A luxury suite for the big football game on campus just is not the status symbol it used to be, and a number of college athletics programs are paying the price for their donors’ belt tightening.
The University of Minnesota at Twin Cities, for example, debuted its new, $300 million TCF Bank Stadium Sept. 12 against the Air Force Academy, after spending three decades off campus at the multi-use Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Though Minnesota has sold virtually all of its outdoor seats – from general admission areas to more expensive box and club seats – it has yet to meet benchmarks for season sales of its premium suites and indoor club seats. An entire suite costs $40,500 and an individual club seat costs $2,250, respectively.
It wasn’t all the economy, though—the new stadium is also dry. I guess a $2,250 seat at a football game doesn’t make sense unless you can drink yourself into believing it was a good purchase.
