UH hopes to raise $600k with the Football Parking Auction

HA Note: "The auction of what is expected to be approximately 1,700 stalls — including 800 in the coveted "inner circle" on the mauka side of the stadium — will be open to most season-ticket holders and is set to start at 8 a.m. June 7 and continue until June 11 or the supply of passes is exhausted, UH said. Bidding will start at $400 for the inner circle, $350 for the Koa lot and $300 for the Kamehameha Highway lot and decrease by $50 per day until the allotment is sold."

HA Note: "UH athletic director Jim Donovan said that "dozens, if not hundreds, of households were not able to get parking passes" last year as demand overwhelmed supply. He said the online method will provide "transparency" and allow bidders to know instantly whether or not they have secured one. The stadium has approximately 8,000 stalls, of which UH controls passes for about 2,900. And there are 5,900 season ticket accounts, Donovan said. The stadium holds on to about 5,000 stalls for game-day public parking at $5 per game."

HA Note: "Last year, UH said, it made approximately $325,000 from stadium parking passes and hopes to realize as much as $600,000 this year, depending on what price level they sell at. UH said the proceeds will benefit the Koa Anuenue Scholarship Fund and are tax deductible."

About complaints about the way that season-ticket holders had to mail in donation checks and just hope that they donated enough to receive a parking pass, JD said:
"(One of the things we heard in feedback was) 'This is not a transparent process. We don't know what's going on. We either get a pass mailed to us or we don't.' That's why we put in this reverse-auction system. ... After we got the complaints last year, the big thing from my standpoint was, let's sit back and do something dynamically different that makes things better for the customer, for us, for revenue, and be fair and transparent. We think we've come up with it." (HSB)

HSB Note: "Donovan championed the up-to-the-second pass-supply tracker feature on the new branch of www.hawaiiathletics.com, so fans know exactly how many remain. Demand should still exceed supply, but he pointed out fans won't be left wondering into mid-August if they got a pass, like last year. Once their bid is processed this year, the sale is instant."

About how their season ticket customers will know if they get the passes before they are required to renew their tickets, JD said:
"The customers themselves decide whether or not they want to donate a certain amount to get a pass. The second thing we did was we moved the renewal date back (deadline of June 14) for season tickets, until after we anticipate this auction to be complete. So they'll know whether they have a parking pass before they're required to renew their season tickets." (HSB)

HSB Note: "Eighty percent of the pass sales goes toward the Ahahui Koa Anuenue Scholarship Fund and is tax-deductible, Donovan said."

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100522/NEWS01/5220335/UH+may+score+big+bucks+in+stadium+parking+auction

http://www.starbulletin.com/sports/sportsnews/20100522_Hawaii_comes_up_with_new_parking_plan.html