SF Chronicle: Keep your seats? A donation, please

Policy riles Cal, Stanford fans

Jake Curtis, Chronicle Staff Writer

Gordon Briggs has been going to Cal home football games for 30 years, and plans to go to Tennessee for the Bears' opener against the Vols. "But," he said, "I will not go to another game at (Cal's) Memorial Stadium."   He considers himself a victim of Cal's decision to enforce an existing policy that requires a donation to the Cal athletic department to renew season-ticket purchases in priority locations.  All the Pac-10 schools except Stanford had similar policies requiring donations for the prime seats, and Stanford made it unanimous this year by initiating a priority season-ticket plan for donors with the opening of its new, smaller 50,000-seat stadium. The Cardinal have had a few negative responses, too, but quelled most of them when Stanford modified its parking plan to accommodate some of the longtime season-ticket holders who are not eligible for priority seating.  At Stanford, the donors' priority section makes up only about 5 percent of the total seating, which is based on studies of what the market would bear, according to interim Stanford athletic director Bill Walsh.

At Cal, nearly all the seats between the 10-yard lines are either priority seating or student seating.   When demand for season tickets at Cal waned a few years ago, existing season-ticket holders were allowed to retain the same seats upon renewal without additional donations, even though the policy stated otherwise. Now Cal is winning, the demand has risen and Cal has two major projects to fund: construction of an education- and athletic-facilities center, and the renovation of Memorial Stadium.  Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour seems to have a greater concern about the reaction when the stadium renovation is completed, because about 10,000 seats will be lost and reconfiguring seating to the satisfaction of season-ticket holders will be a challenge.  Barbour says reaction to Cal's decision to enforce priority-seating rules has been minimal, although she realizes some dissatisfaction is inevitable, especially from longtime season-ticket holders.  "It's unfortunate, but this is one of the realities," she said.

Season-ticket prices rose from $235 last year to $317 this season, with another $50 added to each season-ticket price this year as a stadium-renovation fee.  Cal director of marketing and sales Matt Terwilliger says Cal expects to break the school record of 40,134 season tickets sold last year (up from 16,000 in Jeff Tedford's first season in 2002). Terwilliger said only about 150 people have decided not to renew their season tickets and only a handful of them cited increased cost as the reason. The demand for the priority seating, with seat location based on contribution levels of $6,800 to $400, has remained constant, Terwilliger said.

Briggs, who lives in Glendale, Ariz., was given a reduced donation requirement to retain his seats based on his years as a season-ticket holder, but he does not like the idea of requiring donations, something he believes should be voluntary. He decided not to renew rather than accept seats in a less desirable section.  "People say this is the way it is now," Briggs said. "Maybe it is, but we're losing sight of some of the loyalty issues and maybe they're more important than dollars."  Season-ticket holder Irene Miura, a former president of the Cal Alumni Association and former member of the UC Board of Regents, appreciates that sentiment, but agrees that most supporters have been understanding.  "The bottom line is, they need the money," she said. "The state can't provide it, and it should come from the people who use (the football stadium)."  Alan Burns renewed his season tickets at Stanford, but said this might be the last time. He compared the priority seating based on donations to the seat licensing instituted for Raiders games.  "It's highway robbery," he said.  About three-quarters of Stanford's priority season tickets, based on contributions at the $1,000, $2,000 and $5,000 levels, have been sold, including all 22 of the skyboxes for the elite contributors. Overall, Stanford has sold about 19,000 season tickets, an increase of more than 50 percent over this time last year. Modest season-ticket price increases have been countered by the decision to offer students free tickets and faculty and staff reduced-price tickets.

Some of the complaints of longtime Stanford season-ticket holder Adrian Springer were relieved when Stanford reconfigured the parking allotment in response to complaints. Still, he does not like the commercial aspect of the priority-ticketing approach.  "It's like not having Santa Claus one year," he said. "Whenever you change tradition, that raises everyone's ire, especially if it's for commercial reasons."