Experience as a Tennessee Shareholder Society Members: Fell Short of Our Expectations

#26
#26
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
It’s a lot of money compared to what it used to cost. It’s also a lot of money compared to what it costs even at much better programs. White has gouged fans since he got here because he has had the good fortune to be able to bend a fanbase starved for wins over a barrel when we started winning a little bit. Yet the amenities and gameday experience within his control but outside the lines of play have largely suffered despite the increased revenue
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There are season tickets in Neyland priced at $375 all in because of White. When considering inflation, that's about half what those same sections cost 30 years ago.

In the SEC, Bama, UGA, Texas, SCAR and A&M are all more per game than Tennessee.

Top 10 most expensive college football game day experiences for 2025
 
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#29
#29
DaddyChad said:
As far as the thread, yeah it seems like the better the times the more focused the AD gets on just the money.
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Rather than adding more people to chip in, we’re trying to squeeze more out of the people who are already here. I guess in the sports industry, there’s no long term growth and you just have to strike while the iron is hot.

No one see’s things in the way General Neyland once did, anymore. I doubt the stadium would have reached 100,000 capacity with the constant ticket hikes we’re seeing now.
 
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#30
#30
GBO22 said:
Hello fellow Volunteer fans,
After a few years as a UT Athletic donor and discussions with UT Athletic staff, I wanted to share our experiences as a member of the Shareholder Society. We joined the Shareholder Society in 2021 after experiencing challenges securing baseball tickets within the existing Lindsey Nelson Stadium (LNS). The benefits of the Shareholder Society, particularly access to unique player and coach engagements and a path to acquiring season tickets, were a big part of our decision. I'm sharing our story in the hope that it will encourage the UT Athletics Department to improve transparency and make the experience more rewarding for all donors, both current and future.

The Promise of Shareholder Benefits​

We were particularly excited about two key benefits:
  • Access to unique player/coach events, like attending team practices.
  • The ability to accelerate our donor ranking to improve access to season tickets.
When we joined, we were under the impression that our commitment would put us on a clear path to secure baseball season tickets as LNS stadium capacity increased. The process, as it was described to us, seemed straightforward: non-ticket holders would be placed on a waiting list, and tickets would be distributed based on donor rank.

The Lack of Transparency in Ticket Distribution​

My understanding of the ticket distribution process was completely upended recently. Before the start of the 2025 baseball season, I emailed the season ticket coordinator to check on my status. I was informed I was around #380 on the waitlist with a donor rank of around 2,500. This was promising considering the stadium growth. However, further conversations revealed a different process. It turns out that tickets are not simply allocated based on the waitlist. Instead, the top 500 donors are contacted first and offered the chance to increase their ticket allocations, even if they hadn't previously requested more seats.

This discovery was incredibly disappointing and made me feel misled by the athletic staff. The current system of allocating more and more tickets to the top echelon of donors means that it was generally pointless to join Shareholders Society and donating $25,000 in UT Athletics. I pressed the Athletic Department to make the process more transparent on the front end to allow Volunteer fans to make donations based on the fact new stadium capacity isn't translating into those on the waitlist securing access to new seats.
My chief argument was the current ticket distribution model allows top tier donors to accumulate 10-20 seats per donor and pass seats off to business associates or extended family. I offered you are going to alienate a lot of $25-50K donors such as myself that will end up never donating again. This didn't seem to alarm the UT Athletic staff.

In July, I requested a meeting with the leadership team of the Shareholder Society to address my concerns. During the call, it was shared that it would take a donation around $500K to ensure I or anyone else secured baseball tickets for the upcoming season. I was informed no change to allowing top donors access to more and more tickets as the stadium capacity increases as planned.

My wife and I remain avid fans of the respective sport programs but offer our experience as a warning before anyone commits donations with the expectations it translates into season tickets. Even as a Tennessee Letterman it impacts my desire to give back to UT at this point forward. At least to the Athletic program- a number of other giving opportunities exist at Tennessee that are righteous from our perspective.

Also happy to answer questions if any Vol fans are considering joining the Shareholder Society and some of the benefits we enjoyed from the program. Charlie @ rcharlesepperson@gmail.com
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I was told same as you when they were trying to get me to join the Shareholders Society. Something seemed off to me and I declined. I am glad someone posted about this.
 
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#31
#31
BristolVol said:
I was told same as you when they were trying to get me to join the Shareholders Society. Something seemed off to me and I declined. I am glad someone posted about this.
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When I spoke to the Athletic Dept a month ago and urged them to provide more transparency on how they distribute tickets to donors- I could tell my concerns weren’t taken seriously.

Hence this post to allow Vols that read the forum a better understanding before committing significant funds to the program.
 
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#32
#32
My wife and I joined in 2022, and we’ve genuinely enjoyed a lot of the perks. Some highlights for us have been pregame sideline passes for one home game a season, a pregame house party at Danny White’s house, and random premium seating opportunities (court side for basketball, porch for baseball, east club for football) usually once a season. Events like “Paint the Checkerboard” are a blast, and the pregame gatherings often come with free food and drinks before away games. We’ve also been able to attend several football and basketball practices, which has been a great experience.

I completely understand the frustration about donor rank and the ticket distribution process, and it’s a valid concern. At the same time, the other Shareholder Society benefits shouldn’t be overlooked, as we’ve thoroughly enjoyed them. For us, the $25k level spread over 5 years comes out to about $416/month, basically the cost of a car payment, and thankfully our business has allowed us to make that commitment. While the rank/ticket issue is something I’d love to see addressed, the experiences themselves have been well worth it for us so far.
 
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#33
#33
BigTimeVols said:
My wife and I joined in 2022, and we’ve genuinely enjoyed a lot of the perks. Some highlights for us have been pregame sideline passes for one home game a season, a pregame house party at Danny White’s house, and random premium seating opportunities (court side for basketball, porch for baseball, east club for football) usually once a season. Events like “Paint the Checkerboard” are a blast, and the pregame gatherings often come with free food and drinks before away games. We’ve also been able to attend several football and basketball practices, which has been a great experience.

I completely understand the frustration about donor rank and the ticket distribution process, and it’s a valid concern. At the same time, the other Shareholder Society benefits shouldn’t be overlooked, as we’ve thoroughly enjoyed them. For us, the $25k level spread over 5 years comes out to about $416/month, basically the cost of a car payment, and thankfully our business has allowed us to make that commitment. While the rank/ticket issue is something I’d love to see addressed, the experiences themselves have been well worth it for us so far.
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Certainly a few perks that are unique to the Shareholders Society. However, when I inquired on moving our football seats from Section U down to East or West Club I was informed it requires a “capital donation”. I was like didn’t I already make that donation.

The ability to leverage any of the perks is highly driven by the rep you are assigned. I spared this thread my complaints to the Athletic Dept on the lack of comms to take advantage of some of the events. A few we missed out on and I eventually asked to get a new rep to finish out our time in the program.
 
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#37
#37
Proud Army Wife said:
If you’re getting 50yard line seats in the first 20 rows yeah, but $500 for 2 tickets in the upper decks for a big game once every 2-3years is feasible. This is what I do.
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He said he wanted to take Dad and kids (plural) so we're talking at least 4 tickets
 
#38
#38
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
It’s a lot of money compared to what it used to cost. It’s also a lot of money compared to what it costs even at much better programs. White has gouged fans since he got here because he has had the good fortune to be able to bend a fanbase starved for wins over a barrel when we started winning a little bit. Yet the amenities and gameday experience within his control but outside the lines of play have largely suffered despite the increased revenue
Click to expand...
Who has "much better" programs ? Never mind. You don't know. You have a real knack for sliding in an insult or a slight to our teams in almost every post. If you actually do go to games, you probably shouldn't post your seat assignment
 
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#39
#39
GBO22 said:
When I spoke to the Athletic Dept a month ago and urged them to provide more transparency on how they distribute tickets to donors- I could tell my concerns weren’t taken seriously.

Hence this post to allow Vols that read the forum a better understanding before committing significant funds to the program.
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You hit on something I've begged for from them for about 3 seasons now. The communication has been nonexistent and almost adversarial at times. It feels like the level of donor they'll actually deal with keeps getting higher and higher. I don't understand how that's sustainable in any fashion.

I'm about 1,000 or so slots behind you so I almost expect it to be worse for me (which is still pretty awful given the yearly total spend and age of the account). But its par for the course with them. As much as I enjoy attending the actual sporting events I go to, I hold the same level of animus and frustration toward the Athletic Dept. and the TN Fund. They are exhausting. Simply exhausting.

Seeing that it extends to the damn Shareholder's Society is extremely disappointing given how it was sold.

I firmly believe there is a rapidly growing number of people who are fed up with them and ready to just walk away and watch from home or elsewhere...
 
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#40
#40
37620VOL said:
That's so subjective. Most normal people can't drop a grand even for a special memory.
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Yep. It wasn't to awfully long ago, maybe pre-covid by now that my son bought me (us) tickets for my birthday to a South Carolina game, then a UGA game the following year or two years later. The Carolina game we were first row behind the recruits area and it was not teriibly priced. The UGA game, we were visitor side top row lower section and that was last time I got tickets. At best those tickets were double or more than the front row of a Carolina game. Best deal combined of the whole experience with him was 3 trips to Gus' and one stop at 17th St Market. He is a believer in Gus' now.

Point of agreement is we are normal people and shucking over $400 for a UGA game to sit where we did was a big deal and ended that 2 bday run of of game tickets. I'd hate to see now what the cheapest game of the season even costs.

The experience...yes. I had been to 3 UT games in my life way back in my 20's. He had never been to a college game other than TnTech. Best $10 we spent for sports. For me, those two games were more about him, and I knew I was gonna pay it forward by introducing him to Gus'. But, I'd never offer to spend my money again for him to buy me overpriced tickets anymore. I kept some things we brought home in the spare bedroom upstairs. Wrote a note and placed it inside one of the items in case he goes through the stuff down the road sometime.
 
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#41
#41
37620VOL said:
He said he wanted to take Dad and kids (plural) so we're talking at least 4 tickets
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And he said dad with heart condition, so we're talking as low as possible, not upper level. So they prob looking at $2500+ easy.

And the game makes a difference. Our 1st row SC tickets were well under $300 6 years ago or so. THe last row lower level which was still nose bleed for me, was almost $500.
 
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#42
#42
Sounds like they might need to specify upfront that this society is not intended as an avenue for acquiring season tickets.
 
#43
#43
GVF said:
And he said dad with heart condition, so we're talking as low as possible, not upper level. So they prob looking at $2500+ easy.

And the game makes a difference. Our 1st row SC tickets were well under $300 6 years ago or so. THe last row lower level which was still nose bleed for me, was almost $500.
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The last time I've sat lower-level sideline was when Pig Howard fumbled in OT. It's the only time I've ever been in Neyland and lost. Not a fun experience.
 
#45
#45
WallyBalls said:
You hit on something I've begged for from them for about 3 seasons now. The communication has been nonexistent and almost adversarial at times. It feels like the level of donor they'll actually deal with keeps getting higher and higher. I don't understand how that's sustainable in any fashion.

I'm about 1,000 or so slots behind you so I almost expect it to be worse for me (which is still pretty awful given the yearly total spend and age of the account). But its par for the course with them. As much as I enjoy attending the actual sporting events I go to, I hold the same level of animus and frustration toward the Athletic Dept. and the TN Fund. They are exhausting. Simply exhausting.

Seeing that it extends to the damn Shareholder's Society is extremely disappointing given how it was sold.

I firmly believe there is a rapidly growing number of people who are fed up with them and ready to just walk away and watch from home or elsewhere...
Click to expand...
My wife and I realized we can purchase baseball tickets on the secondary market and sit wherever our hearts and wallet allows us. As you note, we are also just as happy to watch the games on ESPN these days.

During my last call with the Athletic Department, their rep attempted to give me grief over buying tickets from season tix holders as it perpetuates the problem of the secondary market. I was like dude I can’t get season tickets and you guys can’t get MVP tix holders to come to the games. I’ll buy tixs from anyone that can’t attend the games and happy to do so.

Shared experience on interactions turning mostly adversarial after I shared my concerns. At the end of the day, I felt the message board was a better sounding board than letters and calls to the AD.
 
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#46
#46
GBO22 said:
My wife and I realized we can purchase baseball tickets on the secondary market and sit wherever our hearts and wallet allows us. As you note, we are also just as happy to watch the games on ESPN these days.

During my last call with the Athletic Department, their rep attempted to give me grief over buying tickets from season tix holders as it perpetuates the problem of the secondary market. I was like dude I can’t get season tickets and you guys can’t get MVP tix holders to come to the games. I’ll buy tixs from anyone that can’t attend the games and happy to do so.

Shared experience on interactions turning mostly adversarial after I shared my concerns. At the end of the day, I felt the message board was a better sounding board than letters and calls to the AD.
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You would think the message would get through. I would have to assume the message got through clearly and the administration jdgaf
 
#47
#47
BernardKingGOAT said:
Who has "much better" programs ? Never mind. You don't know. You have a real knack for sliding in an insult or a slight to our teams in almost every post. If you actually do go to games, you probably shouldn't post your seat assignment
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THE most negative poster on VN. Hands down.

Nearly EVERY single post he makes is crapping on the VOLS in one way or another. I don't even think the guy is a UT fan. Can't be. How can you be a fan of a school and its athletic programs when ALL YOU DO is beitch about them? Its every thread....every post...every day.

Just a completely miserable bastage that wants desperately for everyone else to be miserable too. Misery loves company. 100% TRUE in this case. I noticed that a couple folks have begun posting an "Eor" image from Winnie the Poo every time they see him complaining (posting). It's perfect...just like his handle. Got to be the most jaded, cynical, butthurt dude on Earth. THIS IS THE GOLDEN AGE of UT sports. We just won the award for winningest school across all sports in the SEC...2 years in a row IIRC. We have never been this good in all the big sports in my 48 years of life. Yet this dude talks crap about UT incessantly. Insane.
GO VOLS. WGWTFA
 
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#48
#48
37620VOL said:
The last time I've sat lower-level sideline was when Pig Howard fumbled in OT. It's the only time I've ever been in Neyland and lost. Not a fun experience.
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Being it was front row, I honestly don't know how we acquired those seats so cheaply that we could afford them. And I've lost track of which year for each game, but best timelines I can put together is 2019 for SoCar and 2021 for UGA. Pretty sure cause that '21 UGA game we came out guns blazing and scored right off, then GA did what they do.

That area of the front row behind the recruit hangout on home side is about end zone/goal line. So, alot of the game downfield was watched on the Jumbo Tron. I doubt those seats would have been in the $200's all in for a UGA game cause the seats we did have for UGA were definitely stroking $400 plus even where we were at. But, we did get to get a pic and autograph with Witten at the railing. To this day though I bleieve the only reason he bought me the tickets to the UGA game is he knew I'd take him to Gus' and he still says that's the best philly he's had. But, for those that walk past 17th St Market and don't stop...big mistake. They got ribs and wings and stuff on hte smokers out front, but the wings were the real treat. Smoked, then crispy fried naked upon ordering inside with a dusting of yellow curry powder. That was life changing flavor town type stuff.
 
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#49
#49
GVF said:
Being it was front row, I honestly don't know how we acquired those seats so cheaply that we could afford them. And I've lost track of which year for each game, but best timelines I can put together is 2019 for SoCar and 2021 for UGA. Pretty sure cause that '21 UGA game we came out guns blazing and scored right off, then GA did what they do.

That area of the front row behind the recruit hangout on home side is about end zone/goal line. So, alot of the game downfield was watched on the Jumbo Tron. I doubt those seats would have been in the $200's all in for a UGA game cause the seats we did have for UGA were definitely stroking $400 plus even where we were at. But, we did get to get a pic and autograph with Witten at the railing. To this day though I bleieve the only reason he bought me the tickets to the UGA game is he knew I'd take him to Gus' and he still says that's the best philly he's had. But, for those that walk past 17th St Market and don't stop...big mistake. They got ribs and wings and stuff on hte smokers out front, but the wings were the real treat. Smoked, then crispy fried naked upon ordering inside with a dusting of yellow curry powder. That was life changing flavor town type stuff.
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I remember the year only because of the Pig Howard deal and the fact that it's my wife's fault. It was getting late and the game went to OT. My wife was anxious about getting back to our young kids so she prayed and I quote "that the coach that gives God the most glory would win". SMH

Why couldn't she pray for the coach with the dumbest slogans to win?
 
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#50
#50
I pretty much stopped going to the football games. Mid 50s and enough money to go but just can’t bring myself to spend that kind of cash. Maybe that’s why I have enough money. Too bad though because I know there’s a lot of families with kids out there that would love to experience a big orange football game, but they probably won’t get that chance. Money money money.
 
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