Posted on: Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Premium seat sales moving at good clip
Advertiser Staff
The University of Hawai'i's first attempt at so-called "high-roller" seating for football has resulted in sales of "more than half of the available inventory of loge seats" at Aloha Stadium, the school announced yesterday.
Vince Baldemor, executive director of 'Ahahui Koa Anuenue, the athletic department booster organization, said the school hopes to sell the entire 660-seat section by the June 30 deadline. "We're off to a great start," Baldemor said.
The school secured Board of Regents approval in February to take back the 660 seats in the brown loge area and repackage them for high-end sales. Ticket packages for four to eight seats in the area plus parking and other ticket considerations are priced at $3,500-$15,000 for 2005 and rise to $5,000-$20,000 by 2007. The seats had been priced at $125.
A new loge ticket purchaser who asked that his family's name be omitted, said, "we'd naturally prefer to pay less for our seats but realize this is the price you have to pay to have a successful Division I athletic program."
Baldemor said loge section buyers "are a good mix of individuals buying packages as well as corporations stepping up" but was not immediately able to provide a breakdown.
UH officials have said the repricing of the loge and other seating areas should provide at least $1 million in additional funds to an athletic department attempting to end three consecutive years of a budget deficit.
2005 UH Schedule
* WAC game
