I was listening to a morning sports radio show. A decades-long MD football season ticket holder called in to complain about an email he received from the Terrapin Club saying that he would have to up his annual contribution significantly for the privilege of retaining his seat. The caller claimed that in the past the contribution amount was not fixed, but up to the club member, a situation foreign to Penn Staters and other major football school's fans. There was brief discussion on the worth of ticket holder loyalty. Sound familiar? I have not seen any confirmation of this caller's claim in the DC media, but assuming he's credible, one can conclude that MD is projecting first-year football success into the future. In other words, the athletic department sees ticket demand as a Big Ten member to surpass what it had been in the ACC. Will there be a backlash ala STEP, particularly if Edsal's relative first year success was a fluke? Time will tell. Anyone with MD connections who can comment on this?
Is the U of MD instituting its own version of STEP?
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I don't know about MD but I do know they have done the same thing here at Marshall in both football and basketball. There were a lot of ticked off people over this. There were long time fans that sat in old Fairfield stadium that was worse than worse, and the team sucked that were moved out of their seats in the new stadium for the Johnny come latelys. (When they moved stadiums, they let people trade like for like the best the could, 40 yd line half way up for 40 yd line half way up etc) . MU does not have the fan base PSU nor the population growth to tick off the old guard, but hey its their decision, I don't worry about it.
The bean counters are in control. They will be selling alcohol and whatever else they can profit on. They do have solid support, especially from recent grads, which is admirable. They just don't have the numbers to support choking the golden goose so soon. It is a mistake, but is typical of those only caring about the next financial quarter or even year. It might even look like it is working in the short term but at what long term cost? Maybe they have a guarantee from big daddy at UA? Maybe it's his idea?
