Rant about UT ticket office and the way things are going. 5 years ago I was “booted” from my seats down the RF line (just past 1B) and told I could either relocate to A or E and my tickets would now cost $700/pair instead of the $350/pair I was paying. I ultimately took the forced “upgrade” after arguing about why I was being moved, to no avail. Next year they bump to $1500/pair then $2200/pair the following year and they remain there today. Last Fall, I inquired about relocating somewhere cheaper (my original seats) and was told to renew at my current level and then they’d work with moving me and I’d have a credit on my account since I’m moving to cheaper seats. The move never came.
Fast forward to today, and I had a scheduled call about relocating again and was told it doesn’t look promising again. The reason why, is what pissed me off. Last year they had roughly 250 unsold seats, instead of calling those looking to relocate or folks on the waiting list, they go back to the top of donor rank and give them the opportunity to add additional tickets equivalent to what they already own (i.e. have 4 you can buy up to 4 more). As expected, most of them take advantage of the opportunity, likely only to flip them, and those “leftover” tickets never make it to the general public and/or those looking to relocate, up or down, never get the chance to do so. I asked the gal point blank, I’m basically held hostage in my current seats forever, as long as the fat cats continue to gobble up the extras? She said yes….or I can renew again at current prices/location and hope that someone doesn’t renew in the cheaper seats and that the donors above me, who get first shot, don’t scoop them up when offered first (again I’m held hostage).
They also went away from the extended payment plans (last year was 6 months I believe) and reduced it to 2 months this year, in addition to having to make a renewal decision in the summer instead of Fall as it’s always been. She said leadership wanted to expedite renewals and secure funds sooner this year.
It was a tough decision to make but I told her they’ve got 2 more in the pot for 2026 cause I’m not renewing on those terms. I wasn’t really surprised but there was no attempt to work with me, no sorry to see you go, nothing other than I’ll note that in your file.
I can’t understand the rationale of giving big donors the option of buying extra tickets when there’s a waitlist to get in. If you’re getting $2200 for 2 seats, why can’t you spread those seats out over more fans? Especially given that the ones on the waiting list will actually show up and use them as opposed to eating them if they can’t rape someone on the secondary market for them.
