News With Commentary by TSL Staff

Tuesday, July 20, 2004
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com

Hokie Club Donations Top $18 Million

This past Friday and Saturday, the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund held their annual summer Hokie Club Presidents Meetings, and sources tell TSL that Hokie Club revenue for the 2003-2004 academic year was an incredible $18.58 million, up from $14.38 million last year and $10.3 million just three years ago.

The fund was boosted by two $1 million donations, one of which went to VT's athletic scholarship endowment, and one to the renovation of VT's new golf course.

At this point, the $18.58 million figure is an estimate. The Hokie Club's fiscal years end on June 30th, so the VTAF will soon know exactly how much money was raised when all donations have cleared and financial records are up to date.

The $18 million figure continues a sharp upward trend in Hokie Club donations, which have nearly tripled in just the last six years.

Hokie Club Donations

Year

Revenue

Source

1997-1998

$6,300,000

HokieCentral.com News and Notes, 8/13/99

1998-1999

$8,900,000

HokieCentral.com News and Notes, 8/13/99

1999-2000

$10,000,000

HokieCentral.com News and Notes, 8/7/00

2000-2001

$10,300,000

"Virtual O&M Tour", Voice of the Fan, 5/15/02

2001-2002

$13,680,000

TechSideline.com News and Notes, 7/31/03

2002-2003

$14,380,000

TechSideline.com News and Notes, 7/31/03
2003-2004 $18,576,000 Estimate; final figures not yet calculated

The increase in donations comes from existing Hokie Club members upgrading their memberships. Hokie Club membership has been relatively steady at just over 12,000 members for a couple of years now, but within the ranks of membership, many people are upgrading in order to improve their parking lots for football tailgating, and to get a chance at men's basketball season tickets as the Hokies enter the ACC.

With Lane Stadium west side expansion scheduled to be complete for the 2005 football season, with the accompanying reseating, Hokie Club members are expected to continue to donate more, in order to get the best seats possible.

Correction to Season Ticket Sales Figures

In the last News and Notes, we reported that the latest issue of the Hokie Huddler announced that VT had set a football season ticket sales record of 34,811 as of July 9th. That figure represented just the number of regular season tickets sold, and did not include season tickets sold to premium seating occupants.

When season tickets for premium seating are added to regular season tickets, according to information from the Hokie Club presidents meetings referenced above, the total season tickets sold for Virginia Tech football in 2004 will exceed 37,000. At $265 per ticket, that means the Hokies will rake in over $9.8 million in season ticket revenue.

Here's a look at season ticket sales figures and revenue for the last eleven years.

SEASON TICKET REVENUE, 1994-2004

YEAR

GAMES

PRICE

TICKETS SOLD

REVENUE

1994

6

$130

12,280

$1,596,400

1995

5

$106

14,124

$1,497,144

1996

7

$154

16,087

$2,477,398

1997

6

$132

16,675

$2,201,100

1998

6

$138

18,433

$2,543,754

1999

6

$138

23,816

$3,243,000

2000

6*

$168*

29,440

$5,040,000

2001

6

$168

30,254

$5,082,672

2002

7*

$217*

36,000**

$7,812,000

2003

7

$243

36,300**

$8,820,900

2004

7

$265

37,000**

$9,805,000

* Note 1: figures given for number of games and season ticket prices
do not include BCA (GT) game in 2000 and HCF (ASU) game in 2002.
True number of home games in 2000 was 7; in 2002, it was 8. True cost of
a season ticket package in 2000 was $203; in 2002, it was $252.
** Note 2: Estimate



          

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