Future years season tickets seating question

[Gus is dead]

My wife and I are considering getting season tickets going forward starting next year. We had them for a number of years, and donated to get better seats accordingly, but stopped ordering 15 years ago or so as our kids were of the ages that they had sporting events nearly every weekend of football season and it didn't make sense to keep getting them and not being able to attend.

So....when we start getting them again, and start giving our per seat donation for an amount at or above or desired seats again, do we get a shot at any seat in the stadium based on our giving level and points based on prior years? We have fairly high points I'd add.

Or are all the seats that are currently being occupied by current holders their seats and we have to wait for someone to vacate seats to sit in our chosen area? Obviously the sections are fairly open but we would like to have seats that we had in the past and these seats are somewhat limited. Our desire would be to sit in the top row under the press box and there are only so many of these. Or on an aisle etc... you get the point.

Would choosing the seats we want require an entire Kinnick re seat? Is this planned every so often?

Any GIA minds know how this works and can help a brother out?

 

[83Hawk]

My wife and I are considering getting season tickets going forward starting next year. We had them for a number of years, and donated to get better seats accordingly, but stopped ordering 15 years ago or so as our kids were of the ages that they had sporting events nearly every weekend of football season and it didn't make sense to keep getting them and not being able to attend.

So....when we start getting them again, and start giving our per seat donation for an amount at or above or desired seats again, do we get a shot at any seat in the stadium based on our giving level and points based on prior years? We have fairly high points I'd add.

Or are all the seats that are currently being occupied by current holders their seats and we have to wait for someone to vacate seats to sit in our chosen area? Obviously the sections are fairly open but we would like to have seats that we had in the past and these seats are somewhat limited. Our desire would be to sit in the top row under the press box and there are only so many of these. Or on an aisle etc... you get the point.

Would choosing the seats we want require an entire Kinnick re seat? Is this planned every so often?

Any GIA minds know how this works and can help a brother out?

Current season ticket holders can renew the same seats. You can't get them unless they give them up. Otherwise you are limited to whatever is available,

They have done a couple of re-seats since the remodeling started....I don't know if/when they'll do another. If they do, then it goes by points.

 

[Gus is dead]

Ok. How do you pick your seats then from the available ones? Do they assign seats or do you get a chance, like with basketball, to see the available tickets from a map of the stadium and pick from them? Is this based on priority amongst all the new applicants?

Just trying to get an idea of what sort of donation to give. If I am highly unlikely to get our seat choice and we dont get any option to pick from those available, I may just wait for a reseat year to start donating heavily again.

 

[pistachio1999]

Ok. How do you pick your seats then from the available ones? Do they assign seats or do you get a chance, like with basketball, to see the available tickets from a map of the stadium and pick from them? Is this based on priority amongst all the new applicants?

Just trying to get an idea of what sort of donation to give. If I am highly unlikely to get our seat choice and we dont get any option to pick from those available, I may just wait for a reseat year to start donating heavily again.

I can tell you existing ticket holders can view open seats for upgrades. Not sure about someone who didn’t have tickets the prior season. I’d call ticket office in January.

 

[ichawk24]

I can only speak from the point of view as a season ticket holder who renews every year.

Our annual donation does NOT happen before renewal and seat selection.

After we renew our tickets, we get a time slot to possibly upgrade our tickets. When our time comes up, I look around at the map to see open seats, and see that the only real upgrade I can do it move closer to midfield and donate more money. So I stick with what I have.

Only after all this do we get a reminder to make our annual donation, otherwise they take our seats away. Then we donate.

Your best bet might be to sign up for new tickets, see what kind of seats you can get, and only then make your donation. But I don't really know how new season tickets works.

 

[Hawkfan_08]

Ok. How do you pick your seats then from the available ones? Do they assign seats or do you get a chance, like with basketball, to see the available tickets from a map of the stadium and pick from them? Is this based on priority amongst all the new applicants?

Just trying to get an idea of what sort of donation to give. If I am highly unlikely to get our seat choice and we dont get any option to pick from those available, I may just wait for a reseat year to start donating heavily again.

I'm almost positive it's like basketball. I accidently let my seats go and missed the deadline to renew. I still had the map option when I picked my new seats and I'm not donating anything.

 

[Gus is dead]

Thanks everyone that replied! That helps.

 

[Hawkbaby]

Just to clarify. You haven’t bought tickets for 15 years or donated. So, you would like to take someone else’s seats regardless of how long they have been seating there if all you had to do was pay enough today. Nice!

 

[IaHawks03]

You will be able to pick your specific seats once current season ticket holders renew their seats. At the end of the renewal period, it's first come first serve for new season ticket holders.
I can say when season tickets went on sale this year, every section was available and I do remember seeing top row available too.

 

[Gus is dead]

Just to clarify. You haven’t bought tickets for 15 years or donated. So, you would like to take someone else’s seats regardless of how long they have been seating there if all you had to do was pay enough today. Nice!

Yes. That’s a pretty fair summary if you want to look at it like that.

Facts:
1- We live in a consumer economy.
2- They aren’t ‘your’ seats, you pay year to year for them. You haven't agreed to a multiyear contract to purchase those seats every year for 10 years for example. The seats you sit in are the seats the system, not a contract, has allowed you to buy year to year based on a set of criteria and tradition of not having an annual re-seat apparently.

That was my question. How does this work? How do the points I have earned effect my ability to select my seats when I start buying them again?

I currently have men’s BB season tickets. I don’t expect to get my seats back if I haven’t made the requisite donation. Donation that year, alumni status, total dollars of donations, total years of donations, former university athlete and years of purchasing season tickets all add up to a point total.

What YOU are saying is that years of ticket purchase should amount to them being 'your' seats. Trumping all other factors. Maybe I’d suggest that you (for the purposes of this discussion) who aren’t a university graduate should never take priority over someone who did graduate from the university. Or that I as someone who might be older than you should get priority. All factors should be taken into account and if I have more points than you then yes, perhaps I should get to take your seats.

To address a possible counterpoint, "we always want to sit with our same friends we have sat by for years". Well, maybe you end up having to select seats that are in your friend group matching the person with the lowest points. Seems fairly simple to me.

Prior to posting my question, I honestly didn't have an opinion on what should or shouldn't be. I just wondered what was. So, I appreciate those that answered the question for me. Now that I have had a chance to think about it, thanks to your question, I know what I'd suggest it should be. Prior, I was simply saying I don't want to overpay for what seats I have the option of taking. Unless of course the donation is purely charitable to the university. I suspect that that is the case for less than 10% of the people in the stadium. Most of us are making a donation to allow us to sit in certain seats and for the other benefits that come with that donation parking, etc. and the nice benefit of helping Iowa Athletics. Which is, after all, where the donations go. Not to the Childrens Hospital or the Academic Fund.

 

[pistachio1999]

Just to clarify. You haven’t bought tickets for 15 years or donated. So, you would like to take someone else’s seats regardless of how long they have been seating there if all you had to do was pay enough today. Nice!

Give enough coin and get those indoor/outdoor seats.

 

[pistachio1999]

Can’t recall the last time they reseated everyone. It’s been 9 or 10 years I would say. Not sure when they will do again. Good question for the new AD. My guess is when they do it they would bump up the seat premiums again.

 

[ICWestfan]

Pic of wife?

 

[Gus is dead]

Pic of wife?

Well played

 

[Gus is dead]

Give enough coin and get those indoor/outdoor seats.

Too much cash for it to make sense at the moment. Though sure I'd love to.