Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

8/11/2010 at 3:01pm

There's been every indication, including a recent public relations release comparing University of Arkansas donation levels to its peers, that the Arkansas Athletic Department would implement a new priority ticket plan for the 2011 football season. The news came via mail Wednesday to Little Rock donors to the Razorback Foundation, apparently catching Fayetteville-based UA officials by surprise, since a press conference wasn't planned until Thursday.

The Fayetteville press conference was quickly reslated for Wednesday afternoon, introducing the rest of the state to what Little Rock fans are learning through the mailing: the UA's new Razorback Seat Value Plan, or RSVP for short.

In the NFL, it's known as a seat license. It's a way to keep the ticket price for games appearing reasonable (if $55 for Louisiana-Monroe vs. Arkansas in Little Rock is "reasonable" in your book) while providing an additional creative way to charge for that seat, to put more value on it than just the ticket price. RSVP, as the mailing says, is "not a reseating of the Razorback football stadiums." You can have the same seats you've always had, if you pay what is required. In some cases, fans may already be paying what's required, and then some, for those seats.

The way Arkansas explains it in its mailing, the purpose of RSVP "is to give our student-athletes the resources they need to be successful and ensure we are doing everything possible to be successful within the SEC and nationally. This unique plan for Arkansas fans will reward loyalty and ensure growth."

For some, maybe even many Razorback fans who have been donating to the Razorback Foundation for decades, the new guidelines for keeping the same seats and having a parking pass near the stadium won't cause a stir.

For the average fans and most especially the little guy who spends limited discretionary income on his Hogs, it could force some tough choices to be made.

UA Athletic Director Jeff Long and officials in the Athletic Department's funding arm, the Razorback Foundation, are banking on that decision in the many homes across the state to continue to be: "Go Razorbacks! Here's our money."

The university, beginning Wednesday, is distributing a 24-page (counting front and back cover) 8-by-11 pamphlet and accompanying DVD to spell out the changes and implore Razorback fans to understand that competing in the Southeastern Conference and with other Bowl Championship Series athletic programs will require more money being pulled from fans' pockets.

It can't be done by raising the ticket prices alone. It requires the additional donation to the Foundation to hold onto those same familiar seats year after year. The good news for fans, spelled out in bold type to stand out on page 6 of the pamphlet, is: "Ticket prices in 2011 will remain the same as 2010."

And, if you look deeper into the mailer in the frequently-asked-questions section, this new priority alignment will hold firm at least until the 2014 season.

The bottom line is that, according to UA research that was illustrated in a recent mailout, Arkansas ranks LAST among the SEC schools and compared with other major powers in the donation amount required to secure one 50-yard line seat: $150. This latest pamphlet says that fans of Texas A&M are required to pay $3,500 per seat for the right to buy 50-yard line tickets. Vanderbilt is just ahead of Arkansas on the list, requiring a $325 donation per seat. Alabama tops the SEC at $1,300 per 50-yard line seat, ahead of Tennessee's $1,250 per seat.

It may only require $150 per seat at Arkansas, but we're told only a small percentage of fans between the 40-yard lines pay that little, mainly because their families have given a large amount of money to the Foundation for many years. Mostly, you're going to find Broyles-Matthews and other high-level fund donors in the prime seats.

Don't forget, too, that many Razorback fans consider skyboxes more plush than 50-yard line seats and choose to spend their big bucks that way. Arkansas has many more skyboxes than the typical BCS football program.

I can testify to one fan who annually pays $125 per seat to the Razorback Foundation, based on a $500 donation annually, for seats on about the 5-yard line at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. But it would have taken that fan a significantly larger donation to move to even a screen-pass' distance from the 50.

No matter, Arkansas is committed now. The cat, and the news, is out of the bag. One has to believe that everyone in the UA Athletic Department is hoping beyond hope that bad luck, injuries and just a lack of talent in key positions don't cause this fall's football Razorbacks to repeat last year's 7-5 regular season record. Or worse. It's hard to imagine hordes of fans wanting to nearly double-up donations in early 2011 for a program coming off another minor bowl appearance. But timing also didn't allow Arkansas to unveil this plan after a sensational season, either. Arkansas expects commitments from fans to the new priority by March 1.

Since Jeff Long arrived at the start of 2008, the call to fans has been that if Arkansas is going to play with the big boys of the SEC, the fans will have to pay for it. Head coaches who command $3 million a year, plus assistant coaches who inch ever closer to $1 million per year, and the costs entailed in recruiting the best athletes -- all that puts a big dent in a medium-sized athletic budget. Facilities that look good on the outside but need interior renovation and regular maintenance also require much of that funding.

Long also believes the UA campus requires expenditures in the study-hall and educational end of things to attract better athletes.

And it's not all about football. The price tag is on football support because, as is true at every college, football is the golden goose for every athletic department to fund its men's and women's sports. Basketball is next in bringing home revenue, and nowhere near football's level; but, after that, most sports on every campus operate at a negative. Football pays for them -- for the facility improvements, the coaching, the scholarships.

As for football and its cost at Fayetteville, Arkansas has fought an uphill battle to return to Top 20 prominence, especially since joining the SEC in 1992. Despite being a small and relative poor state, however, Hog football has glorious moments, and it has a devoted fan base. In the past, the Razorbacks have relied on a handful of huge donors along with a funding program put in place in the early 1970s that asked the rest of the state to contribute $25 to $5,000 to allow Hog athletics to function on the same level as Texas or Alabama or Florida.

At present, Arkansas has a middle-of-the-road athletic budget of $60 million, according to UA figures. Surprisingly, Arkansas -- from a survey it conducted of all the league schools -- has more individual donors than does Tennessee or Kentucky, but its current fund total of $11.8 million and its annual athletic budget both rank ninth in the SEC, ahead of only Vandy, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

Arkansas' seating change may be attractive to the young fan who has been ponying up every year but has been stuck sitting on the 15-yard line and wants a better seat location. However, we can't imagine a large increase in required annual giving drawing a great many more fans than who already contribute. That means Arkansas officials have to sell the "we have to raise more money to compete" mantra to the fans who might be teetering and can't stay on the ship.

Based on four options on page 8 of the pamphlet -- keep seats, upgrade, relocate or forfeit the seats -- UA officials are braced for some to bail when they see the new donation levels. With thanks for past support, the Hogs "hope you will join us in the future," it says. The fact is that the price to watch Arkansas football in person, compared with big-time programs, is one of the least expensive in the country.

My friend of average income, though, will see his $125-per-seat donation - in which he gets four seats high up in the lower level on the 5-yard line - jump to $200 a seat in Fayetteville. If Arkansas in a given year plays five games in Fayetteville at $55 per ticket, in essence it's really $95 per ticket (adding one-fifth of the seat value price to the per-game ticket price). That's reasonable, perhaps, for the Tennessee or Auburn games in 2011; even at the discounted $45 per ticket for nonconference opponents, though, it seems like a gouging for the likes of some Division II team. UA officials hope you don't break it down quite as definitively per game as I did.

The minimum donation to also obtain a parking pass in Fayetteville will rise to $750. Fair, considering we know a handful of folks who pay next to nothing to park next to the stadium, while we've had a mile or more walk even from another "scholarship" lot that is part of a donation.

One interesting section of the 24-page pamphlet includes examples that would apply to different donor scenarios and how their previous level of giving is affected by the changes coming in 2011. One that caught our eye was this:

Example 5

* Dennis is a Big Red [level donor] and donates $100 to the football annual fund.

* Dennis has 4 seats in the Red Zone.

* Dennis now has a 2011 seat value of $600.

* Dennis now owes an additional $500 to keep all of his current seats.

A line we could add is: Dennis has just decided to hold onto that $500 and spend on a large flat-screen TV so he can sit in his easy chair and watch the games from the comfort of his den.

Tagged: Jim Harris, Jeff Long