Andy Staples ($$) talks to a bunch of athletic directors about how they’re preparing to deal with stadium seating in the time of coronavirus. This parenthetical comment should tell you how sensitive a topic it is right now:
(We’ve promised anonymity to the athletic department officials interviewed for this story because officials are understandably reluctant to speak publicly, fearing a panic from their donors.)
I suspect Andy misspelled “anger” in that last line, but whatever.
No state currently would permit even 50% seating in a stadium and most would fall in a range of 20-40%. So, among the options when you limit supply to comply with health regulations are these:
- Biggest donors first.
- Split tickets into mini-packages, where biggest donors get the best games and the rest are spread out to others.
Lovely.
If you divvy up accordingly, what then happens with the tickets?
- “The secondary market for the tickets could be astronomical, but seeing tickets getting scalped for top dollar by those fortunate enough to get them could enrage donors who got shut out.” Now, there’s the anger I was talking about!
- Dynamic pricing.
Sure, one anonymous AD referred to this as “… a development person’s worst nightmare,” but I’m thinking it’s just another opportunity for the bunch who did such a great job coordinating the sale of 2017 Notre Dame tickets to an energized donor base. Hey, it’s not like they started the virus, amirite?