2023 Parking Pass Availability/Selection Process

[Canedude08]

I'm well aware of all of this as most of my family went to B1G institutions so I've ALWAYS said that my Canes Football tix (especially where they're located) and parking pass costs are probably the best value in all of CFB- even despite our long stretches of on-field mediocrity. I'm also a HC member so this probably* won't affect me directly but there's a good chance it could affect my tailgate.

I have no issue with them trying to increase HC donations but this was simply a hamfisted way to do it that'll just result in more anger than any addl revenue increase is worth. To do it coming off a 5-7 season is insane if you value your best "gameday" fans and their $$$ at all too.

Why not announce this months ago? Why not say:

"Hey, we won't raise ticket prices this season as we appreciate all of your support through the struggles last season. However, we will be transitioning to a model where we reward our HC members that are also football season ticket holders with first access to interior parking as we now give them first access to seat relocation/upgrade. In an effort to make this transition as smooth as possible, we will guarantee the opportunity to renew your parking pass from last season for this upcoming season only at a HC donation rate of $200 per pass with a maximum of one pass per 2 season tickets. You can make this donation via a 4 month payment plan."

You then sell all the 'benefits" of HC membership and hope that Mario has a freakin' acceptable season this year and THEN you transition into the model they're trying to this season IF you think it'll actually generate a worthy amount of an increase in HC donations (which I don't).

Two ways to approach it, either rip the band-aid off and deal with the short term pain, or ease into it and deal with some resistance, but lessen the overall blow. Rad and his staff just said "F it" and ripped it. Frankly, this should have been done years ago, our tickets have been miserably cheap for years, parking has been pathetically cheap and our fans are entitled as all ****. You want to be a world class program? BE PREPARED TO SPEND ON IT.

Keep in mind, we were one of the last major programs to require a donation to the booster club in order to get season tickets. We were one of the last programs to tie parking to donation level. Personally, I would have slowly phased this in over a couple of years, but I get why Rad went the other way. No matter how it was done, people were going to be ****ed, because people had grown accustomed to getting major college football at an extremely low price point

 

[Tad Footeball]

Two ways to approach it, either rip the band-aid off and deal with the short term pain, or ease into it and deal with some resistance, but lessen the overall blow. Rad and his staff just said "F it" and ripped it. Frankly, this should have been done years ago, our tickets have been miserably cheap for years, parking has been pathetically cheap and our fans are entitled as all ****. You want to be a world class program? BE PREPARED TO SPEND ON IT.

Keep in mind, we were one of the last major programs to require a donation to the booster club in order to get season tickets. We were one of the last programs to tie parking to donation level. Personally, I would have slowly phased this in over a couple of years, but I get why Rad went the other way. No matter how it was done, people were going to be ****ed, because people had grown accustomed to getting major college football at an extremely low price point

Refresh my memory as to why we separated the HC donation from the season ticket purchase price? It obviously would be much easier if everyone was still in the same boat as HC members AND season ticket holders to try to milk more money via parking than to do it segmented in this manner by dividing your fanbase/customers into camps.

Me personally? I just want clarity. Tell me how much money you want upfront to give me a tangible product in return. This whole tactic just seems more based in the hope of pressuring donations based upon creating massive uncertainty around people's tailgates. I think your returns will be way less and anger way more than if you just requested an extra couple hundred bucks minimum as a donation in order to keep your current parking pass.

This all goes back to last season too. If that bandaid needs ripped off then fine- just don't do it coming off the worst season of most of our lifetimes. Do it when you can at least sell hope with any semblance of a straight face.

I've been ranting a lot about this but mannnn I'm just so sick of some of the nonsense around the mechanics of this program for years. It's annoying and tiring to now have to check in with everyone you tailgate with (and specifically those that you might think are on some sort of budget) to find out if they got their pass, how much did they cough up to try to try to get it, etc.

 

[Canedude08]

Refresh my memory as to why we separated the HC donation from the season ticket purchase price? It obviously would be much easier if everyone was still in the same boat as HC members AND season ticket holders to try to milk more money via parking than to do it segmented in this manner by dividing your fanbase/customers into camps.

Me personally? I just want clarity. Tell me how much money you want upfront to give me a tangible product in return. This whole tactic just seems more based in the hope of pressuring donations based upon creating massive uncertainty around people's tailgates. I think your returns will be way less and anger way more than if you just requested an extra couple hundred bucks minimum as a donation in order to keep your current parking pass.

This all goes back to last season too. If that bandaid needs ripped off then fine- just don't do it coming off the worst season of most of our lifetimes. Do it when you can at least sell hope with any semblance of a straight face.

I've been ranting a lot about this but mannnn I'm just so sick of some of the nonsense around the mechanics of this program for years. It's annoying and tiring to now have to check in with everyone you tailgate with (and specifically those that you might think are on some sort of budget) to find out if they got their pass, how much did they cough up to try to try to get it, etc.

We didn't require a HC donation for years, who knows why. I think that we were just behind the curve, and then people got used to it. I remember how people hollered when that became a requirement, especially for basketball. People lost their **** minds.

I agree that it hasn't been executed well, the easiest, and likely least painful way would have been to go gradual with it, grandfather the old timers that you want to reward for their loyalty and charge everyone else. I will say this, trying to time this after a good season was just kicking the can down the road. You can't predict when that good season is going to happen, it needed to happen. Do it, but have some sensitivity. I think Rad is used to working with the IPTAY people, who will do whatever it takes to get their Tiger football fix. Miami fans, most of whom have little if any affiliation to the University itself will bail, it isn't a way of life for a large part of this fanbase.

 

[UnForgiven]

The secondary market for selling parking passes is going to be nuts.

 

[No_Fly_Zone]

Refresh my memory as to why we separated the HC donation from the season ticket purchase price? It obviously would be much easier if everyone was still in the same boat as HC members AND season ticket holders to try to milk more money via parking than to do it segmented in this manner by dividing your fanbase/customers into camps.

Me personally? I just want clarity. Tell me how much money you want upfront to give me a tangible product in return. This whole tactic just seems more based in the hope of pressuring donations based upon creating massive uncertainty around people's tailgates. I think your returns will be way less and anger way more than if you just requested an extra couple hundred bucks minimum as a donation in order to keep your current parking pass.

This all goes back to last season too. If that bandaid needs ripped off then fine- just don't do it coming off the worst season of most of our lifetimes. Do it when you can at least sell hope with any semblance of a straight face.

I've been ranting a lot about this but mannnn I'm just so sick of some of the nonsense around the mechanics of this program for years. It's annoying and tiring to now have to check in with everyone you tailgate with (and specifically those that you might think are on some sort of budget) to find out if they got their pass, how much did they cough up to try to try to get it, etc.

I agree with the bolded part and it's the uncertainty and disorganization I find most annoying. But I also can't conceive of a way to accomplish that goal while simultaneously releasing all parking passes from one year to the next. They could, potentially, have said something like, "Black is limited to Suites/VIPs, minimum $X donation puts you into consideration for Blue, $Y donation puts you into consideration for Green, $Z donation puts you into consideration for Orange, and everyone else is fighting for what's left after the 4/30 deadline." But, that's not definitive, nor can it be. It's a moving target for donations.

All that said, I do think they could provide some more transparency, much better and advanced communication about these changes, and at least a marginally functional website.