Thursday, April 05, 2007

Bend over PSU Fans

Ok, I’m on the bitchy side this morning because I got up and it was snowing in central PA… in April. Next week it will probably be 85 degrees and we’ll all be basting in our own juices, but that’s typical schizophrenic Pennsylvania weather. But that’s just the icing on the cake because last night I got my weekly email from the Nittany Lion Club telling me they are going to increase the “giving” levels for the 2008 football season. For fans outside of Penn State or PSU fans that don’t get season tickets, to be eligible for season tickets at Penn State you must “donate” money to the Nittany Lion Club at various levels to receive tickets. “Donate” $150 bucks and you’re eligible for two tickets, $300 and you’re eligible for four and so on. Well it seems that Penn State is upping the ante next year.

Now I’m a rabid college football fan and, more to the point, a fanatical Penn State fan. Of course you already can deduce that, otherwise there would be no TNL. And while I’m nuts about PSU football, everyone has their limits. I stomach the yearly increase in ticket prices and chalk it up to inflation; I don’t complain when I have to pay 10 bucks to park in cow shit and I even defended the university when they raised ticket prices in 2005 after 3-9 and 4-7 seasons, but this is getting dangerously close to my threshold of pain. When I opened my email and saw that I will have to pay $50 more next year for my season tickets one thought crossed my mind:


Two season tickets are roughly $760; that’s tickets GENERAL parking and taxes. With the new “donation” levels of $200 you get to $960 – throw in the new wonderful $40 chairbacks and you have reached the $1000 plateau. That’s $1000 to watch fucking Florida International and Buffalo in 2 of the first 3 games. That’s FIU and Buffalo. Chin up though in 2008 we get to watch Central Florida and a crappy team yet to be determined – who wants to bet it’s not Nebraska or Florida State? Anyone? This is starting to get completely out of hand and if the Athletic department doesn’t start to schedule some decent home games they are getting dangerously close to a negative return on investment as far as I’m concerned. A cool grand will buy me a VERY nice LCD flat panel TV that would make me the king of tailgating and a nice seat in the parking lot while the game is going on. You’re on notice PSU; we’re watching.


Careful athletic department – you’re on thin ice!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I...will...be...watching...you.

Then I have no choice but to put you right back outside the circle. And once you're out, you're out. There's no coming back.

PSUgirl said...

Is this the first time you've been po'd by the NLC/parking/althetic department?

Money. Money. Money.

They used to get quite a lot of it from me (i've got my President's Club pins to prove it) - and they still do, but I now understand that they don't care about me and my 50, 500, 5,000 dollars - 50,000 might get you a call back.

The "giving" levels have been static for the last 7 years (or so) - I'm actually surprised that they hadn't raised the amounts earlier - but then NLC has had some ebbs and flows in the giving department lately. The Club Seats have been a big disappointment - 8 seasons later and they still can't sell them all (PLEASE, I want to pay extra for a chairback AND an extra $1,800 a year to move to the upper deck of the endzone - so glad you blocked Mt Nittany for this!).

It's bad timing on the NLC's part - news of canceled practices and suspended secondaries isn't going to, necessarily, open people's checkbooks -

Scrappled said...

Thankfully, I have a close friend who gives a lot of money to the NLC, so he's able to get me tickets (which I have to pay for, of course. I'm not that much of a freeloader.)

They certainly do make it difficult to get excited about the scheduling, don't they? Everytime I rant about FIU, Buffalo, and Temple, the Spreadsheet Fans come out with their "but, the football program supports the rest of the athletic department!" argument. And I don't care if it is valid, I still call bullshit on paying $55/ticket for FIU.

Galen said...

Yeah, I just wanted to let off some steam - it's not a nice day. I knew this was coming but it would have been nice for them to leave the ticket prices static and raise the NLC membership, how big of a greedy bastard can they be? They do it because they know they can.

PSUgirl said...

They, like much of the "program," are completely removed from the common (real) fans.

Run, you better send your friend some Antioxidants and Vitamin C pills - cause if he croaks, his points go with him. And the "club" has no sympathy for those who remain - unless you can ante up the $$$ to "qualify" to "maybe" get the seats - or at least have him right a living will to keep him alive until you can make a plan.

PSUgirl said...

you all know I meant "wright" - rite? (wink winK)