Men's Basketball Reseating

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#52      
RabidDawgClassic
grue2 said:
Are we talking about the same seats? The nosebleed 45 degrees off the endline, or in the upper tier endline. Are you claiming that the worst seats in the house should still be considered "prime" because it is IL basketball? If not, please clarify.

IMO the view from the upper tier near or on the endline is poor. I would not use those tickets if they were free. For me, its all about seeing the game; I've never been one to care about the crowd atmosphere. The lower tier endline seats that are not obstructed by the backboard are okay for the 1/2 of the game played on that end of the court. I like to see the whole game.



My problem is firmly with the ERA method. Tell me the price of a seat, whatever that is, and let me decide. Affording the tickets isn't an issue.

The ERA method is designed to extract more than market value in at least three ways:

1) The ERA method is a blind bid once auction. Those auctions heavily favors the seller by forcing people to overbid or risk being left out. It's psychological. The winning prices are routinely above market value. (Ask your favorite AI about auction types and results.)

2) The ERA method is an everyone pays, even if you lose the bid auction. If you bid $500, but end up in a $250 donation seat because more people bid $501 than there are seats in that price range, you just threw away the $250.

3) The ERA method is forced bundling. You need to pay for both the "right to buy" and the perks, e.g. parking, together. If you value the perks, you probably don't care. All the perks combined, including parking, are worth $0 to me. My ticket price was unecessarily inflated by the price of the perks.

Sorry, no tickets, or donations from me, this year, or any year the ERA method is in place. I will watch on TV.
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#54      
Konnie
RandyfromTuscola said:
Has anyone heard any update yet? May 9th was the extra final deadline before they set the selection order
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On Saturday, Jason Heggemeyer, Illinois ticket manager, appeared on the WDWS sports talk show. He provided the following information regarding basketball season tickets: The selection process for season ticket seats will start on May 28th, with selection times to be communicated in the upcoming week. Last year, 12,000 season tickets were sold; however, a decision regarding the number of tickets to be sold this year has not been made yet.
 
#55      
Wade9412
grue2 said:
Flippant answers on this subject are not going to make friends or sell seats. There is an implicit statement when people are looking at seats that they want at least a mediocre seat. By the time you get to no donation seats, you are either in nosebleed 45 degrees off the endline, or in the upper tier endline. I want to see the game, so I'll stay home and watch on TV before sitting there.

I also find the "ticket prices have not gone up" claim disingenuous. It is like Ticketmaster adding an additional $50/ticket processing fees and then claiming ticket prices have not increased. Looking at the chart above, I don't see a seat I'd want that requires less than a $500 donation. Those $600 seats are now $1100-1400. The extra membership benefits, e.g. parking, are of zero value to some of us. They come across as Comcast style forced bundling.

Note that none of this is saying that ticket prices should not rise with demand. If there is enough demand for the lower bowl seats to sell for $4900, then advertise them for $4900 w/free parking, not $900 with $4000 in hidden fees.
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I agree with you that the ERA reseating process creates a blind bidding war with a fear mentality. I don’t like it either, but it’s obvious that Illinois Athletics wants as much money as possible. It’s a business and it’s a good strategy on their part. The only downside is that they could anger enough fans to offset the benefits. However, when more money = better teams = happier/more fans = more money it’s hard to fault their reasoning.

I also want to say that I think ERA is way more transparent than what was going on previously. I first bought season tickets in 2021 and they didn’t list how much of a donation was required to sit in a given section so they just asked how much I would pay for season tickets and they told me the best seats available at that price level. I wasn’t able to make an informed decision because the donation per section wasn’t public knowledge. Now that there’s a chart with all price levels available I think it levels the playing field for everyone interested in buying.

I know that you’re complaining that they list the seat prices at ≈ $500 and then they throw a (usually much higher) donation amount on top of it depending on where you want to sit. I had the same complaint and asked the rep why they don’t just list the tickets at $3000 and be done with it. I was told that a lot of donors/season ticket holders like to see a breakdown of where their money goes and helps them justify their purchase. I don’t really care about all of that, but see how others may appreciate it.
 
#56      
Illini2010-11
Wade9412 said:
I agree with you that the ERA reseating process creates a blind bidding war with a fear mentality. I don’t like it either, but it’s obvious that Illinois Athletics wants as much money as possible. It’s a business and it’s a good strategy on their part. The only downside is that they could anger enough fans to offset the benefits. However, when more money = better teams = happier/more fans = more money it’s hard to fault their reasoning.

I also want to say that I think ERA is way more transparent than what was going on previously. I first bought season tickets in 2021 and they didn’t list how much of a donation was required to sit in a given section so they just asked how much I would pay for season tickets and they told me the best seats available at that price level. I wasn’t able to make an informed decision because the donation per section wasn’t public knowledge. Now that there’s a chart with all price levels available I think it levels the playing field for everyone interested in buying.

I know that you’re complaining that they list the seat prices at ≈ $500 and then they throw a (usually much higher) donation amount on top of it depending on where you want to sit. I had the same complaint and asked the rep why they don’t just list the tickets at $3000 and be done with it. I was told that a lot of donors/season ticket holders like to see a breakdown of where their money goes and helps them justify their purchase. I don’t really care about all of that, but see how others may appreciate it.
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I believe before the most recent tax law change a few years back, all donations to the I-Fund were tax deductible to some extent. At the time, that is probably why they would rather see the major cost go there (they can use the tickets as a partial tax write off). Those incentives are gone now, but at least it still clearly labels where the dollars go (as you mention).
 
#57      
Konnie
I agree that the ERA process is much more transparent than the past process. Now you can easily find the full seat cost, whereas in the past, you would have to call the ticket office to find out the IFUND donation requirement for a particular seat.
 
#58      
grue2
Konnie said:
I agree that the ERA process is much more transparent than the past process. Now you can easily find the full seat cost, whereas in the past, you would have to call the ticket office to find out the IFUND donation requirement for a particular seat.
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From this site, this does not appear to be true. You can find the minimum bid cost for a seat. Nothing guarantees you a seat in that section if you meet the minimum bid.
 
#59      
Konnie
Your statement is true for this year's ticket price, but for the next three years, you will know the exact price of a ticket. Whether any tickets are available at this price from the Illinois ticket office is another matter.
 
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#61      
RandyfromTuscola
pweo said:
I like that I can get 3 tickets together in an area I want without a larger donation. It also lets me know the minimums so I can stop pretending I'll sit in the 100 section
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I'm blown away every year at the cost of the tickets in the upper 100 level that are available. I know there aren't as many seats, but $3399 per ticket (which includes the IFund) is crazy, when you could sit 10 feet back in the 200 level for 1/5 of that. Those seats used to be nice because you got access to the little private lounge that served alcohol before they allowed it throughout the arena, but now the only perk is a slightly shorter bathroom line in that lounge. To each their own for paying for that, but not worth it in my opinion.
 
#62      
Illini2010-11
RandyfromTuscola said:
I'm blown away every year at the cost of the tickets in the upper 100 level that are available. I know there aren't as many seats, but $3399 per ticket (which includes the IFund) is crazy, when you could sit 10 feet back in the 200 level for 1/5 of that. Those seats used to be nice because you got access to the little private lounge that served alcohol before they allowed it throughout the arena, but now the only perk is a slightly shorter bathroom line in that lounge. To each their own for paying for that, but not worth it in my opinion.
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Front few rows of the 200 level are fantastic views, IMO. Sure there may be foot traffic going around the circle, but during game action, it is completely fine.
 
#63      
Konnie
I have sat in rows 10, 11, and 12 of the 200 section. The view is great, but the IFUND donation was a little steep if you sat in the mid-court seats.
 
#65      
RandyfromTuscola
pweo said:
Just got my appointment time
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Me too. Do you know if your priority ranking changed between the original May 2nd deadline and the extended May 9th deadline? Wondering how many people donated more during that week out of concern they would be too low.
 
#66      
pweo
RandyfromTuscola said:
Me too. Do you know if your priority ranking changed between the original May 2nd deadline and the extended May 9th deadline? Wondering how many people donated more during that week out of concern they would be too low.
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Didnt login to check. Info not included in the email. I couldn't find that on the site before either
 
#68      
Konnie
Got mine yesterday as well. It would be interesting to know how my final ranking changed from the email on May 5th. Any guesses on the number of people who select seats each day?
 
#69      
RandyfromTuscola
Konnie said:
Got mine yesterday as well. It would be interesting to know how my final ranking changed from the email on May 5th. Any guesses on the number of people who select seats each day?
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My guess on the seat numbers is around 100 a day, since there are about 3000 season ticket holder accounts from the ranking email and there are about 30-33 days of seat selection.

I asked my rep if he could provide a final ranking update based on the extension and if other donations impacted my spot, and his response was a little vague and basically said the rankings are final, but never shared an update to the rankings. hmmmm.
 
#70      
RenoGray10
RandyfromTuscola said:
My guess on the seat numbers is around 100 a day, since there are about 3000 season ticket holder accounts from the ranking email and there are about 30-33 days of seat selection.

I asked my rep if he could provide a final ranking update based on the extension and if other donations impacted my spot, and his response was a little vague and basically said the rankings are final, but never shared an update to the rankings. hmmmm.
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Ugh! If that’s the case, I’ve dropped quite a bit from my projected day (based on 5/6 email) to current pick day.
 
#72      
pweo
RenoGray10 said:
Ugh! If that’s the case, I’ve dropped quite a bit from my projected day (based on 5/6 email) to current pick day.
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I'd also consider that its tiered based on donation level. They aren't rushing the top donors to make their selection in a 10 minute window
 
#73      
FAR Penthouse
pweo said:
I'd also consider that its tiered based on donation level. They aren't rushing the top donors to make their selection in a 10 minute window
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RandyfromTuscola said:
That and your accumulated priority points for where you stand in that donation level.
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I don't think the extended window made any difference. According to the seat selection process spanning 34 days and there being 3010 donors that's 88.5 people choosing seats per day and based upon the rank they gave me I figured I'd be selecting my seats early on the 15th day, and I am with a 9 am time slot.
 
#74      
RenoGray10
FAR Penthouse said:
I don't think the extended window made any difference. According to the seat selection process spanning 34 days and there being 3010 donors that's 88.5 people choosing seats per day and based upon the rank they gave me I figured I'd be selecting my seats early on the 15th day, and I am with a 9 am time slot.
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I asked my rep. The first few days, donors are choosing every 15 minutes. Then it goes to every 5 minutes.
 
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