[82lsju]

I'm not a tax person so what I write below could be complete nonsense

it would seem one solution to tax deductibility of the "required" donations could be

1.  have no required donations
2.  re-seat the stadium every 3-5 years based on "engagement with the University" using criteria similar to what they use for bowl game tickets

- years as a STH
- alum
- former student athlete
- donations to Stanford
- donations to the AD
- etc

this might keep the donations deductible but creates a potential mess every 3-5 years when they re-seat, of course they could take a minimalist look at re-seating and only move people who significantly miss on the expected "level of engagement" for their seat locations

of course this might not sufficiently de-couple the donations from the seats (or would it make general donations to Stanford also not tax deductible since they would be at least indirectly linked to seats).

I would expect that Stanford, and everyone else who has required seat donations, to have worked hard to get donations in my the end of 2017 to keep the deduction for as many premium ticket buyers as possible.

[82lsju]

I'm not a tax person so what I write below could be complete nonsense

it would seem one solution to tax deductibility of the "required" donations could be

1.  have no required donations
2.  re-seat the stadium every 3-5 years based on "engagement with the University" using criteria similar to what they use for bowl game tickets

- years as a STH
- alum
- former student athlete
- donations to Stanford
- donations to the AD
- etc

this might keep the donations deductible but creates a potential mess every 3-5 years when they re-seat, of course they could take a minimalist look at re-seating and only move people who significantly miss on the expected "level of engagement" for their seat locations

of course this might not sufficiently de-couple the donations from the seats (or would it make general donations to Stanford also not tax deductible since they would be at least indirectly linked to seats).

I would expect that Stanford, and everyone else who has required seat donations, to have worked hard to get donations in my the end of 2017 to keep the deduction for as many premium ticket buyers as possible.