Love's Field Seat Selection: Questions and an UPDATE - June 17th

[OUBeliever56A]

UPDATE:

After the seat selection 'portal' was visible on June 14th, it was obvious that there had been seats selected by someone other than current season ticket holders as many of the best seats were already shown as seats that were reserved. I know of several long-time season ticket holders who not only attend every game but also have given generously to the softball program that when there selection times came on June 16th, they really had limited choices as to where they could choose seats. They certainly did not have seats available to them that were the equal to what they had in Marita Hynes, IMO.

From my count, there were 2300 +/-, seats available in the new Love's Stadium. That is considerably less than the 3000 seats that was advertised over and over again by officials. That does not include all the talk about expanding to 4000 seats that was out there everywhere due to demand. On the 15th of June, it was obvious someone was selecting seats, really good seats. By the end of the day on the 15th, myself and one other current season ticket holders counted and found that ONLY about 1225 seat were still available. So about around 1075 seats were reserved or not available to be selected at that time. There were two sections (about 300 seats) that were not able to be selected for OU players family and for visiting teams families (I am guessing on this). That is all very understandable. I would guess that about 775 tickets were reserved by 'new' donors or big time donors before the advertised seat selection began. That is a little less than a 3rd of the seats. I know that money makes the world go around and that big time donors are important, but the process seems a bit skewed to me. I hope all the great seats that were taken will have bodies setting in their new seats come next spring. If they are not, shame on someone!

On the 16th, when us regular season ticket holders got to start selecting seats, the selection gobbled up another 365 tickets during the day. That leaves about 860 seats going into today, June 17th. I do not think there will be ticket selections today through Monday, the 19th due to the weekend and Juneteenth. I know of no one that will be selecting tickets until the 20th. At least, I hope that is the case or I may miss the opportunity to renew my season tickets.

As of right now, there are less than 20 seats available to be selected within the outside edges of the dugouts. There are only about a 160 other seats available in the stands around the infield and down the baselines. The remaining seats (680 or so) are in the outfield bleachers.

I continue to be underwhelmed about the new seating at Love's Field. I don't enjoy feeling this way at all. I just am not sure that the 'powers that be' are living up the hype of the new field that was advertised. It seems like a great deal of money that results in about 500 more fans at games when the waiting list for tickets is much higher than what is available from what i understand. I know the new facilities, offices, locker rooms, training rooms, practice facilities, concessions, rest rooms and all the extras will be nice. While that was needed, wasn't the point of the new stadium to also increase the fans that could attend games?

[The Far Journey]

56, your concerns are relevant and detailed. It takes a lot to make a great program and the fans who attend most games, including those in the fall, and travel to the away games are no small part of that. Easy for me to say, but I'd suggest sending your post as written to the people in authority at OU. Your post is not a rant but well reasoned with concerns and understanding of their needs. They should be aware of the rumblings amid the fan base. I offer this suggestion for selfish reasons. If you long time supporters there get pushed to the fringes, I won't stand much of a chance for anything in the future.

[TN Sooner]

I think you should talk to your Sooner Club rep and hear what they have to say. It will boil down to some additional information and then some version of “it is what it is”. But they’ll be nice about it.

I noticed there were several as yet undefined section in the outfield (between the right/left field bleachers and the batters eye). The web site indicates they still haven’t figured out the seating configuration for those seats. That might account for the few hundred “missing seats” to get it to 3,000. I’m not sure how those seats will get sorted out when the seating is figured out.

The 4,000 was, to my understanding, always a “temporary” seating arrangement. I would not expect them to sell these yet.

I’ve had beefs with Sooner Club in the past - my Sooner Club ranking is fairly high, but I feel I always get crummy seats when I buy bowl tickets and my Texas selection last year did not seem to correspond to where I think I should rank. I made the calls to the Sooner Club and registered my issues, but it didn’t matter.

I’ve made a multi year gift to Loves Field and it allows me a Group 2 priority for seat selection - my time is Thursday. I’m not sure I’ll be buying (TN is a long trip home after a game…), but I will log in and have a look-see.

[OUBeliever56A]

I have understood that the two outfield sections that are nearest to CF is for the picnic, grassy area for fans to sit. There will not be seat there from what I had understood.

[TropicalSooner]

Well, I think I now understand where your focus has been recently and rightfully so from what I read on your post.
I am just an outsider looking in but there are a couple of things that I am now wondering about that I hadn't been before.
I guess the Mega donors have eaten up a good number of available seats. I wonder also, how many the Primary Donor, Love's Corp, was granted.
Haley6 mentioned on another site about new stadiums actually "shrinking" in size to give the fan a better "fan experience". While I can see this is probably the case for football stadiums, and I'll even go as far as Basketball arenas, I find it hard to believe that would be the case for a Softball Stadium. What are they going to do--make the seats bigger? And how can making the Stadium "smaller" (less capacity) be a "better" experience for the fans and especially for the Softball players themselves? More fans--louder the game--everything gets more exciting with more people doesn't it?
But your post got me curious about what has been published in writing by the University. I went to the official OU Softball website and found the latest article about Love's Stadium. Turns out only a month ago the number was at 3,000 with expansion. Here is a cut and paste from that article:

" To date, over $32 million of the $47.9 million total project cost has been raised from more than 1,000 donors, including the $12 million lead and naming gift from Love's Travel Stops. In addition to the total dollars raised, seat-related contributions have been earmarked to bridge the funding gap to make this project a reality.

Love's Field, which will be located approximately one-half mile south of existing Marita Hynes Field, will accommodate seating for 3,000 and is designed to allow for expansion. Including temporary seating that is added each season, Marita Hynes Field has a seating capacity of just over 1,700. "

Here is a link to the article released on 5/15/23:

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/5/16 ... ng-in-june

What I'm wondering is, and it's not presented this way in the article-but I'm still wondering, what if the Administration has told the construction people, we're short $$ from where we need to be for the full project so just build what we can pay for now. (and add on later when the rest of the funds are raised.)

A 2,300 seat stadium will not rival the leading stadiums in the SEC. Alabama's is 3,940. At 2,300, we would be in about 5th place just a hair below Auburn.

I hope you get seats '56, and best ones that you can. But I would not assume anything about seats not being taken up over a weekend or a holiday. I would monitor that every day so you won't be surprised, and not in a good way.

[TN Sooner]

I have understood that the two outfield sections that are nearest to CF is for the picnic, grassy area for fans to sit. There will not be seat there from what I had understood.

What I saw was in the FAQ section - see screen grab if I can make it work. Makes it unclear exactly what they are doing with these “sections”.

[TropicalSooner]

May the Force be with you '56!

[JSULL60]

Back in 2000 one my co- workers had got season tickers during the John Blake era on the 50 yard line. Back when they were begging people to buy tickets. They thought they would get tickets then even though the team wasnt very good and when they became good again, they would have great seats. But when Bob Stoops came in and all the big time donors returned my coworker was move from his 50 yard seats to near the 20yrd line. The big time donars got the prime seats. Looks like they are operating Loves Field the same way

[inconnu]

Back in 2000 one my co- workers had got season tickers during the John Blake era on the 50 yard line. Back when they were begging people to buy tickets. They thought they would get tickets then even though the team wasnt very good and when they became good again, they would have great seats. But when Bob Stoops came in and all the big time donors returned my coworker was move from his 50 yard seats to near the 20yrd line. The big time donars got the prime seats. Looks like they are operating Loves Field the same way

Moral of the story:

"All's fair in Love and War!"

[JSULL60]

As they say. Money talks.

[TropicalSooner]

'56...Did you get good seats for Love's Field????

[OUBeliever56A]

'56...Did you get good seats for Love's Field????

I actually got the last three seats on the infield seating at about 2:35 today. Section 1, Row 5.

I would not call them good seats, but they are in the infield and in the stadium.

[TropicalSooner]

Sounds like you might have a shot at some hot foul balls....?

[OUBeliever56A]

Sounds like you might have a shot at some hot foul balls....?

It looks like there is netting in front of us.

[TN Sooner]

My selection window opened at 10 this morning. As 56 noted, Nothing but outfield seats at this point and the pickings are getting slim. There are several in the right field sections (maybe about 1/3 of seats are still available). In the left field sections, there are less available - just a few seats in the section - maybe 25-30 total available in the left field.