Friday, May 19, 2000
UC raises ticket donation minimum
Boosters must pay more for basketball seats
By Mike DeCourcy
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Season-ticket holders for Cincinnati Bearcats basketball will have to pay between $150 and $800 more in booster club donations to secure their seats for the 2000-01 season.
The UC athletic department raised the minimum donations for the five existing levels of its UCATS booster club and created a sixth classification that will affect numerous season-ticket holders for Bearcats basketball games. Ticket prices are remaining steady. This is the first adjustment in donation levels in five years.
UC said the increase amounts to a 15 percent bump across the board. But the creation of a new Gold level with a minimum contribution of $1,800 will affect a vast number of season-ticket holders whose seats are in the lower arena at the Shoemaker Center. Those people have been paying the old Silver donation of $1,300; their cost is being increased 38 percent.
The other changes:
• Victory Club: from $350 to $400;
• Coaches club: from $650 to $750;
• Silver Bearcat: from $1,300 to $1,500;
• Tuition Scholarship: from $2,600 to $3,000;
• Full Scholarship: from $5,200 to $6,000.
“It's very simple. We've only got a couple ways to make money: ticket sales and UCATS. We raised some money to pay our bills,” athletic director Bob Goin said. “We have inflationary expenses to run our Division I program. We've got to get some more money. That's the bottom line.”
UC said the increase was a means of addressing budget disparities between its operation and those at typical Division I-A schools. UC's annual budget is about $15 million. The average Division I-A program operates on $20 million. Louisville, one of the Bearcats' Conference USA rivals, is at $25 million.
The athletic department conducted open houses for UCATS members Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and encountered minimal opposition to the increases.
“We've had a pleasant response,” associate athletic director Bill Mulvihill said. By raising the donation levels, UC hopes to raise between $400,000 and $500,000 more in the first year.
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