Ok, I am open to some constructive
 

criticism here. You all pretty much know I am a CC Legacy member.

Mentioning that or where I sit seems to set some people off. Saying that seems to indicate I am announcing I am better than they are or rich or some other kind of bullshit, my opinion.

What I am trying to express is perhaps the feeling of people who are Legacy members. While they are not better people, let's face facts, those who contribute have more influence in our society. They aren't better people, but they do have more influence. It also doesn't mean they are rich, it could have been my very last $10,000 to my name and the kids aren't going to get anything.

I was trying to give a perspective that I know 3 Legacy members who aren't buying tickets this year and their reasons why. I happen to buy my allotment as a request from CB members. I am out now $1850, I hope I get the money. :)

Is their no value in expressing how some Legacy members feel and it is always just seen as a chance to express one is better and richer than others.

I doubt if the average fan views the world and BYU sports much differently than a Legacy member. i.e. if 20% of Legacy members are bummed about UCLA in a bowl and 50% want a tougher schedule next year, and 2% are pissed enough to stop buying season tickets, probably 20%, 50%, and 2% of poor, cheap BYU fans feel the same way.

So, the answer is yes there is no value in expressing that you're a Legacy CC member when you give your opinion on such matters.

Calls to authority usually don't work well on internet message boards.

Maybe Waters could open a Holy of Holies wing in Cougarguard just for you.

And to think I had just moved you off of my dumb ass list. Now I have to move you back on. It isn't as bad as being ignored though.

Harsh crowd.

It doesn't bother me, but I'm influenced by your avatar.

71, if it makes you feel any better, I have you on my "Legacy Ignore" list, as opposed to my rank and file "Ignore" list.

I am of the opinion that the more you donate, the more right you have to bitch and moan. If you are not donating or attending games you have no right to bitch about what is going on.

So bitch away.

For the record, I am leaning toward this being the proper attitude.

That's worth the $10,000.

The real questions is, do you have the right to bitch as much as John Haddow?

I doubt it, plus Holmoe does not take my personal calls.

Also, I ignore you before I ignore other Legacy members who are the same level as you, because they have cumulatively donated less than you throughout their lives.

71, are you Legacy 1?

I pegged you as a Legacy V kind of guy.

Nope, I actually am Legacy II, but not really. My brother talked me into combining our donations so we could become Legacy II. He suggested since he lives in Utah County we put it under his name. I didn't care. He and his wife have their names on a plaque in the athletic center and if someone did some checking they would see I only show up as a $100 a year CC member.

In my mind since they have gotten around $12,000 of my money I consider myself Legacy I, officially I feel like my brother pulled one on me. :)

P.S. I feel like they misled us and I am not sure about some of the things they say. I pay the minimum annual. If I trusted them more or if they were more open, I would probably kick in some more. My other brother kicked in to be a Legacy I this year and he wasn't too excited with the seating he got.

There must be a hell of a demand for tickets and big contributors if a $10,000 donation gets you 6 seats on the 35-40 3 quarters of the way up the upper deck and not all together.

Those squatters and friends of BYU are costing the program a lot of money.

A very decent chunk of the lowers on the West are original stadium donors. Legacy 1 doesnt get you what it used to, eh?

Legacy 2 gets you good seats, though.

Yea, but not as good as one might think or at least as I would think.


4 are on the 50 first row upper deck. Actually great seats. 2 with two old geezers then our other 2. The last two are on about the 40 4th row from the top on the lower section. If we tried to get all 4 together , they would suck.

We were promised when we gave them the dough great seats on East Side. When they put the seats in, they then decided it would be cool to charge an extra $1,000 for the right to the seats, (don't have to be legacy to do that), and $1,000 for the seats. We did that one year and found we had corporate folks who didn't give a crap about the game all around us. We then moved to the West side.

I am still a little miffed they told us we would get the seats and then added about a $1500 surcharge. BYU loves surcharges.

BYU71, there are thousands and thousands of fans at A&M kicking in over 1k donation per seat. And with crappy seats.

I will tell you this. If we were playing in the Big 12 or PAC10 I would be happy to kick in $2,000 or more a year for my seats.

This doesn't go over well, but I consider both BYU and who they play the product. I will pay up for a good product.

Plus, quite honestly I would probably give them up to another $20,000 to keep priority seating.

I used to sell football tickets when I was a student at BYU. I think you would be absolutely disgusted if you saw how many of the best seats in the stadium are being hogged by stadium donors...only the donor is long since deceased, and the family is keeping the seat in the name of the deceased and it's the grandchildren buying the seats (the tickets were for the life of a donor and the life of one of their children).

I volunteered to actually do the research out of the public records and find out which of those seats were being purchased by people who had no legitimate claim on them...free of charge. Val Hale told me he didn't want me doing any such thing, because he didn't want to anger anyone who is purchasing season tickets. The other thing I asked Val Hale is why they didn't just jack up the prices of those seats so that the people that weren't legit donors couldn't afford them anymore, and the university could reclaim the seats. He also said that it was because they didn't want to upset the actual donors who still use their seats, because they are people that stepped up to the plate and made a hefty donation at a time that BYU fb really needed that money.

My grandfather is an original staidum donor. He paid $3,000 at the time.

He has 4 in the first couple of rows of the upper bowl, 50 yard line, West side...basically primo seats. No annual fee...just has to buy the tickets.

One catch....he can never move them.

BYU has been raising prices slowly, and eventually the geezers will be priced out.

He and I just talked this past month about my taking over payments on 2 of his 4 seats. They are currently in the name of his oldest son, but his oldest only wants 2 of the 4 now (he thinks they are too expensive), so I may wind up buying the other 2. not sure, though.

Someone should do the research anyway, give it to the athletic department, give it to Samuelson, and post it on all the boards. It just blows the mind that people who have the means and the desire to donate 5 figures to the athletic department cannot have access to great seats - you almost can't overstimate how much money the athletic department is losing here.

Those seats might get you some good dates.

Case in point.

I disagree. Ira Fulton is the biggest donor to BYU athletics in history and I doubt he could tell you BYU's last two bowl opponents.

If you have passion for BYU, you have a right to voice your opinion. 71 has more passion for BYU than some guys that donate more than he does, and some guys that donate a lot less than 71 have more passion than he does. If 90% of your casual wear is BYU gear, you plan your vacations around BYU games, and you can name the starting QB's for each year going back to 1972, then you have every right to voice your opinion for BYU no matter how much you donate.

My dates prefer the East stands.

Yikes.

I know people like this. And I'm dangerously close.

I have a relative who is well connected. He is very much "in the know" of things that happen at BYU and in the church.

Over Thanksgiving, I mentioned to him that Jerry Jones annouced the $100,000 donation requirement for the rights to purchase the best seats in the Cowboys new billion-dollar stadium.

We got into a discussion similar to this thread. He told me that every year, the Legacy donors and other prominent members of the church that have ties to BYU are solicited for additional donations, and every year, over $50 million is raised for the university.

Bullcrap.

BYU gets nowhere close to $50M per year in donations to athletic department. Maybe 1/10th of that.

He said the university, not the athletic department.

Legacies (and non CC donors) definitely are hit up each year, and definitely give each year...Coaches Circle, CC, and stuff that doesnt even go towards athletics, such as funding for new campus buildings, etc..

I have no way of knowing, but $50MM a year in donations, particularly repetitive ones, seems awfully high.

Santos may know for sure since he seems to have access to the LDS Church accounting database. But I would venture to guess that $50MM is high.

Not the athletic department, but the whole university.

No I don't have access to church accounting database at all. But I have some knowledge of church and BYU finances.

$50M seems high but not ordinately high for BYU as a whole. They're always building and always asking for money. It seems a few years ago when Bateman did a big push they got much more than $50M like several times that number. Athletic department got a portion of that to build indoor practice facility.

Athletic budget is $25M a year and basically breaks even. Might turn a small profit or migh run a small deficit depending on the year. Donations to athletic dept are included in the top line revenue.

They'll run a capital project for building or recently for coaches salaries and put in in an endowment where just the interest is considered revenue for athletic department.

I believe BYU requires $500M in tithing money, so $50M doesn't go too far with that.

$50M also wouldn't be a large number compared to what other universities get in donations every year.

Then again, what does it matter? Church gets tithing, BYU donations, BYU athletic dept donations. Church uses all of it to fund its projects, including BYU athletics. Hey to ALUF's. :)

Everone has a right to voice their opinion. The people at BYU are very cordial to me and treat me with respect. That being said, they really don't care about my lone opinion. Rightly so. What I have always said is that if the majority or Legacy CC members feel the way I do, they will listen to my voice, as part of that group.

It is my guess that a concensus, or near concensus, opinion of 200 Legacy Members who are semi passionate count for more than 2,000 passionate fans who watch the games on TV and don't even join the CC as $100 members.

I think the problem is this:

When you bring up how much money you donate to BYU, people assume you're saying your opinion is more important than theirs because you are loaded. With money, not booze.

I think.

That doesn't sit well with most people.

Valid point. I will come clean. I borrowed the money I donated.

One you pay back the loan, then I will care about your opinion with regards to BYU sports.

Also, I have moved you from my "Legacy Ignore" list back down to my rank and file "Ignore" list.

Those legacy tickets have been killing BYU crowds and finances for a generation. They have also contributed to the miserly attitude of many BYU football fans.

Now that we have gotten back to on the field success the fanbase is going to need to pony up. I just looked up the Bama season ticket pricing and they have waiting lists to fill a 93,000 seat stadium! And they have had one good team in the last five years. Furthermore they have a smaller, less affluent alumni base. It is this same way all throughout the SEC and Big XII and so on.

http://www.rolltide.com/fls/8000/fil...DB_OEM_ID=8000

In order to really mount a challenge to the big boys, all aspects of the program need to pull their weight and that is where the money boys come in. Just count your donations as part of your tithing. It is all going to the same place isn't it? :)

You really think Bama has a smaller and less afluent alumni base?