Single-game reserved seat tickets to Kansas University men’s basketball games if you’re lucky enough to obtain one will cost $5 more for the 2000-2001 season.
At its May meeting, the Kansas University Athletics Corp. board voted to hike ticket prices from $25 already the highest in the Big 12 Conference to $30.
That translates into a $480 season ticket, plus the annual $1 that goes to the Kansas All-Sports Hall of Fame in Abilene.
The boost, which passed by a 12-5 board vote, will raise an additional $781,000 and cover a projected shortfall in the fiscal 2000-2001 operating budget.
“We’re looking at a 21/2 percent increase in salaries, an 8.85 percent increase in scholarship costs because of tuition, and housing costs are up,” KU athletics director Bob Frederick said.
Among the five dissenters was Allen Ford, a professor of business and outgoing chair of the board finance committee.
“I think raising ticket prices that are already the highest in the league will have a negative effect on campus,” Ford said.
Echoed board member Wayne Osness, a professor of health, sport and exercise: “If we’re at the top of the Big 12 now, we need to be careful. I feel the same way about tuition hikes.”
However, Dana Anderson, an alumni board member from Los Angeles, Calif., stressed the need for additional revenue.
“The money isn’t needed for basketball,” Anderson said. “It’s needed for Olympics sports and the gender-equity program. It would be wrong to add it to football tickets at this point. I think it’s the only viable alternative, as painful as it is.”
Jack Clevenger, an alumni member from Kansas City, Mo., suggested the next step might be to make patrons contribute more to the Williams Fund for quality seats.
“Every year the University of Kentucky changes its seating based on contributions,” Clevenger said. “And Arizona has a contributor price on every seat. Even the worst seat requires a contribution.”
Kansas makes no price distinctions. Reserved seats in the last row of the upper level cost the same as reserved seats in the first row of the lower level.
