Ticket price hike called a financial move

Athletic Department officials defended their price increase for Quaker basketball season tickets, saying the raise was necessary due to increased costs and expenses. And the decision had nothing to do with complaints from University alumni last year that students in the first few rows would stand during the games, obstructing their view of the action, Athletic Director Paul Rubincam said last night. The move, he said, was strictly a financial one. Part of the increase will be used to help finance Palestra renovations, he added. The price for the best seats in the house was raised to $90 for the season. Other reserved seats sold for $40. Last year, all reserved seats cost $25. Fran Connors, assistant athletic director for marketing and public affairs, stressed that the $90 figure only applied to 89 seats sold to students. The vast majority of student ticket-holders would be paying $40 – an increase he called "reasonable." Connors added that major national basketball powerhouses – some of which charge less for season ticket prices – also receive so much revenue from the television rights to their games, that comparing their prices to the University's was like "comparing apples and oranges." Besides, he said, "for every Duke," which charges nothing for season tickets, "there's a Villanova," which charges up to $130. But students who were waiting in line for tickets on Friday afternoon seemed unimpressed with the increased-costs argument. Most said they could have accepted a small increase in price, but called the actual increases excessive. "What rising costs?" asked College and Wharton senior Peter Hirsh. "Are they going to fly the team to away games this year?" Engineering and Wharton junior Jason Jaslow was a bit more direct in his criticism of the increases. "I think it's bullshit," he said. "I could understand a $10 to $15 increase [for chairbacks] for cost reasons. But costs don't increase by 60, 70 bucks." College senior David Herman also said the increase was too large,Eespecially since three games will be held over winter break, and another game is against Division III Haverford. Hirsh had his own theory as to why the Athletic Department raised prices. "They know they can get away with it, so they're doing it," he said. "It sucks, but I'm willing to pay it."

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