Some of you seem remarkably surprised by how many Tech fans there were, and I simply don't understand it. Maybe I read too much? I don't know. We've known for several months it was going to be like this. A Tech fan found a link to the general admission tickets, posted it, and overnight they were gone. I don't know if Texas actually shut down the ability to purchase them at some point, but regardless, many of them landed in the hands of Tech fans without a doubt.
However, those were all upper deck tickets.
The lower bowl tickets represent the same problem they've represented for nearly 40 years. It's the exact same dynamic.
Back in the 80s when Deloss Dodds first arrived at Texas every program was responsible for their own fundraising. It was a patchwork effort with no direction. Deloss Dodds founded the Longhorn Foundation and dictated that one donation to the Foundation allowed the donor access to premium seats based on that donation amount. Which frankly was a boon to the athletic department as a whole, and the right way to go...except for men's basketball tickets.
When the suites and club seating were installed, part of the strategy for maximizing revenue became soliciting donations to various companies and organizations around town as the professional team of the city. They were marketed to bring clients/employees/whathaveyou to UT games as an event, with the football games being centerpieces. The basketball season tickets then tended to be sold as almost an afterthought, because after the huge donation necessary to get the premium seating for football, picking up the basketball season tickets with the same level of privilege was a toss in.
It's why when you go to the FEC on a regular basis the lower bowl is so often empty. The purchase of those tickets didn't mean anything, so they're really only filled for big games. It's also why even when the seats are filled, so many of them are filled by different people for each game. It's not a family or individual. It's a company or organization that got the basketball tickets as a throw in for the football donation.
When lower bowl tickets can be sold for a premium price like these Texas Tech tickets, they're going to get sold. It's seen as getting some money back. It has always been like this.
The solution has always been the same thing. Make more lower bowl tickets available to students, make it easy for them to attend games, make their attendance seem important, and reward the best seats to the most fanatic of student fans. Secondarily, make basketball tickets require a separate donation from football. That has been politically very difficult to do, because the people who have those premium seats in the lower bowl aren't exactly excited about changes, and they're donating a lot of money to the athletic department. All of that will change next season with the Moody Center, but this is the first time it will finally be the way it should have been for the last 40 years. I guess you can blame CDC for all of this, but to me, he has to pick his fights, and the timing of the Moody Center allows him to make these changes with a minimum of donor revolt, although I'm sure there will be some grumbling for sure.
I'm glad this Texas Tech fiasco happened. I'm more glad it happened after Chris Beard got here. Because Beard is part of the solution. He's done an amazing job of engaging with the students since he arrived. I loved seeing those long lines out the door at the FEC this morning. I'm very much embarrassed if students were promised seats and then were removed from the arena because those seats weren't actually available, as indicated by the tweet this morning posted on this thread.
Despite today's loss, things are still going in the right direction.
Also, it was nice to see all the former players referenced coming back to campus. I really enjoyed that.
Bummer to have Texas Tech sweep us, especially with all the emotion surrounding both games. Kudos to Mark Adams for building a better team at Tech than Beard did at Texas. I still really like where this program is headed. I do not understand any one who wants to go all doom and gloom about anything regarding this season...even this loss. I do wish there was some way to get Mitchell back on the court, because having one less big body is really bad for this group.
On to hosting TCU on Wednesday, which really will be a must win.