Seating in TCF question

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MNSpaniel

MNSpaniel

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I've formed a partnership with a friend on season tickets for the TCF Gopher stadium. His parents don't want the tickets anymore and we are going to pay for the tickets in their name. They have been season ticket holders forever and would qualify for just about any seats. We don't have the money to pay for the higher priced seats so we are debating over a couple of sections.

I'll have a link below of the stadium so you can look. We are debating the gray area in front of section 142 or 139 on the home side. That costs $200 extra for the two tickets. We were wondering if anyone knew if we ended up down there if the seats are high enough up that the players wouldn't block the view of the game. We are also looking at the 142 to 139 yellow section which would cost an extra $500 for the two seats.

http://stadium.gophersports.com/stadium_map.html

Once we choose we will most likely be there for a lot of years and not get to move around. So we want to make a good choice. Also, how many home games are there a year. I'm new to having a chance at tickets like this and don't know for sure how many home games we have each year. Do we always have the same amount of home games each year? So any info Gopherholers can give me would be greatly appreciated. :D
 


Your priority will always be what it is. If you do not like your seats after year one, you will still have the same priority to push other less endowed people out of their seats. I don't think you will have a thing to worry about in the medium run.
 

I don't think that if somebody has more points that they can simply "push" you out of your seats down the road. There is no way that will happen.
 

His parents could transfer the tix to him too if he wanted...

MNSpaniel said:
I've formed a partnership with a friend on season tickets for the TCF Gopher stadium. His parents don't want the tickets anymore and we are going to pay for the tickets in their name.
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FYI, his parents can transfer the tickets to him. However, this could affect the # of Gopher Points and might not be a good idea depending on their history of giving to the U. The only points that would transfer would be the Loyalty Points. Financial Points (for money given to the Stadium Fund, Athletics, and the U's General Fund) and Affinity Points (for UM grads/letterwinners) would not transfer.

I wanted to include a screenshot of this from the Gopher Points page but it is down right now. I took this info from the Gopher Points mailer that was sent out in November to season ticket holders.
 


Exactly. If you wanted to 'back up' into lesser value seats and someone with lower point totals wanted those as well, you would get them. You can't kick others out of their seats though. That is ridiculous.
 

Goldy74s said:
Your priority will always be what it is. If you do not like your seats after year one, you will still have the same priority to push other less endowed people out of their seats. I don't think you will have a thing to worry about in the medium run.
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Yea, I'm pretty sure that isn't how it is going to work overall. The Gopher Points system was to help determine the order of picks for TCF year one. I'm sure it will be continued as a way to give priority to other things but I don't think it will continue in its current form (i.e. pick new seats every year).
 

I'm sorry, but if he takes seats in section X in his first year and wants to move to section D in year two, where are they going to put him? They are going to put him with those people in that section who have the same number of points he has.

I sat at the 50 for a few years by paying extra. When I stopped paying extra they put me back to where I would have been had I never paid extra. Where else? I didn't lose any seniority while I was paying extra, I just kept gaining seniority one year at a time.
 

Goldy74s said:
I'm sorry, but if he takes seats in section X in his first year and wants to move to section D in year two, where are they going to put him? They are going to put him with those people in that section who have the same number of points he has.

I sat at the 50 for a few years by paying extra. When I stopped paying extra they put me back to where I would have been had I never paid extra. Where else?
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If there are open/available seats. **Completely fictional example ** If he's in Section 101 Row 2 Seats 3-4 and doesn't like them. He wants to move to Section 120 Row 20 Seats 1-2, but I am in those and do not plan on moving. You think he gets to kick me out of my seats that I already have?! I really don't think so. Lets say I upgrade to Section 120 Row 10 Seats 1-2, now my OLD seats are available and he can have them. If there is availability, you can move. No availability, no move.
 



biggieb45 said:
If there are open/available seats. **Completely fictional example ** If he's in Section 101 Row 2 Seats 3-4 and doesn't like them. He wants to move to Section 120 Row 20 Seats 1-2, but I am in those and do not plan on moving. You think he gets to kick me out of my seats that I already have?! I really don't think so. Lets say I upgrade to Section 120 Row 10 Seats 1-2, now my OLD seats are available and he can have them. If there is availability, you can move. No availability, no move.
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Exactly! So choose wisely as you won't be able to move for some time.
 

Transfering the ownership of seats

MNSpaniel said:
I've formed a partnership with a friend on season tickets for the TCF Gopher stadium. His parents don't want the tickets anymore and we are going to pay for the tickets in their name. They have been season ticket holders forever and would qualify for just about any seats. We don't have the money to pay for the higher priced seats so we are debating over a couple of sections.

I'll have a link below of the stadium so you can look. We are debating the gray area in front of section 142 or 139 on the home side. That costs $200 extra for the two tickets. We were wondering if anyone knew if we ended up down there if the seats are high enough up that the players wouldn't block the view of the game. We are also looking at the 142 to 139 yellow section which would cost an extra $500 for the two seats.

http://stadium.gophersports.com/stadium_map.html

Once we choose we will most likely be there for a lot of years and not get to move around. So we want to make a good choice. Also, how many home games are there a year. I'm new to having a chance at tickets like this and don't know for sure how many home games we have each year. Do we always have the same amount of home games each year? So any info Gopherholers can give me would be greatly appreciated. :D
Click to expand...

In the new stadium you can transfer to otherfamily members. dI suggest that the parents get the seats (you pay them for the tickets) and then after one year have the seats transfered to your name.
 

Thanks for info

Thanks for the info so far. I didn't know nor did my friend know about passing the tickets on to family members.

Does anyone know the view in those seats would be obstructed by players standing on the sidelines. Also, is the back row of the first deck actually very far from the field. It looks rather close on the virtual view. Thanks again!
 

Once the seat selection process begins (March-April-May) this year they will launch an additional web site that allows you to preview the view from any actual seat in the stadium before you select. Not sure if it will be advanced as the Twins' system which allows you to take the sun at different times of day/months of the year into account, but it won't simply be 5-10 pictures like they do with the Metrodome now.
 



Let's say I just want basic tickets. How much of a jump is there going to be from the $250 our seats cost last year? Any idea?
 

The base price stays the same, if I recall correctly.

We have moved our seats three times over the years and have always been told we will sit with our priority peers. I would agree that would take into account those who wish to stay where they are, but there are always openings in each "year of priority" (ie, people die or do not renew).
 


No re-seating annually

The comments above are correct. Once you select your seats, those seats are yours for the foreseeable future as long as you pay for them and make the required annual donation, if any. I recall in the literature that there is no plan to do a "re-seating" at TCF, but there is no assurance that there will never be one. In other words, it will probably happen at some time, but it's likely ten years away or more. If you want to change your seats, your point total will determine when they ask you where you want to go, but you will only be able to select available seats.

As to the face price on the tickets, that will stay the same and probably not increase much for quite awhile. A significant motivating factor in the structure of the pricing plan at TCF is that the revenue for ticket sales (i.e. face price) is shared revenue in the Big Ten, but the schools get to keep the "donations" that accompany the preferred seats.
 

MNSpaniel said:
Thanks for the info so far. I didn't know nor did my friend know about passing the tickets on to family members.

Does anyone know the view in those seats would be obstructed by players standing on the sidelines. Also, is the back row of the first deck actually very far from the field. It looks rather close on the virtual view. Thanks again!
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I'd be extremely surprised if there were any obstructed views. They planned this stadium down to a T.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
The comments above are correct. Once you select your seats, those seats are yours for the foreseeable future as long as you pay for them and make the required annual donation, if any. I recall in the literature that there is no plan to do a "re-seating" at TCF, but there is no assurance that there will never be one. In other words, it will probably happen at some time, but it's likely ten years away or more. If you want to change your seats, your point total will determine when they ask you where you want to go, but you will only be able to select available seats.

As to the face price on the tickets, that will stay the same and probably not increase much for quite awhile. A significant motivating factor in the structure of the pricing plan at TCF is that the revenue for ticket sales (i.e. face price) is shared revenue in the Big Ten, but the schools get to keep the "donations" that accompany the preferred seats.
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Excuse me while I quibble here. You have had two season tickets for twenty one years. You pay $5,000 extra each to upgrade your seats in the new TCF. As the second TCF season approaches and it is time to renew your seats, you decide not to pay the extra at all. You request to be moved back with the other 22 year season ticket slugs.

Where are they going to put you? Let me guess, in the best available seats not taken by folks with more money or more seniority or more 'points'. The notion that any 15 year season ticket holder with no money is going to have better seats than you is false.

View the whole stadium as a color coded palate with seats by seniority enhanced by cash and you will always see the 21 year people sitting in better seats than the 15 year people (adjusted by cash and other 'points').

The young man above asked some simple questions and it would be a disservice to him to pretend he will not be able to move his seats with great ease and without any loss of 'rights'. If they don't get it right the first year he wants to move they will get it right the second year. They have done that for me three times now.
 

You've done that in a stadium that didn't have every seat available allotted to season-ticket holders. Things may be handled differently in TCF.
 

Ticket Transfer

Rog said:
In the new stadium you can transfer to otherfamily members. dI suggest that the parents get the seats (you pay them for the tickets) and then after one year have the seats transfered to your name.
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I would go one step further and just put them in your kids name (if you have one) and continue to pay for them. Skip a whole generation, as I believe you only get to transfer them once
 

Goldy74s said:
Excuse me while I quibble here. You have had two season tickets for twenty one years. You pay $5,000 extra each to upgrade your seats in the new TCF. As the second TCF season approaches and it is time to renew your seats, you decide not to pay the extra at all. You request to be moved back with the other 22 year season ticket slugs.

Where are they going to put you? Let me guess, in the best available seats not taken by folks with more money or more seniority or more 'points'. The notion that any 15 year season ticket holder with no money is going to have better seats than you is false.

View the whole stadium as a color coded palate with seats by seniority enhanced by cash and you will always see the 21 year people sitting in better seats than the 15 year people (adjusted by cash and other 'points').

The young man above asked some simple questions and it would be a disservice to him to pretend he will not be able to move his seats with great ease and without any loss of 'rights'. If they don't get it right the first year he wants to move they will get it right the second year. They have done that for me three times now.
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You did that in a half full Metrodome, not a completely sold out TCF Bank Stadium. BIG difference.
 

My $.02 - After the first year in TCF, they will take all requests to change seats for 2010. They will then allocate these requests by Gopher point totals. However, there is no way that they are going to move people out of their seats because a long time ticket holder now decided not to pay the seat license fee.

As I understand it, Gopher points are designed to help initially assign seats in TCF (possibly another re-shuffle down the road) and allocate vacated seats each year. They are not used to reallocate occupied seats each year.
 

Yes, I am assuming that season tickets at TCF will not be like Notre Dame season tickets after the first year. As always, I hope I am wrong about reality once again.
 

74 must be your age rather than your year of graduation. Once seats are assigned and paid for - no season ticket holder can be bumped by a season ticket holder with more points/seniority as long as you renew and pay for the tickets on time every year. No other season ticket holder will ever be able to take them away from you unless the U decides to reallocate seats at some time in the future. That is the way it worked in the Hump and that is the way it will work in the new Gopher Statium. If a season ticketholder with Preferred or Premium Seats decides to give them up in favor of less expensive seats, they will only be able to get seats that have been vacated by other ticketholders (provided they have enough points). If there are no vacant seats available, you will either have to keep your high buck seats or watch the games on TV.
 

MNSpaniel - Here is the official answer from the Gopher Point site regarding the question "Is my seating location in TCF Bank Stadium guaranteed forever?

"No. Beyond the initial seating of TCF Bank Stadium, there are no plans in place to reallocate the stadium in the future. However, there is no guarantee that your seats will remain in the same location forever. In general, as long as you renew your season tickets on time and are current with any Preferred Seating donation amounts, you will retain your location from year to year."

Goldy74s - Does this jive with your view of reality?
 

Yes. What would not jive with my view of reality would be for a 21 year veteran to stop paying extra and then be refused seats in the stadium. Won't happen. Same with the 10 veterans, etc.
 

Not that it is going to happen at any day soon, but if someday the team is lights out good and fan interest explodes, people will be paying bonus money and will force veterans of two, three and four years right out the door. There would be no end to that trend, especially under Maturi. Money talks, loyalty would walk or get booted out. Hypothetical only at this point.

My brother in law bought season tickets to the Chicago Bulls only the last three years M Jordan played. Who's seats did he get?
 

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