Buckeye parkers told to pay up for prime gameday spots

Avid tailgaters keep the shadows of Ohio Stadium bright during Ohio State football games. But all these lucky spots come with a $5,000 price tag, and some fans haven't been paying up.

Letters recently went out informing more than 400 parkers that they are not eligible to one of these spots next season because they have not paid the required $5,000 donation. An audit exposed these non-payers after officials realized an "intense interest in the 2010 football season," according to the letter sent by OSU.

"It's one of those items where we have supply and demand issues, in terms of parking availability on game day," said Pat Chun, senior associate director for external relations. "Because we have issues we did an audit to see who is eligible to park in those areas."

The audit allowed the Athletic Department to do two things: define who is eligible for those parking spots, and if they do not qualify, give them an opportunity to pay up.

In all, 4,605 people qualify for parking in six lots controlled by the Athletic Department during home football games. Spots are reserved for those with season parking permits and include suite holders, club seat holders and donors to OSU athletics. There is an annual cost of $325 on top of the $5,000 donation, and a portion of the donation is tax deductible.

The audit determined that 426 people did not qualify and must pay the required donation or move to a different lot.

"When you boil it all down, 80 percent of the people that are parking in our parking lots qualify to park," Chun said. "These are just the 20 percent that we would hope would want to qualify to park in those lots."

Chun, an OSU alumnus, has been with the Athletic Department for 13 years and sees nothing new or different about this policy.

"It's a required donation that has been in place for a long time," he said. "We wanted to adhere to our system that has been in place. This isn't something new."

A point system, kept track of by the university development system , calculates points for faculty, staff and donors. People with more points get better spots. Members receive points based on their donations. It is supposed to create a system in which people who give to OSU are rewarded accordingly.

Bill Jones, associate athletic director for external relations, has been with the OSU ticket office four years and realized when he first got here that the office needed to get a handle on parking.

"In the past there was no point system," Jones said. "But parking is becoming more and more scarce and we have a large number of donors who qualify … we are trying to be fair and equitable."

After determining how many of the 426 are willing to pay the donation, the point system will then be used to assign spots.

Despite the controversy, no one is going to lose parking if they do not donate. Rather, they will lose their golden spot close to the stadium.

"The big benefit is that there are options," Jones said. "We are not taking it away, just simply giving them an option."

Echoing what Jones said, Chun added that these people are not being kicked to the curb on game day.

"If the 426 people that were notified choose not to give, we'll put them in a parking lot, just not one of the lots that are near the proximity of Ohio Stadium," Chun said.

Although the Athletic Department is raising public ticket prices by $7 and student tickets by $1 next season, Chun said the donation is more about fairness than money.

"There's such limited parking. Ultimately, we want a level playing field where everyone that's parking in those lots is contributing the same amount or the requisite amounts to the university," he said.