attendance issues

[ABC]

There were still quite a few empty seats sprinkled around on Saturday. There were about a dozen unused/no-show seats near us. Some are season tickets, some are not. There is a cluster of seats that were previously held by a car dealer they let go and that didn't resell as season tickets (I'm sure the buy-in was astronomical); those seats have been vacant almost every game so far. I don't mind though, we can spread out and have a place for coats.

The Athletics Department & SASO needs to figure things out. I'm sure there has been a SASO drop since the Trump Tax Reform due to the removal of deductible "donations" for premium seating. But, the rumblings of prices I have heard about buying-in to lower level seating are insane. The atmosphere is declining because there are fewer folks coming to the games.

Last thing, I'm ready to believe that the access to upper level seats is a problem and will only get worse. It is fact that a huge portion of the fan base that attends games are our older long-time die-hard fans. Also, the pricing structure of season tickets has relegated many of these fans to the upper reaches of Koch arena. Facilities/Athletics needs to address accessibility, especially hand rails above the entrance portals to the top. If a few hundred seats are lost, so what? It won't be much longer before many of those people aren't going to be able to get to their seats anyway so they won't renew. I think this is worthy of a serious look. I would hate for someone to fall and get badly injured up there.

The Trump tax cuts didn't remove the deduction. The standard deduction was raised to $24K so that most folks won't be taking itemized charitable deductions.

[wichshock65]

I'm no engineer, but I don't think that is feasible

I've always loved trains.

[1972Shocker]

The Trump tax cuts didn't remove the deduction. The standard deduction was raised to $24K so that most folks won't be taking itemized charitable deductions.

I don't believe that is correct.

https://shockernet.net/forum/wichita...69#post1090169

As I stated in the previous report SASO contributions not connected to seating rights could still be deducted as a charitable contribution. However, SASO donations made and required to obtain seating are not deductible.

Most of the high-dollar SASO contributors have itemized deductions that far exceed the $24k standard deduction.

That said I doubt the tax-impact deters very may high-level donors.

Now if you would ever eliminate their close by parking rights or Champions Club access you might have a problem.

[Stickboy46]

The Trump tax cuts didn't remove the deduction. The standard deduction was raised to $24K so that most folks won't be taking itemized charitable deductions.

It did both... You get a higher deduction but can no longer deduct donations tied to seating

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf

[MadDog]

I think they immediately need to cut the price of unsold Abilene Christian seats to $5 and start advertising that fact. There were plenty of unsold seats behind the baselines yesterday. I think that may of been because the athletic department was so late in the week discounting the tickets. Let’s be realistic. Abilene Christian is probably the weakest team on the schedule. GA tickets are overpriced. Game is on Sunday going head to head with NFL games. It will take a good deal to get the fans out for this game.

[ABC]

I stand corrected. For most SASO contributors, the non-deductibility isn't an issue because they aren't getting to the $24K deductibility threshold. I thought I read that there might be a tax credit of some kind. But for businesses, I would think the SASO contribution would be a deductible business expense.

[ABC]

Some attendance from yesterday. Kentucky-Ohio State: 12,000 in Vegas; Cincy-Iowa 6800 in Chicago; KSU-St Louis, 11K in KC.

[jcdshocker]

I stand corrected. For most SASO contributors, the non-deductibility isn't an issue because they aren't getting to the $24K deductibility threshold. I thought I read that there might be a tax credit of some kind. But for businesses, I would think the SASO contribution would be a deductible business expense.

Contributions to SASO are no longer tax deductible for any taxpayer.

[ABC]

Are they deductible if you don’t get any benefit? IE seats or tickets? I think so.