BATON ROUGE — To help ensure the future of the LSU Athletics program, LSU announced on Wednesday a proposal to generate new revenue by creating a contribution plan for the right to purchase football tickets in Tiger Stadium.
LSU is proposing a three-part plan that would be effective with the 2004 season. The plan would enable LSU Athletics to invest in capital improvements to its facilities and help stabilize its financial operations.
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| LSU football coach Nick Saban at Wednesday’s press conference |
The three-part plan includes folding current surcharges into a single price for all tickets in Tiger Stadium, the establishment of a Preferred Seating Program to generate new revenue, and the utilization of lease agreements to facilitate construction and renovation of athletics facilities. The plan is subject to the approval of the LSU Board of Supervisors.
“Today LSU is taking an important and essential step to protect and to enhance the future of our athletics program,” said LSU athletics director Skip Bertman. “This plan will keep LSU competitive with other top Division I-A programs that implemented similar programs many years ago.
“This plan will enable us to invest in our athletics facilities and put us on stable financial footing for the remainder of this decade,” Bertman said. “It will allow us to take the necessary measures to keep LSU among the great athletics programs in the nation for many years to come.”
The linchpin of the plan is a Preferred Seating Program that would establish an Athletics Contribution on 45,197 seats in Tiger Stadium, with a higher contribution required on seats nearest the 50 yard line. The amount of the contribution, an annual obligation separate from and in addition to the full price of admission printed on the face of the ticket, would be scaled according to the best seats in the stadium and could be partially tax deductible to the season ticket holder.
The Preferred Seating Program would generate approximately $7.5 million more per year for the LSU Athletics program to be used for construction, renovation and maintenance of athletics facilities, and for financing the athletics program on an annual basis. As part of the plan, the athletics department would dedicate $500,000 annually to the repair of academic facilities on the LSU campus.
“This is an important and critical plan, not only for our athletics program, but for the entire University,” said LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert. “LSU is committed to using no state tax money and no University academic funds for the operation of its athletics program and the construction of athletics facilities. This plan will ensure that all state funding that comes to LSU will continue to be dedicated to the academic mission of the University.”
ATHLETICS FACILITIES
Of LSU’s nine major athletics competition facilities, six are more than a quarter of a century old. Compared to investments made by other Southeastern Conference schools, many of which have spent millions of dollars on facility upgrades since the early to mid 1990s, LSU’s capital construction has been relatively sparse since the original construction of the west side expansion of Tiger Stadium in 1979.
The Preferred Seating Program would enable LSU to generate new revenue necessary to make a significant investment in its athletics physical plant.
Planned improvements would include the renovation of the west side of Tiger Stadium, improvement of fan enjoyment elements throughout Tiger Stadium, construction of a stand-alone football operations center and the renovation of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU would also develop a plan for the future of Alex Box Stadium, Tiger Softball Park, the LSU Natatorium and other LSU athletics facilities.
The renovation of the west side of Tiger Stadium would include over 3,200 club seats and a new press box. Proposed improvements to the fan enjoyment elements in Tiger Stadium would include maintenance and repairs of all restrooms, repair and replacement of seats, cleaning, painting, and waterproofing of the 79-year old stadium to prevent leakage, replacement of the playing field and new entranceways by the opening game of the 2005 season.
“We’re going to take the measures necessary to make Tiger Stadium more fan-friendly and to make this venerable and historic stadium a viable home for Tiger football for many years to come,” Bertman said.
To facilitate the Tiger Stadium renovations and the construction of the football operations center, LSU would enter into lease agreements with the Tiger Athletic Foundation, similar to the one that enabled LSU to successfully expand the east side of Tiger Stadium in 2000.
ATHLETICS CONTRIBUTIONS
The new Athletics Contribution for seats in the bowl of Tiger Stadium would be $400 per seat annually for the right to purchase sideline seats between the 25 yard lines, $350 for the right to purchase sideline seats outside the 25 yard lines, $100 for the right to purchase sideline field box seats, and $85 for the right to purchase end zone seats.
West upper deck chairback seats during the 2004 season will require an annual per seat $150 contribution between the 25 yard lines and $85 outside the 25 yard lines for the right to purchase those tickets. There will be no contribution required for the right to purchase non-chairback seats in the west upper deck. There are over 5,700 non-chairback seats in the west upper deck.
The renovation of the west side of Tiger Stadium would be completed by the 2005 season. At that time, west upper deck seats would carry an annual per seat $250 contribution for the right to purchase chairback seats between the 25 yard lines and $200 for the right to purchase chairback seats outside the 25 yard lines. New Tiger Terrace seats would require a contribution of $400 for the right to purchase seats between the 25 yard lines and $350 for the right to purchase seats outside the 25 yard lines. There would be no contribution for the right to purchase west upper deck non-chairback seats.
East upper deck seats which currently require a $50 donation to the Tiger Athletic Foundation will not require an Athletics Contribution for the right to purchase those seats.
OTHER ELEMENTS OF FOOTBALL ADMISSION POLICY REVISIONS
INDIVIDUAL GAME TICKET PRICE
LSU will propose that the existing surcharge on tickets be folded into the ticket price to create a uniform cost of $36 per ticket for the full price of admission for all seats other than student seats in Tiger Stadium. Beginning in 2004, there would be no surcharges added to the ticket price.
Currently, tickets cost $32 per game plus an annual $50 surcharge for sideline and east upper deck season tickets and $25 for end zone and west upper deck tickets. Individual game tickets currently carry a $4 surcharge.
SEATING AND CONTRIBUTION OPTION
Any current season ticket holder who does not want to make the required Athletics Contribution would be given the opportunity to purchase the best available ticket in a lower contribution range, or a seat with no contribution required at all.
“We will work with each and every season ticket holder to achieve the highest possible level of customer satisfaction during this transition period,” Bertman said. “We are making this announcement a full seven months before season ticket notices usually go out so that we can give personal attention to each ticket holder.”
TRANSFER OPTION PERIOD
LSU proposes to establish a one-time Transfer Option Period during which time each season ticket holder would have the opportunity to transfer any number of season tickets they currently hold into the names of other persons.
“The Transfer Option will give ticket holders who choose not to renew their tickets the ability to decide who will get the opportunity to purchase them,” Bertman said. “Who better to decide who will get those tickets than the fans themselves? The biggest concern I hear about increasing the price of admission to LSU football games is that it will ‘change the culture’ of Tiger Stadium. With the Transfer Option Period, the culture of Tiger Stadium will determine its own future.
“There are a large number of season ticket holders who do not use their tickets, but annually sell them to friends and family,” said Bertman. “By putting these tickets in the names of the people who actually sit in those seats, we can better identify, communicate with, and service our customers.”
FLEXIBLE PAYMENT PLAN
LSU season ticket holders would have the option to utilize a flexible payment plan for the Athletics Contribution. For example, a $400 contribution could be paid in six monthly installments of less than $67, and an $85 contribution could be paid in six monthly installments of less than $15.
TAX DEDUCTABILITY
The Internal Revenue Code, Section 170 (l) provides that a contribution for the right to purchase football tickets is 80 percent tax deductible as a charitable contribution. LSU advises season ticket holders to consult with their tax advisors to determine the applicability of the deduction.
CONSIDERATION OF EXISTING CONTRIBUTORS
Certain groups and individuals who are currently contributors of cash or of in kind donations to the LSU Athletics program may be given credit for those contributions and would not be required to make the additional Athletics Contribution.
Any seats in Tiger Stadium that currently require a donation to the Tiger Athletic Foundation would continue to require that donation. The TAF would make the Athletics Contribution by cash and/or in kind contributions. In other words, there would be no change in cost for the TAF ticket buyer.
For the 1,343 seats in Tiger Stadium assigned to Endowed Scholarship donors who made a one-time major contribution to the LSU Athletics program, no additional contribution would be required.
Current and retired LSU A&M College Faculty and Staff members would not be required to make a contribution on up to two tickets.
WEST SIDE SEATING DISPLACEMENT (2005)
Approximately 375 seats in the top three rows of the west lower bowl and the top three rows in Sections 21 and 22 of the south end zone would be eliminated in 2005 with the renovation of the west side of the stadium.
Those displaced season ticket holders would have first option to purchase any tickets that become available by non-renewed tickets in a location in the bowl of the stadium nearest to their existing seat. They would also have the opportunity to purchase seats in the new club seating section of Tiger Stadium.
The North Purple Lounge and South Gold Lounge would be merged into the new Club Seating with the west side renovation. Season ticket holders in those areas would have the opportunity to upgrade their seats to the Club Seating area.
CUSTOMER RESOURCES:
WEBSITE: LSU Athletics has launched a website to provide details about LSU’s plan for the future of its athletics program. The website address is www.LSUsports.net/vision.
INQUIRY LINE: LSU Athletics has established a phone number for fans to call with questions about this plan. Season ticket holders can call (225) 578-8008 to ask a question. Ticket holders will be asked to leave a daytime and nighttime phone number, or an e-mail address to receive a response to their question.
E-MAIL: Season ticket holders may send a comment or inquiry by e-mail to LSUvision@etigers.net.
INFORMATIONAL BROCHURE: Later this fall, LSU Athletics will mail a brochure to all season ticket holders with complete information on all aspects of the Preferred Seating Program for the 2004 season. Included will be instructions on renewing season tickets, requesting upgrades or other seat re-locations, transferring season tickets and payment options.