"The best seats in the house at Scott Stadium and parking around the facility will go to the biggest donors to the University of Virginia’s athletic program beginning with the 2008 football season.

A new football priority policy for seating and parking was announced Friday by UVa Athletics Director Craig Littlepage in conjunction with Virginia Athletics Foundation Executive Director Dirk Katstra. Copies of the policy were mailed out Thursday to donors and season-ticket holders explaining the changes.

Littlepage and Katstra said that after several years of research and discussion that it was time for UVa to institute a more equitable system.

“We recognize fully that change is difficult in many different circumstances and there will probably be some that don’t see the need for the changes that we’re suggesting at this time,” Littlepage said. “If we want to better position the athletics department to continue its growth in the future, I believe this is a necessary step.”

UVa researched several other members of the Atlantic Coast Conference and other schools nationally in evaluating how season tickets are allocated and noted that this will be the first time that UVa has fashioned its procedures in such a broad and comprehensive way.

Katstra said that while the hopes of increasing some revenue for the athletics program is one reason behind the move, the major goal was to create a fairer program.

“It is based that if I’m a donor, that the donor sitting next to me is of equal standing amongst our donor base,” Katstra said. “That’s what we believe we have accomplished with this project.”

In the past, a longtime contributor who may have donated $500 annually could have been seated beside a more recent donor who contributed significantly more. Under the new system, both would be required to make equitable donations for those seats.

“Our current system [prior to the ’08 policy] is that if you have season tickets and you order them on time and you maintain your gift, you keep your seat,” Katstra said. “This obviously will change some of that because it is dictated based on where people fall in the giving level program.”

For instance, in 1997 UVa implemented a policy that required contributions of $100 on an annual basis for seats between the 20-yard lines. Under the new system, seating between the 20-yard lines will require a minimum annual gift of $2,500.

Start saving up

Katstra said that it was decided to announce the changes now so season-ticket holders and donors will have a full year in order to understand the new policy, but that the VAF and athletic department are prepared to engage fans in conversations to fully explain the program and options.

“It will be difficult for some, but it will be a great opportunity for others,” Katstra said.

There will be 10 giving levels divided into four groups.

Group A is comprised of the Scholarship Society (requiring a 2008 gift of at least $22,600), Commonwealth Society ($12,500 to $22,599) and the V Club ($6,200 to $12,499).

Group B: Captain’s Club ($3,700-$6,199); Orange & Blue Club ($2,500-$3,699).

Group C: Coaches Club ($1,250-$2,499); Cavalier Club ($600-$1,249); Wahoo Club ($350-$599); Sabre Club ($100-$349).

Group D: Contributor Club ($1 to $99).

Those groups are followed by season-ticket holders who are not annual donors. A complete breakdown of the new policy, seating and parking options can be accessed online at www.virginiaathleticsfoundation.com or www.virginiasports.com.

Seating changes

Littlepage pointed out that the changes will allow current season-ticket holders the opportunity to retain their current seat locations, but will allow fans to upgrade their seating as well. The highest-level donors will be allowed to select their seats first, and so on throughout the four aforementioned groups.

“We know there will be a lot of conversation about this policy, which is why we wanted to implement it now,” Katstra said. “I’m not naive enough to think that this is going to go down and there won’t be people that are upset. We are prepared to hear those concerns.”

Katstra said that his office has already received some calls about the changes.

Seating that will not change is the original “lifetime seat holders” from a 1970s program when upper decks were added to the stadium. There are still 143 people who have 410 seats in that group.

Student sections and visitor’s seats are virtually the same. Faculty and staff sections (excluding those who are donors) have historically been scattered throughout the stadium, but will be moved into a defined section. The UVa band will be moved this season to conform to a new policy dictated by the ACC that will require bands to be seated outside the 20-yard line team boxes.

Based on inventory, UVa has approximately 3,000 reserved parking spaces available, only 1,800 of them at the stadium. While those have been previously assigned on a priority system, it has not been a through system like the new one where all spaces will be reassigned." (Jerry Ratcliffe, The Daily Progress, May 12, 2007)