Seat Equity Book

A Message to Ram Nation Since it opened in 1999, the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center has become known as one of the finest and loudest arenas in college basketball. Each November, thousands of VCU fans eagerly trek down to Broad Street to cheer on the Rams. When the VCU Pep Band, "The Peppas", and Ram Nation start singing, "You don't want to go to war with the Rams", there is no better place to be in college basketball. The Ram Athletic Fund has seen a dramatic increase in members as well as overall giving in recent years. A large part of the success is due to your support. The competitive environment of college athletics grows more intense every year. To recruit and support the best student-athletes, we must provide the resources for them to properly train, compete and succeed in the classroom. Since the Siegel Center opened, little movement has been made to generate additional resources from men's basketball priority seating, such as rewarding generous supporters who have upgraded their giving level or new donors who have joined the Ram Athletic Fund. The Seat Equity Plan and Ram Ranking will be the fundamental methods used to reseat the arena. They integrate athletic giving, continuous years of support and season ticket purchases to determine an equitable order of ranking. We want to highlight five main points of the Seat Equity Plan: • Everyone will be assigned new seat locations during the process except for Capital Campaign Members, who will have the first opportunity to maintain their current seats based on the new guidelines set forth for annual donation and priority seat limits. • Once you select your seats, you must maintain your donor level annually in order to renew your seats each year. VCU Athletics will implement the Seat Equity Plan every three-to-five years. • New priority seat limits, changes to benefits and minimum annual donations for sections have been established, with required donations due by June 21, 2013. • The $1,000-$2,499 annual giving level is now known as the Black & Gold Society, and the $250-$499 level is now known as the Commonwealth Society. • The Priority Points System is now known as Ram Ranking. The Ram Athletic Fund will utilize an online service that allows each qualifying person to select his or her seats according to their Ram Ranking. This technology has been used recently by peer institutions and will provide real-time data on what seats are available prior to your appointed selection time. You will have the ability to compare multiple seating locations and become familiar with this web-based program in the months leading up to the summer of 2013. We recognize you may have questions or concerns about the process. Many questions have been addressed in the "Frequently Asked Questions" section of this booklet. However, do not hesitate to call the Ram Athletic Fund office at (804) 828-FUND (3863) or the VCU Ticket Office at (804) 828-7267 with your specific questions. We encourage you to read through this publication carefully and familiarize yourself with the new information and the timeline for implementation. Thank you for your continued support of our student-athletes and athletic programs. Sincerely, Todd Hammond President, Ram Athletic Fund Board

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