+1
Just wait for the new tax bill to come in, colleges I've been talking to are already sh***** bricks about where funds are going to come from since seat donations and such will no longer be deductible
Hot take alert: Good! Money spent to purchase football/basketball/other tickets (or to purchase/improve parking at such events) should never have been deductible! Donations to a university's general fund or directed into various academic, medical, or other "core mission" areas: entirely appropriate to be tax deductible. But money used to purchase football tickets (even if part of that purchase price is labeled "donation" but in actuality goes to the booster club or athletic department), I don't see any reason why that should be seen as a "charitable deduction" item.
Then for the sake of discussion and to take this one step further, if athletics isn't part of the core mission of the university, then why have them and pay for them with student fees? Would you extend that to the performing arts series? Just curious.
That is a good question (I have mixed feelings, doubtless biased by the fact that I do love college football and like college basketball), but not on point to what we were talking about. What I meant here (and I CERTAINLY could have worded it more precisely in my hot take...but hot takes are almost by definition vaguely worded, so its fine) was that if a person is purchasing something, the money spent on it shouldn't count as a donation.
Above, I said "Money spent to purchase football/basketball/other tickets...should never have been deductible", and that's what I mean. So let me be clear: if the "donation" is a prerequisite for purchasing the tickets/parking pass, regardless of what unit of the university is getting the money, no part of that "donation" should be tax deductible. In its current form, it exists as a figleaf/tax-dodge to allow the university to charge a higher price for the tickets while somewhat cushioning that price increase by allowing the purchaser to claim some of it as a charitable deduction. Having thought about it more, regardless of whether those dollars are going to the athletic department, the booster club, the general fund, or the history department, if those donations are being given as part of or a requirement for ticket purchase [Ticket purchase price = Face value of ticket + mandatory "donation"] then I have a tough time justifying any sort of charitable deduction for them.
And yes, the same applies to performing arts series: if the "donation" is a de facto requirement of ticket purchase it shouldn't be disguised as a donation. That's NOT to say that donations to the performing arts series, the university, or heck, even the athletic department shouldn't be tax deductible, provided that the donation is not a prerequisite for ticket purchase (i.e. the tickets are on sale to the general public for the same price regardless of whether the purchaser has also made a donation).
(Note: now on the other hand if preferential ticket access is a perk of being a donor, i.e. such that tickets are offered from highest --> smallest donor (i.e. based on all-time donations, or perhaps the length of time one has been donating, not linked to that particular purchase), before going on general sale, but all tickets sell initially for the same price, I could see a greater case being made for the tax deductibility of the donation. But again, in that scenario, the donation isn't linked to or a requirement of the purchase in the same way as it currently is in practice.)