WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2003
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KU fans asked to pay more for good seats
The Associated Press
Some lifelong University of Kansas basketball fans believe they're being squeezed out of their prime seats because the University can get more money if they sell the seats to someone else.
University officials say it's common for schools to give the best seats to bigger donors, and if people like 77-year-old Beverly Black want to come watch Jayhawks games, they still can.
They just have to come up with several thousand more dollars a year or pick a different seat.
Black, who has had season tickets since 1968, pays about $1,000 apiece for her two seats. That's a big chunk of the $25,000 a year she and her husband live on.
On Thursday, she received a letter from the Williams Fund, the fund-raising arm of the athletic department, asking her to call the office about her tickets.
"They said to keep the seats, I'd have to pay $5,000 extra in donations to the fund," Black said.
"I don't have that kind of money," she
said. "I can't pay that much. I won't pay that much. I guess I'll just watch the games on television. But I have to say, it's going to hurt when I see somebody else sitting in those seats."
Lloyd Cole, 80, has had four season tickets since 1965. His son-in-law, Frank Stuckey of Hutchinson, said Cole also received a letter.
"When we called, they said he hadn't made his contribution, and to hold on to the seats, he'd need to come up with $10,000." Stuckey said.
Williams Fund director Jay Hinrichs said about 120 season-ticket holders have either let their Williams Fund membership expire or have fallen behind in their payments. Basic membership is $100 a year.
Those are the people who are being asked to increase their donations, he said.
"When you're sitting in the premium seating section at Allen Fieldhouse, you want to know that the person sitting next to you is helping support KU athletics," Hinrichs said.
About one-third of the fieldhouse's
"When you're sitting in the premium seating section at Allen Fieldhouse, you want to know that the person sitting next to you is helping support KU athletics."
Jay Hinrichs Williams Fund director
roughly 16,300 seats are considered premium by the fund.
Black said she let her Williams Fund membership expire in 1998 because she couldn't afford the donation on top of the ticket fees. She had been paying a donation at the $150-a-year level.
"In my mind, we hadn't signed a contract or anything with the Williams Fund, so in the years when we had the money, sure, we paid it," Black said. "But later on when we didn't have the money, we decided we wouldn't. Really, it's not that we wouldn't, we couldn't. We're retired. We're on fixed
income."
Black's daughter, the oldest of five children — four of whom graduated from KU is furious.
"What's really going on here is they know they can get more money for my mother's seat," Kate Rogge said. "They want her out of the way, and this is their way of making it happen. These old people just aren't dying fast enough for the KU athletic department."
Hinrichs said the department needs the money to remain competitive. He estimates that Black's tickets could easily be sold for twice what the school is asking her to pay.
He said Black and other longtime Jayhawks fans can contribute less than what they've been asked to pay, but they'll have to change seats.
Stuckey said his father-in-law cannot accept less convenient seats.
"He has trouble getting around," Stuckey said. "There's no way he could take the three-hour drive up there and then walk all that way. It doesn't matter because he can't afford $10,000."
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