Boat subsidy keeps sports fee increases at bay
Kansas still has relatively cheap athletics fees
The athletics department said it won’t increase all-sports pass fees next season.
By Luke Morris (Contact)
Thursday, March 27th, 2008
Kansas Athletics said it would not raise the price of the student all-sports pass for next year despite the success of both the football and men’s basketball teams.
Associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said that in 2006 the athletic department promised to keep the price of the sports pass the same as long as the students paid a $15 fee each semester that went toward the construction of the new boathouse for the rowing team each semester. Students also pay an additional $25 each semester that goes to women’s and non-revenue sports.
Students can buy the $150 sports pass, which gives students tickets to all home football and men’s basketball games, as part of their optional fees through the University’s “Enroll and Pay” Web site.
“The only factor for now is we want to make it as affordable as we can for students to come to games,” Marchiony said.
Mark Lienemann, Atchison junior, said he was surprised that Kansas Athletics wouldn’t raise the prices and that he wasn’t aware of the pledge to keep the price the same.
“I figured the prices would go up because of the success of our football team,” Lienemann said.
Lienemann said that raising the price wouldn’t stop him from buying the sports pass unless the price became “ridiculous.”
Kansas Athletics raised its prices for football tickets for non-student fans for the 2008 season. In 2007, season ticket prices for public, faculty-staff and recent graduate fans were $275, $225 and $200, respectively. Next season these prices will be $300, $240 and $240.
Different universities have different all-sports pass definitions. Some only include football and men’s basketball, while others include all sports. Universities like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Nebraska offer only individual season ticket options for sports.
The all-sports pass lets Kansas students into men’s basketball and football games for the fourth-cheapest price in the Big 12 Conference, according to each Big 12 university’s athletics ticket office. Only Texas, Texas Tech and Colorado have cheaper prices. Texas Tech’s tickets are the least expensive, costing student $52 each. The priciest student tickets were Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, which charge $275, $295 and $372.
Both Lienemann and Kelsey Adkins, Overland Park freshman, said they were surprised that Kansas tickets were so cheap.
“I thought we’d be one of the higher prices because we have so much history and tradition with our basketball team,” Adkins said.
Marchiony said that students should keep the quality of the different programs in mind when they look at the ticket prices.
“Considering our athletic program, it’s a very good deal when you compare it to other members of the Big 12.”
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
Discussion
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Why don't we make Women's and Non-Revenue part of the sports pass? Of course the price wouldn't go up when you force the entire student body to pay for it. Make the students who use the services from this third party corporation pay for women's and non-revenue. Then make the games free for them, and maybe $5 for everyone else. It's not fair to make me pay for a service that I don't benefit from at all, either directly or indirectly. The boathouse fee can stay. It's set to expire in 2011, and the CRU rowing team is using it as well.
CRU is a Christian group on campus... what are you talking about?
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