The Gophers athletics department recently finalized a plan that will usher in preferred seating for season-ticket holders beginning with the 2012-13 season. The re-seating will affect all season-ticket holders.
The plan will not affect student season-ticket holders.
Current season-ticket holders will receive a brochure in the mail next week that will announce new fees and other details related to the preferred seating plan.
The current price of a season-ticket will not change ($660), according to university officials who met with reporters Tuesday. But required donations will be attached to each seat.
The best seats in Williams Arena will cost season-ticket holders $100, $250 or $400 apiece, depending on their location. The most expensive seats (midcourt) will cost Gophers men's basketball fans $1,060 annually or approximately $51 per home game.
According to David Crum, the university's director of development, Minnesota men's basketball is the only program in the Big Ten without preferred seating. A limited plan that affects about 1,000 season-tickets and has existed for more than a decade requires a $1,000 or $700 fee for specific seats.
The new plan will require fees for more than 6,000 seats at the Barn, Crum said. He said the university expects premium seating to add $1 million in additional revenue, which will be used to enhance the men's basketball program but will not be used to fund a proposed practice facility. But he said the school also understands the potential risks involved with the additional costs. "We'll lose some people. We know we'll lose some people," he said.
It's not a first-come, first-serve system.
