Well, Texas made a huge mistake that coincided with our on field fall-off.
Throughout the '00s, we were winning games and the stadium was full. Those of us who had been longtime season ticket holders only had to pay for our tickets; a donation to the Longhorn Foundation was optional.
If a person wanted to become a new season ticket holder, that person could get the best available seats for no donation (maybe top of the upper deck or endzone) or make a donation to "compete" for the best available seats in the stadium (yard lines).
I am sure the change in policy had been discussed in Bellmont for a long time, but it was implemented by Steve Patterson in Charlie's first season, IIRC. Well, for one thing, we had been sucking for a while, so demand was already soft. The donation thing was just too much for some people. It made the cost of getting tickets more expensive, and it couldn't be reasonably justified.
Personally, I was pissed off about the whole thing so I dragged my feet renewing and i accidentally missed the deadline. When I realized it and called in, they passed me to a rep for new season ticket sales, despite the fact that I had been a season ticket holder for 15 years, AND that no one had purchased my seats. I told them to fuck off, that those seats weren't worth what I had been paying, much less what they wanted me to pay with the donation added on.
After sitting out that season, I have renewed, but it still rubs me the wrong way. No one refunded me any money when I was overpaying for shit seasons. I'm not sure how many more years I'll be purchasing tix because it's an all day ordeal to go to games and the value just hasn't been there.
Hell, just back in The mid-90s, we were decent and all seats to all games were $20. Lately, we have been much worse than we were then and tickets have been much more expensive, even adjusted for inflation. They need to get the shit straight. Required donations for all seats is fucking stupid.