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Kokua Line
Question: I've had season tickets at Aloha Stadium since it opened, but now I am a senior citizen. Will I have to move to the senior sections? Or will they honor the seats I've had for 25 years and charge me a senior discount, or at least not charge me for having a good seat? I think it's discrimination otherwise. Some stadium seating
prices are going upAnswer: Unfortunately, the financial realities of life are catching up with University of Hawaii football fans.
If your seats are along the sidelines, and depending on where you are, you will begin paying more for them. If you want a senior citizen discount, whether per game or as part of season tickets, you'll have to sit in the north end zone.
This "price discrimination" is an accepted part of doing business, said associate UH athletic director Jim Donovan, adding that it's no different from airlines offering senior discounts with restrictions.
Discounts for seniors, as well as for students, are offered as a means of filling up the north end zone, which is typically the hardest section to fill, Donovan said.
By comparison, the new "premium" pricing is meant to acknowledge the "perceived" extra value of certain seats.
In the past, the UH typically set a general price either for a sideline seat or an end-zone seat, he said.
"That is very archaic in a business sense, because we were not pricing very well to perceived value," he said. "Perceived value," for example, is that 50-yard-line seats "are worth an awful lot more" than those on the five-yard line.
"All we're trying to do is change the pricing of the stadium to match the perceived value of the seats," Donovan said. "That's a difficult concept for people who have sat in the same seats for 25 years."
In addition to charging more for sideline seats, the UH will be charging a "premium" fee for certain sections.
Donovan maintains this "new concept" will benefit fans because "The IRS code says if you make a donation in conjunction with the purchase of athletic tickets, up to 80 percent is tax deductible." The tax deduction is good only for the premium fee.
Although the UH Board of Regents approved new ticket prices in February, the last-minute pullout by the University of Texas in the season-opener has forced the UH to revamp prices and delay the sale of season tickets.
Instead of Texas, the UH now will play the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in December.
The regents had approved season tickets of $140 (sideline) and $122 (end zone), as well as premium fees ranging from $12 to $25 per seat. Individual ticket prices were $17 to $24 for sideline seats and $14 to $20 for end-zone seats, depending on the game.
Next month, the regents probably will be asked to reduce the cost of season tickets by $5, to reflect the change in opponents. Sideline seats for the Texas game were to be $24; sideline seats for the UNLV probably will be $19, Donovan said. Per-game ticket costs will remain $17 to $24 for sideline seats.
Season ticket renewals won't be sent out until May or June. Donovan said the UH is "one of the last schools to go to premium donation for prime seats."
Mahalo
To the "good Samaritan" who found my handbag inside the shopping cart and to the Safeway Kaneohe staff who returned it (intact) to me on Feb. 25. Thank God for angels like you who make our lives safer and happier. May good luck and the best in life follow you all. -- Anonymous
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