More donor seating "will be added closer to the floor" next season at Allen Fieldhouse for Univ. of Kansas men's basketball games, in an area that previously was reserved for students, according to Matt Tait of the LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD. Beginning with the ‘14-15 season, the section will be “made available to Williams Education Fund donors instead.” KU Associate AD/Public Affairs Jim Marchiony on Thursday said that the “reconfiguration would not trim the number of seats available to students.” But Tait notes it will “allow KU to make more money off those choice seats, a move the athletic department deemed necessary in response to the KU student government campaigning to lower the student athletic fee from $25 per student per semester to $6.” That fee, which now will be the “lowest athletic fee of any university in Kansas, was charged to every student enrolled at KU.” Marchiony said that the new rate would “cost the athletic department nearly $350,000 annually” (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD, 6/6). In K.C., Rustin Dodd writes the new donor section “could be a boon for other Kansas fans.” In the current setup, donor seats at Allen Fieldhouse are "based on a lifetime of giving." Marchiony said the seats in Section U will be reserved for donors that are in "the upper categories of giving this year" (K.C. STAR, 6/6).
