for example, I got season tickets this past season, didn't contribute a single thing to the "Hokie Club" proper, I just paid the seat premium and got really good seats for season tickets.

The new system, IMHO, is flawed, and discourages people from continuous membership. The points really don't matter. You can get seats anywhere you want by simply giving the premium. You don't need to be a platinum Hokie to get into uber great seats. The points just give you first choice in the choicest sections if you want, but there will still be seats in there for people that just give the premium.

This season, for example, will show people how easy it is to drop a year, due to a lousy schedule, and pick right back up next year and get good, or even better seats, by just giving the premium and nothing else. To my knowledge, no area completely sold out. I did the $200 premium seats this year, but could have gone higher, and I bought mine after the FSU game (big mistake on my part). I hadn't bought season tickets since 2012. I just wanted to make sure I had ND, UM, and UVA.

I also stopped contributing in 2012, got tired of the "chase" of it all. It simply started to get too difficult to figure out, having to deal with reseating, picking parking, etc, etc. But I've got those same Hokie Club statements going back to the early '90's, and the number of HC members has never jumped much above 12,000. In 2003 and 2004, it tips above 12k, coinciding with acceptance and entry into the ACC. I don't think it'll ever go above that. Like it or not, not many people contribute out of the goodness of their heart, they want some benefit for the contribution. Even under the old system, 11k was about the upper limit, if you HAD to give to get tickets, because that accounted for about 35k-40k of season tickets, tops.

It'll only get worse, because of the mentality of this millenial generation. They aren't interested in locking in. They like to do more, different things. As older alums like myself get up in age, people start dropping off. I, too, have found there is more to life than VT football and basketball. Besides, I've figured out I can get good seats pretty much to any game I want, donation or not.