More specifically, if you were a 'Bama fan and a member of 'Tide Pride' (their version of the LF), would you have made the cut? They do it a little different (read: better) than the LF, as longevity and the number of sports in which you have tickets play more of a role (read: any role at all) than they do here. Linkage
Nothing is going to make everyone happy. Policies like this favor older folks which I don't think is fair. 50-100 points for donating back when I would have been in h.s. I have had season football and basketball tickets since I graduated from law school and donate $3,000+ per year. I would have quit buying season tickets had I not gotten NC tix this year. I have had TCU season tickets since I graduated from there and donate the same amount and got the crappiest tickets imaginable to the Fiesta Bowl bc TCU's policy favors big time donors over everything else. You are better off donating $5,000 once to TCU than having season tickets for 50 consecutive years. No policy is perfect, but everyone knew going into the season that Texas' favors giving THIS year and everyone knew the cutoff would be much higher than in 2005 bc of the North Endzone seats.
We would've only had 74 points because half their criteria don't even apply to us and we don't have tickets to any sports other than football even though we qualify for more based on donation level. We don't live in Austin so once a week on the weekend is the best we can do for attendance. Also we've only been donors since 2006 because we were both in school before that. Actually we were both in school that year too but we did it anyway. That was the year we added the SEZ bleachers so we bought those. Then in 2007 we got kicked out bc of the NEZ people getting moved down there so we were only able to get singles, which we did and sat apart that season, but they also didn't require a donation so we would've lost that year, and apparently the one that requires your donation to be continuous, on their point system. Last year we ponied up $1500 so we could get NEZ chairbacks. This year we added 2 more seats and paid $3000 for the privilege of getting OU and MNC tix. Our system rewards those who pay more rather than longer, and if they're gonna charge me such a high premium for those seats, I want the reward. We go to every game including every away game so their system doesn't reward the extra money we pay for those tix. To be fair, I don't know if ours does either but it should. There are people who have west side lowers who've had them since before the LHF was created and therefore don't have to donate at all, but they also don't get preference for the high- demand games like this. We're required to donate in order to get season tix. Do you want to have all the blue hairs who don't have to donate and don't bother to show up for games to have preference over you? If the RB Committee wasn't so stingy, you would've gotten tix. I think they're a bunch of selfish ******** personally and Mr. LLB thanks me constantly for insisting we buy those 2 extra seats bc would've been in the same boat as you. I'm not saying you shouldn't be frustrated, just that I prefer our system over theirs. If we had no incentive to pay more than that $150 minimum donation, we would not have the athletic budget we have with the ability to buy anything we want.
Our long time donors are rewarded by getting to keep their good west side seats for a minimal LHF donation. I've had my west side seats since 1990. I didn't qualify for the BCS tickets this year. I'd much rather figure a way to get the BCS tickets than have to pay market value to keep my season ticket seats.
As a long time union guy I am very supportive of a seniority system. I have been in the LHF since 1988. For newer folks I always say their time will come. But the LHF doesn't do it that way and they make the rules.
I've looked at a few other university policies over the years and all the others have a system similar to Bama's. I'm in the minority on this thread but I think longevity should count. I've been a season ticket holder since the 70's and have stuck with the horns through dismal years because I'm loyal and love Texas. Many of the current higher contributing donors would jump ship if we started having 3 to 5 losses a year. It is a sign of the times, both in that money talks and what have you done for me recently.
I would have 259 points under the Bama system and would have qualified for tickets. I would not have qualified for any of their pre-1988 50 point bonus programs either. Just cumulative donations over 13 years in the Longhorn foundation. That and having season tickets in basketball and football over those years. Hook 'em
A couple of those items are hard to translate to way things are done at Texas, but I come up with 702 points. Maybe the LHF would actually return my phone calls under the Bama system.