when I’m rich and convince those territorial fucks in the Gables to build an on-campus stadium! They would never let me, even for a $5 million straight donation to the city, but still.) And he couldn’t cut the $75 donation fee? Come on, Kirbs. The donation fee is a 21% premium to the actual season ticket cost. This is like a NFL seat license. Killing us.
On the plus side, all the unemployed, South end zone at the OB Canes fans will see some real discounts. Cuts reach upwards of $151 in the upper levels, with two mid-level club sections (206 and 212) seeing a decrease as well.
In reality, the all-in Alumni ticket price is actually a great deal. $345 for six games (most seasons you get seven), a state of the art stadium, great parking, easy enter and exiting, and it serves all kinds of liquor. And that was for 20 rows up from the field.
Randy is being proactive in this budget crisis. He has offered (and has been accepted) for Miami to bus to games at UCF and USF next season. Not too shabby. Will save the Athletic Department $140K. I feel those should be bus trips every year really. Only 4 hours max to either location. On a personal level, anything under 8 hours on Google Maps is an automatic drive over flying. And when Google Maps tracks estimated time using 65 mph average, you can always chip away at that time, with your 85 mph clip.
For all this money being saved, I can only hope they paint the end zones this year. As much as I love the slanted parallel lines, a la Notre Dame, it reminds me of…Notre Dame. Enough!
