For anyone else who just got the email, do note that these seats are the bleacher seats behind the visitor bench.

Took me a little while to notice that. Maybe I'm just dumb, but thought I'd mention it just in case.

Cyan;511087 said:

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For anyone else who just got the email, do note that these seats are the bleacher seats behind the visitor bench.

Took me a little while to notice that. Maybe I'm just dumb, but thought I'd mention it just in case.

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They're calling them "east side" seats when they are actually south side bleacher seats. Apparently, not too many folks are enamored with the poor sight lines and lack of amenities.

I got the e-mail, I'm in section 321 now. I'm guessing it's probably a bad idea to upgrade especially because it's another $75 a ticket. Did anyone actually stand in that section during one of the tour days?

-kap

drunkoski;511093 said:

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ticket sales not going well IMO

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Hopefully they're learning their lesson before the real deal next year, but I'm not holding my breath.

kaplanfx;511094 said:

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I got the e-mail, I'm in section 321 now. I'm guessing it's probably a bad idea to upgrade especially because it's another $75 a ticket. Did anyone actually stand in that section during one of the tour days?

-kap

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From what people have said said, the sightlines are far better in the bleachers than the lower level 3b side seats. The first rows might not be that great since there will be people walking in front.

Obviously they don't have seat backs, and the restrooms are a walk. They don't serve beer anyway, so the concessions aren't a huge inconvenience (especially compared to the old memorial).

I think you'd be really, really happy with an upgrade from 321 to the bleachers between rows 20-30. Actually, the system is spitting out row 42 as the best available, so I bet a lot of people consider the back the best view (row 35 -50 were great at CMS). If you had a last row seat, you could stand and stretch whenever you wanted.

I didn't get the email - what did it say about upgrading exactly?

drunkoski;511093 said:

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ticket sales not going well IMO

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Any new information would be welcome.

Wait, so does this mean I can trade in the seats I've already purchased to get "better" seats?
Something seems a bit odd here. I thought people were sure that ATT would sell out. Sounds like previous season ticket holders aren't stepping up and there's probably good reason for not doing so. Perhaps pricing, the product and/or the economy?

ColoradoBear1;511101 said:

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I didn't get the email - what did it say about upgrading exactly?

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This was the relevant portion:

Quote:

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Option to Upgrade
As a current season ticket holder located in an eligible section, you have an exclusive window to upgrade your seats to one of these Premium Sideline Seat sections.

This is your chance to sit on the 50-yard line with a great view of the field to catch all of the action! Learn More | Seating Map

Virtual View from Seats: Section C | Section B (50 yd line) | Section A

For a list of eligible sections, click here.

To upgrade your seats, please call
(800) GO BEARS Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm PT no later than Tuesday, May 31.

If you are pleased with your current seats and do not wish to upgrade, there is no need to respond to this message. We look forward to seeing you at AT&T Park!

Premium Sideline Seat Pricing
Sections A and C: $400
Section B: $700

Premium Sideline Seat Benefits
- Reduced Price
- Option to sit on the 50-yard line
- Great view of the action and of the Cal team bench
- Awesome food vendors & easy restroom access behind the section
- Membership in Cal Bear Backers, including a charitable tax deduction

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And here's the "learn more" link: http://www.calbears.com/calfootballsf/premium_sideline.html

The new pricing for the bleacher seats is essentially $200 lower than the original pricing. So all the bleacher seats cost $100 per ticket now, with the same donation levels in place (either $300 or $600 depending on the section). I think the ATO should be able to sell these as single tickets at this pricing level for most games (maybe not PBH).

Seems like a smart move overall.

kaplanfx;511094 said:

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Did anyone actually stand in that section during one of the tour days?

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I don't think anyone could because I don't think they were set up during the tours, but I could be wrong. I went during the Giants fan appreciation day and I know they weren't up then.

75bear;511116 said:

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I think the ATO should be able to sell these as single tickets at this pricing level for most games (maybe not PBH).

Seems like a smart move overall.

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They could probably sell USC for $125-$150 (the fresno game has $125 seats at the stick), Presby for $50, and the others for $75 and donors would snatch up most before the suckers hit the general public. Additional reserved seats at CMS were $51 for most games, $66 for USC and were FAR FAR worse than the bleachers @ ATT.

Regardless of whether this is due to poor ticket sales or not - I think the problem is that I don't want a bunch of outsiders sitting right behind our boys making them feel like they are playing 12 road games. We gotta get those bleachers filled by CAL fans!

Cyan;511112 said:

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This was the relevant portion:

And here's the "learn more" link: http://www.calbears.com/calfootballsf/premium_sideline.html

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Thanks. I'm pretty happy with view box, but this is something to think about.

115 to 119 are listed as even exchange sections ($300 + $100 donation). If I were in those corner sections, I would absolutely rush to get bleachers at the same price.

drunkoski;511113 said:

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dropping ticket prices isn't enough evidence for you? ato doing it out of the goodness of their heart i suppose.

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...than the obvious. This was entirely predictable back in early April. Or maybe you didn't see these threads?

Estimated Sales at AT&T through Sunday afternoon (March 27)

Estimated AT&T Ticket Sales through April 2

Estimated AT&T Ticket Sales through April 9 (Week 4)

Tedhead94;511129 said:

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Regardless of whether this is due to poor ticket sales or not - I think the problem is that I don't want a bunch of outsiders sitting right behind our boys making them feel like they are playing 12 road games. We gotta get those bleachers filled by CAL fans!

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Cal bench is on the opposite side of the field from the bleachers

CalBearForever;511107 said:

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Wait, so does this mean I can trade in the seats I've already purchased to get "better" seats?
Something seems a bit odd here. I thought people were sure that ATT would sell out. Sounds like previous season ticket holders aren't stepping up and there's probably good reason for not doing so. Perhaps pricing, the product and/or the economy?

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I think people were sure that AT&T would sell out until the team went 5-7 and the AD saw fit to have hefty donation requirements for most of the seats. The seats with low or no donation requirements and the ESP seats went pretty quickly. It was the high donation, non-ESP seats that just sat there. If the goal was to sell out AT&T, I think it could've been done pretty easily with a less aggressive donation policy. In an effort to maximize revenue, the AD severely overestimated demand at various price points and is now scrambling. Someone needs to lose their job over this. Anyone with a room temperature IQ could have predicted this when the prices were first published.

Tedhead94;511129 said:

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Regardless of whether this is due to poor ticket sales or not - I think the problem is that I don't want a bunch of outsiders sitting right behind our boys making them feel like they are playing 12 road games. We gotta get those bleachers filled by CAL fans!

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will be behind the Visitor's Bench.

I think the configuration for AT&T Park was not well thought out. There are a number of reasons for this, which I may elaborate on later.

Suffice it to say that Sandy Barbour talked about AT&T Park being a bridge between Old Cal Memorial (2010) and New Cal Memorial (2012). The configuration fails on a number of levels. If one takes the assertion seriously that AT&T is a bridge, then there ought to be concerns about what AT&T's configuration means for 2012.

Oh that's right - we aren't doubling the sidelines up like in the Emerald bowl. Sorry, senior moment.

drunkoski;511142 said:

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i think they severely underestimated the number of people willing to sit out this season. they assume all season ticket holders are lemmings and will renew no matter what the price or the performance on the field. most of the non-bay area cal fans i know haven't bought season tickets this year. the cost/benefit isn't worth it.

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Never mind that there would be season ticket holders sitting out the 2011 season at AT&T. I think that anyone who has observed ticket buying behavior for Cal football over a number of years would have reasonably expected some number of season ticket holders would not renew.

Consider:

• at Cal Memorial (CMS), the total inventory of seats with donations was 19,501 seats (incl. Young Alumni)
  
• at AT&T Park, the total inventory of seats with donations is 25,703 (incl. New Alumni).
  
• The difference in capacity between CMS (71,799) and AT&T (approx. 45,000) reflects a reduction of 26,799 or, in percentage terms, a reduction of approx. 37.3%
  
• The number of seats requiring a donation at AT&T is 6,202 greater than at CMS. In percentage terms, that's an increase of 31.8%.
  
• If one compare's percentage of donation seats at CMS to donation seats at AT&T, the relevant numbers are 27.2% at CMS and 57.1% at AT&T.
  

One can only wonder at the logic that says you increase both the raw number of seats requiring a donation and the percent of total seats in a temporary venue that seats 37% fewer people.

Sorry to say that Marketing screwed up. Big time.

drunkoski;511142 said:

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i think they severely underestimated the number of people willing to sit out this season. they assume all season ticket holders are lemmings and will renew no matter what the price or the performance on the field. most of the non-bay area cal fans i know haven't bought season tickets this year. the cost/benefit isn't worth it.

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They also blew a golden opportunity (or are in the process of blowing it anyway). The whole advantage of moving to AT&T, especially in a year where it's likely that the NFL season won't start on time, is to attract new fans who are not already affiliated with the university somehow. These fans aren't going to be the ones who buy season tickets with huge donation requirements. If the goal is to have a decent walk up for individual games, mission accomplished I guess.

I guess the problem is that the AD was so desperate for funds in today's environment that they couldn't see beyond their own noses. In an effort to maximize revenue this year, they didn't think about how to grow interest in the program long term.

I think you're being too kind to suggest they care at all about growing the fanbase. I think their policies show quite clearly that they simply intend to milk the existing fanbase for as much as they can get, and then blame that fanbase if they come up short.

I know this thread is about the bleachers, but what about the seats on the home side, say between the 30's?? Wasn't the donation level for those something like $1,200 per seat? I thought it looked pretty sparse before we stopped being able to see the seats sold..Will they be dropping prices on those as well?? Being right behind our bench, it would be a travesty to have visiting team fans filling up those seats..

Cal sold just under half of the seats in Secs. 125-127 by April 9. I doubt many more were sold since then.

If those seats are sold at a pro-rated price to include donation, they'll start at $60 for the ticket price and $240 for the donation = $300 per seat per game. At that price, I think it unlikely that you'd get many takers from visiting fans.

If ATO were to vary the pricing based on the opponent, and USC tickets were to cost more than Utah, Oregon State, Washington State, and Presbyterian, then you might have a range anywhere from $100 to $450 (maybe even $500).

Again, it doesn't seem that you'd get much in the way of takers from visiting fans.

The ATO knows the USC game has been commanding huge prices and I believe they are going to take advantage of it this year.

I am one of the suckers that bought the sideline bleachers at full price. I got aisle seats at the 50 yard line 20 or so rows back and think the view will be as good from there as from anywhere else in the stadium. I'm used to having no amenities or seatbacks, so I can live with it for 5 more games.

I'm a bit surprised that there were no other takers but I guess people at that price level preferred to have upper deck seats at the 20 yard line or spent a bit more money to get central upper deck seats (I think they were $200 additional donation per ticket).

I'm hoping most of these seats eventually get sold to Cal fans because I would hate to be in a visitor's section for the SC game.

I was in section 321, so I was able to do an even exchange with sections A or C.

I was able to change to the 35 yard line, row 35ish. Pretty good trade from ~5 yard line to the 35 yard line.

If you're an ESP participant, you can grab these season tickets for $100 each. I just picked some up at midfield.

calalum81;511547 said:

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If you're an ESP participant, you can grab these season tickets for $100 each. I just picked some up at midfield.

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premium bench and chairbacks basketball seat holders should be able to do similar if I understand the donation scheme correctly (it would at least be worth a call to the ATO for someone in that situation). very interesting to lower the ticket prices and not donation level. it does reward larger donors though.

I did a similar exchange. I'll miss the chairbacks and wider seats, but I'll have a much better view--the seats offer a premium perspective. Plus, I get additional donation credit without paying any extra. While the decision is not without some potential downsides, I'm very happy with my decision overall.

Just exchanged tickets. Went from section 118 to section A. Moved up about 15 rows. It's hard to tell where exactly my seats are, given the slight differences in every stadium map I've seen, but they're somewhere between the 10 and 25 yard line. Oh...and my "donation" went from $400 for 4 tickets to $1200. That's gotta be worth a few extra priority points.

If you're in the corner end zone, this move seems like a no brainer.

I just "upgraded" to bleacher bum status!