He started changing rules and eliminated a lot of supposedly lifetime membership clubs that many of us long time donors relied upon even though the earlier years were very lean in terms of success on the field. Many of us left when he eliminated our club levels and others told me they were going to wait a year or two to see if things would change back. I guess they got their answer. Then some others unfortunately, like my brother, passed this year. So slowly the base is eroding.

Long time multi-year donors in these club levels were his base and although much of their money was given up front and was spent to enlarge and improve the facilities, many of us continued to give more than what was required to maintain our club-level benefits. However, Whit got greedy and let us know that our old money was no longer welcome. So instead of us leaving by natural attrition, we just left.

So I’m not surprised at the numbers and as long as Whit’s philosophy is to have the donors chase rabbits every year and have donors throw money in front of each other, I wouldn’t expect much success in the stands as long as the teams stay mediocre. If the teams succeed on the field, the bandwagon comes back but the base is gone.