I tried this yesterday but Brett thought I was saying this in jest. This is not a joke, nor am I making any of it up. This REALLY happened, and anyone who wants to e-mail me is welcome to do so. I wrote an e-mail to Skip Bertman last Friday in response to his latest Cyberchat. On Monday, while driving in my car, I got a call from Skip to discuss my e-mail. I spoke with him for approximately an hour. We talked about many things involving the TAF, etc. One of the things he told me was that they were not planning on going back to the Legislature to revoke the 12% rule. Instead, they were "looking at" placing a surcharge on seats in Tiger Stadium (in particular, sideline seats) which would be paid directly to the LSU A.D. He called the plan, "LSU Vision". He mentioned the charges on sideline seats ranging from $500-750. The "donation" or "surcharge" would be deductible in the same manner as any donation to the TAF. We also talked about the problems associated with the Athletic Department trying to build facilities (i.e., the public bid laws). I suggested to him that they follow Sen. Dardenne's advice and try to streamline the public bid process so that it the process was done in essentially the same manner as the TAF would do it, with the sole exception being that the process is open to public reveiw and inspection. He said they were looking into that. So, it looks like they are going forward with their plans to raise revenues. Personally, I have no problem with this plan. I simply objected to putting MILLIONS into a nonaccountable/private/SECRET corporation which isn't answerable to either the citizens of this state of the fans and alumni of LSU. At the very least, you guys must admit that Skip is trying to get a feel for what the fans want. He's reaching out and trying to do things out in the open instead of the TAF/Joe Dean "behind closed doors" method. If you have any doubts about the validity of this story, e-mail me at [email protected], and I will confirm it and send you a copy of the e-mail I sent to him on Friday.
Hey Bud, did he say from what yardline makes up sidline seats? also is that $500 -$750 per ticket. seems pretty steep to me. thanks for the info. (be kind 1st time posting )
No....... He didn't delineate which seats would get that charge. The impression I got was that the "most" they were "looking at" charging was the $500-750 (he mention $500 most prominently) for the "best" (i.e., between the 40's, 20-75 rows up) seats in the house. The other seats would be charged accordingly. He didn't say that it was ONLY the sideline seats. The impression I got was that they would look at placing a charge on ALL seats to the extent they thought it was feasible. By that I mean, they may not put a charge on Upper Upper South/North endzone seats and the upper upper deck seats. But, any surcharge they do put on those seats will be in proportion to what they put on the sideline seats (i.e., they will look to "value" the seats and "good" sideline seats will cost A LOT more than "bad" endzone seats). Again, that is only the impression I got. As to the $500-750 figure, I believe he meant "per seat". And, personally, I don't think that is "too" high. If they put those seats up for open auction, I would bet that they could FILL those seats with a $2,000 charge. He did say that they would not charge anything "that" excessive, even if it were determined that they could get that much.
Didn' The "impression" I got was that they were planning this for next year. He didn't exactly say that, nor did I ask.
Didn't ask about timing........ The "impression" I got was that they were planning this for next year. He didn't exactly say that, nor did I ask.
My conversation with Nick Saban Hey i emailed nick saban the other day and he called me and we talked for almost an hour............we talked about the stadium and how the players were doing. He said I knew a lot about LSU that he will hire me as assistant coach!!!! See ya on the sidelines baby!
Surcharges suck because they aren't reflected in the ticket face value. Why not just raise the ticket price so we can sell a ticket when we need to without losing cash?
In reply to Red55 -- Two THINGS - First, if they just raise the ticket prices, you wouldn't get a deduction under IRC section 170(l). By making the "ticket price increase" in the form of a "surcharge" or "donation," you can deduct 80% of your "contribution" as a charitable deduction from your income tax return (assuming you itemize). Second, pursuant to state law, they are SUPPOSE TO print the prorated portion of any "surcharge" or "donation" on your ticket. Further, pursuant to the state scalping laws, you can charge the prorated "charge" or "donation" for each ticket without running afoul of the state's scalping law. They could probably even structure it so that the prorated portion only applies to the SEC games, meaning you could charge more for those games. BUT, when it becomes mandatory, I will definitely inform them of their apparent duty under state law to put the prorated portion of any "donation" onto the face of the ticket.
