$20 too much for soccer. And the beer drinkers will really complain about $15 beers. Make the pours 12oz instead and keep prices below $10. The beer drinkers will buy multiple. Parking should be at least $8 though. Rank and file UVM employees have to pay for monthly parking passes. Soccer fans (both VT Green and UVM) should have to pay for parking too.
This is just my hunch (I don’t know the contract): I doubt VT Green is paying their fair share to use Virtue Field. They should pay a substantial fee to use UVM’s facilities, with the money raised going directly to the soccer NIL fund. VTG has nowhere else to go and UVM should better hold their ground on facilities negotiations. Same can be said regarding Centennial and the ECBL team. When it was AAA I say let it pass (there’s value the community/college get out of hosting a true minor league club)—but if we aren’t getting a AAA product the Lake Monsters should pay up the nose to host their club here. Those funds can be directed to the basketball NIL since there’s no baseball/softball.
This is laughable.
1) To reiterate for people here: if you start charging for parking for soccer, you have to charge for everything else. Tread with caution regarding goodwill, which is a huge factor in this and has a significant impact on your fan base.
2) How will you address the need for hiring people to take money for parking, the scanners to take credit payment for parking, and how will you adequately address the very clear traffic flow issues that navigating in and out of the athletics garage when stopping people to pay for parking? If not person-powered, do you believe it's worth the purchase and installation of gates to block exits, reroute traffic patterns in the lot, and build kiosks to get exit fare from said lots? Can you confidently say that this will be a worthwhile investment? Can you imagine boomer fans trying to figure this out?
3) Did you account for the fact that when parking that was free is no longer free, most people will seek alternatives? Did you account for the fact that it will result in people parking in permitted lots where they are not supposed to, or that many will attempt to park in residential neighborhoods, that while there are limited legal street parking spaces, if you know the geography of Burlington and the neighborhood that athletic facilities are in proximity to, this will instantly create a big fuss among some of the city's wealthest, and then place the university in another battle with the city, with whom you already have a contentious relationship regarding the university's role in sky-high rents, and the overall housing affordability and supply crisis?
That is not worth the headache. If parking fees for athletics proved to be a legitimate source of revenue, they would have done it by now.
As for baseball. First, the Lake Monsters were a short-season Single-A team. A far cry from AAA. Secondly, the college summer league team actually performs just as well in terms of attendance and finances as it did when it was affiliated. In fact, both the Lake Monsters and Green drew sellouts when both were playing late-season playoff push or playoff games at the same time this year. You still get to see potential MLBers. The team had five former players selected in this year's MLB draft, including three taken in the first 3 rounds. Their lease with UVM is $1 because they pay for every single improvement on the field and take responsibility for its overall care. This field cannot be torn down because it's a historical site. Plus, again, what's the upside to trying to get more out of them? They'll just move somewhere, and then it's UVM's fault for trying to be greedy and maximize revenue from a subpar stadium site that it doesn't even use, and drive away a popular activity for people and families to enjoy in the summer.
The same applies here with the Green. They pay more than a $1 to lease the field. Last I knew, hourly rentals of Virtue Field were in the hundreds of dollars. I'm sure a yearly bulk fee is applied, as well as fees for licensing gameday use, permits, and other related expenses. Having leverage does not mean you should use it to strong-arm for your financial gain, certainly not in this situation. Hate to break it to some people here, but while the national-title-winning UVM soccer team has clearly captured the attention of the state and some national attention, the Green have far outpaced that. They are one of the darlings of the US soccer ecosystem as more people are starting to realize that local, authentic and affordable soccer-going experiences are far more fun than the sanitized, expensive and corporate MLS games or absolutely outlandish USMNT and European summer tour games, or that stupid FIFA Club World Cup this summer. The Green have one of the biggest soccer content creators in America (Men in Blazers) championing them often, and they have received global attention as well. UVM is following Green's example to get many of its fans to attend UVM games. By all means, go ahead and demand more rent, or make them charge for stuff to line your pockets (framing this as a we want the NIL money from teams who have nothing to do with our university is actually a terrible PR strategy)...run the risk of negotiations going sour and the team having to seek another place, and enjoy all the terrible press coverage you'll get from that.
Stop rooting for nickel-and-diming! That's weird!! It's like rooting for airlines! Just enjoy the fact that there's a national title winning team on campus that you can see for cheap and have a nice time whether by yourself, with a friend or with your kids! I promise you, their ROI is doing just fine without parking fees!