2019 Seat contribution announced

Submitted by xgojim on December 13th, 2018 at 9:25 AM

Yesterday I called the Athletic Department since we had not heard about seat contribution details for next season -- the amount due and the deadline.  Had to leave a voice message (and have not yet received a voice reply).  However, I found it very ironic that late in the day I received the following email message from Warde Manual (no doubt along with everyone else who contributed this year and perhaps years past):

Dear Season Ticket Holder,

Thank you for your continued support of Michigan Athletics as a football season ticket holder and donor. Your support played a critical role in a fantastic 10-win season and #7 ranking. We’re looking forward to seeing many of you in Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on December 29th and cheering on this fine group of student-athletes one more time.

In addition to your support on gameday, your financial commitment to our 900 student-athletes across 29 programs provides nearly 20 percent of our annual operating budget, providing resources to our student-athletes such as scholarships, academic services, and access to the top-of-the-line facilities.

At the close of 2017, a federal tax law was passed impacting the Preferred Seat Donation program. As we communicated back in December of 2017, one of the changes from this bill (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) was ending the ability to deduct 80 percent of charitable contributions attached to the purchase of season tickets, or in our case specifically, the Preferred Seat Donation program. In light of the new legislation, the program will continue as it has in years past and will now be referred to as a Preferred Seat Contribution (PSC).

You may now log in and pay your 2019 football Preferred Seat Contribution by the deadline of January 31, 2019 at mgoblue.com/psc. New, beginning in 2019, PSC renewals for Men’s Basketball and Ice Hockey will now take place later this spring and will be due by May 31. Donors who make their football Preferred Seat Contribution(s) by the deadline will be able to renew their season tickets beginning March 16.

When you log in, you will notice that PSC’s have increased slightly from 2018. The increase ranges from 2.5 to 5.5 percent depending upon seat location. Season tickets will also be increasing for 2019 by approximately five percent. Please know that Michigan Athletics is committed to keeping PSC’s and season tickets at this level for both 2019 and 2020.

These increases have been made in an effort to maintain our status as a leader in college athletics by supporting our student-athletes in the most comprehensive ways and continuing our tradition of financial stability. For more information and the full PSC and season ticket pricing structure, please visit: 2019 Preferred Seat Contribution Information.

As a department we are responsible for paying all costs associated with the athletics scholarships, which will total more than $27 million in 2018/19. Michigan is proud to be one of just a handful of financially self-sustaining departments in the country. We do not draw funds from the University’s general fund or from the state of Michigan. This level of stability would not be possible without the success of the PSC program.

The impact of your investment through the PSC is wide ranging and will continue to be the cornerstone upon which the success of our student-athletes rests by providing the resources to produce champions on and off of the fields of play.

Thank you in advance for your continued investment in the success of Michigan Athletics. Wishing you a Happy Holiday and a fantastic 2019.

You can download a brochure that explains the detals.  The bottom line:  there are five "regular" seat areas (not including the student area in the northwest quadrant of the stadium) and amounts such as $660 (Victors, 50 yd line +/-), $525 (Valiant, prox between 15-30 yd lines), $390 (Maize, bet goal-15 yd lines), Blue ($220, corners), and End zone ($80).  Club seats vary from $1400-$4000 each and suites from $60K to $90K.

The deadline is January 31.  Check your email for the links you need to get this done!

IncrediblySTIFF

December 14th, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^

yes, I am `fine` with 10-2
I am also `fine` with not winning the conference (again)
I am also `fine` with losing to OSU (again)

It's not like I have an ability to change the above, so I have no choice but to be `fine` with it.

Call me an idiot, but damn you, you take those words back on being a Buckeye fan


I agree with your above that I wouldn't describe this season 'fantastic', but it is a lot closer to fantastic than it is to ordinary.  Win one more game and we are in the playoffs (likely doesn't matter which game, I think an 11-1 team that loses on the road to OSU is still in)

Smegmatic Blue

December 13th, 2018 at 10:38 AM ^

The only two losses were to Top5 teams on the road. Before Ohio State, people on this board were positively giddy about the team.

It was a fantastic season, regardless of what the trolls convince you.

Don

December 13th, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^

"It was a fantastic season, regardless of what the trolls convince you."

Calling a season that opened with a very disappointing loss to ND (a game that the vast majority of MGoBloggers predicted we would win) and closed with an embarrassing ass-kicking by OSU (again, a game that the vast majority of MGoBloggers predicted we would win) "fantastic" basically drains that adjective of any real meaning.

Was it a very good season? Yes, by any objective measure overall. Excellent, even? Fine, but for any Michigan fan to assert that a season with losses to 2 of our 3 most important rivals is "fantastic" is a little desperate.

UM Fan from Sydney

December 13th, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^

1) I am not a troll.

2) If fantastic is finishing by losing to OSU (for the 7th year in a row) 62-39, then I cannot help you. I'm sorry if my standards are higher than yours. Please allow me to apologize for expecting greatness. I'm sorry that I'm pissed about the constant losing to OSU. I'm sorry that I am sick to fucking death of seeing OSU so good, winning the Big Ten every other year, and constantly beating us, twice in blowouts during Jim's tenure. I'm sorry that annoys me.

crg

December 13th, 2018 at 3:13 PM ^

"1) I am not a troll."

This is exactly what a troll would say!  We're on to you, buddy.  You, think you know we don't know, but we KNOW that you think we don't know.  In fact, we want you to know that we know that you think we don't know, you know.

Wolverine Devotee

December 13th, 2018 at 1:38 PM ^

Think of how much of a whiny cock you'd be if we had lost to MSU, Wisconsin or PSU.

It's called be thankful for what you did do. 

People on here expected 8-4, 9-3 before the season. We know the last game sucked. No need to continue to beat on about it unless you're just being a cock to be a cock. 

Bodogblog

December 13th, 2018 at 9:44 AM ^

And here we thought they'd be decreasing the PSD - sorry, PSC - because it's no longer tax deductible.  I wonder if this will affect the club and suite sales.  It's got to, right? 

Smegmatic Blue

December 13th, 2018 at 10:42 AM ^

I honestly doubt the suites will have any fewer people in them for this upcoming year. Maybe there will be fewer season ticket holders, but with a schedule with ND, MSU, and OSU at home I doubt too many would cancel unless they are already strapped for cash.

what would Bo do

December 13th, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^

Just paid mine for next year.

Not to thread jack, but I do have a question.  I graduated last May as I got my season tickets (had gotten student tickets prior) for the first time.  My priority points for being an alumnus haven't been added yet.  Does anyone know who I would email about getting them added?  Thanks.

ak47

December 13th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^

Why do people think it would have gone down? The costs of the AD aren't dropping due to the tax law. If less people pay it and they have to drop it that would mean having to trim their budget. While obviously most people would be perfectly happy with that there is no way the AD was going to tighten its belt and trim people without being forced to, and since they still sell out they aren't being forced to.

1VaBlue1

December 13th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^

"If less people pay it and they have to drop it that would mean having to trim their budget."

LOL!!!  The AD brings in over $50M from the BTN contract, alone.  They hide that money all over the campus in the name of facility upgrades, and transfer it into some form of non-taxable funds to hide what's left over from total revenue.  They aren't hurting for money and would not have to tighten any belts if a few thousand ticket holders decided not to pay the PSC.  The AD would somehow break even once again.

It's amazing how well budgeted AD's are across the country...

Section 1.8

December 13th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^

They don't "hide" the money coming into the Athletic Department from television contracts.  First, that money goes to the Big Ten Conference, where it is publicly accounted for.  Then, Michigan's share is publicly accounted for by the Regents in a public budget.

Michigan Athletic Department revenues aren't "hidden," and in fact the revenue shared from the Conference is less than the amount taken in from the combination of ticket sales and seat license donations.  It is a lot of revenue, but it barely covers the fast-rising costs of operating the Athletic Department including the forced distribution of money to fund the non-revenue sports mandated by Title IX.

The people who aren't taking seriously all of these price increases, and the rising costs of operating the Athletic Department, and the forced distribution of revenue-sport money to non-revenue sports, are the people who are watching Michigan football and basketball on tv for free, and aren't part of the backbone of financial support for Michigan sports.

 

Section 1.8

December 13th, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^

I think it is obvious where the football/basketball revenue goes.

First, it goes to multimillion-dollar coaching salaries and contract buyouts.  It is possible to FOIA all of those contracts.

Next, it goes to the operations of the non-revenue sports.  See, Title IX.  Don't ask Wolverine Devotee about it; I don't think he'd be helpful.

After that, it goes to the ever-increasing costs of running the revenue sports themselves.  Coaches that used to crisscross the Midwest on recruiting trips in their cars are now flying on private jets.  Insurance, administration; all of the costs are going up.  And of those costs, I think that the one that keeps going up most rapidly is the tuition of the scholarship athletes which the Athletic Department pays, to the general fund of the University.

There is suspicion, I gather, about all of the impressive capital structures on the Athletic Campus.  A completely renovated baseball complex; a softball stadium; a soccer stadium; a field hockey field.  Let me tell those of you who don't understand University fundraising something about how it works.  If you want to, say, build a new golf course clubhouse, it is pretty easy.  At an Alumni cocktail party in West Palm Beach or Boca Grande or Pacific Palisades or Bloomfield Hills, you start a discussion about the project.  And pretty soon, there will be telephone discussions about how much is needed, and whose name will go on the building and how big the letters will be.

But if you need money to pay the jet fuel bill, or the insurance bill, or the salaries and the pension benefits of the secretaries on South State, there won't be any telephone calls.  Nobody can put their name on that.  And while there are (thankfully) a few named scholarships for student-athletes, they are but a drop in that bucket.  Ditto the tiny handful of endowed positions (Head Football Coach, Athletic Director, etc.) within the Department.

In general, our Athletic Department only functions as it does because of the generosity of alumni/donors who support it through restricted giving, unrestricted giving, PSC's and season ticket purchases.  Shared money from the Conference is considerable, but it is far less than what I just mentioned.  Sales of the infamous hot dogs, bottled water, whatever, are virtually inconsequential.  And sales of licensed apparel and such might be the most overrated source of revenue in the entire department. 

If anybody from MGoBlog was interested in some journalism-type substances, it would be a great service to sit down with a few people from the Department and detail all of this in a recorded interview.

 

IncrediblySTIFF

December 13th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^

i thought by now people would have started getting over themselves. it's horrible

 

We are all disappointed in the outcome of the last game and I would have a hard time describing any season we lose to OSU as "fantastic"; if we win 10 games a every season it's only a matter of time before the chips will fall our way for an entire season