Kansas University mailed its men’s basketball ticket re-order forms to customers the week of July 4th.

To the relief of many KU season-ticket holders, no fireworks were stuffed into the envelopes.

No Allen Fieldhouse donor-seating plan, which made fans as red-faced as the wick on a lit M-80 when it was discussed more than a year ago, was mentioned in the letters.

Truth be known, no new seating plan  one that would have distributed basketball tickets to the highest bidder, moving just about everybody and displacing some long-time season-ticket holders  is in the works.

Fans who purchased tickets last year definitely have the option to buy for the 2002-03 season. And they should be assured their seat locations should not change drastically, if at all.

So what happened to the controversial plan that would re-seat the fieldhouse according to the amount of money donated with those with deep pockets getting the best seats?

“There was never a plan. There was a proposal,” said Richard Konzem, KU senior associate athletic director.

“There were so many factors. Unless you build a new building and start all over again, it’s so hard to remove people from the seats they’ve been in since 1955. They’ve been season-ticket holders for 50 years in some cases and donating (to the Williams Fund) all those years. Maybe their donation doesn’t equal what it would take today to start fresh, but if you look at their lifetime giving amount and their lifetime ticket purchasing amount, that’s a substantial factor.”

Some schools have gone to a points system.

“Those plans never please everybody because somebody thinks you ought to weigh purchase of football tickets more than basketball or vice versa, or weigh this year’s donation more than an amount given 10 years ago,” Konzem said.

So it’s business as usual.

Fans are asked to return their renewal forms by the end of this month. Those who have requested better seats may get the opportunity to improve location depending on how many seats become available.

“After the end of July, we know what seats are spoken for,” said Jay Hinrichs, KU’s new Williams Fund director. “When we get the renewal forms, we will call those people who did not request tickets to make sure they didn’t lose their form or it didn’t get to the right address. At that point, we work from mid-court out in filling in those holes.”

If somebody who, say, has a chairback seat at center court decides not to renew, somebody willing to donate top dollar to the Williams Fund  or somebody who already donates top dollar (those in the All-American club donate $10,000 or more a year) would have the first opportunity to purchase those prime ducats.

“We get requests every year from individuals who want improved location of seats,” Konzem said. “We look at requests we have from current season-ticket holders at the highest donor level in terms of current and lifetime giving. If we can move them in the best seats available, that opens their seats and starts a domino effect. Then you plug in based on donation level. A new ticket holder at some point may enter in that domino and in that puzzle.”

So there will be some moving of bodies again this season and in the future, but there shouldn’t be any radical shifting of bodies, which had worried some long-time fans in the Outland Club who donate between $100 to $249 a year  the lowest level.

“It’s very simple to me. How do you measure contributions?” Hinrichs said, referring to the amount of giving. “Do you measure just by dollars? If you measure just by dollars … did the person who gave you $1 million one year give more or less a contribution than the person who gave you $100,000 for 10 years?

“Who is more important, the long-time donor or the one slam-dunk million-buck guy?”

Kansas University men’s basketball is about more than just money, Hinrichs said.

“How do you measure the contribution of somebody working on the hill educating our kids for years and years, who has given a little bit of a contribution, but has given his or her lives to education?” he said.

“Or how about the man or woman who has worked on building and maintenance who has mowed the grass and beautified the campus for 20 years? How do you measure their contribution?”

Since 1985, new ticket holders have had to donate to the Williams Fund to purchase tickets. Fans who have donated must keep up yearly donations in order to continue purchasing tickets.

“The cost of tuition and fees continues to rise and we have 500 student-athletes,” Konzem said. “We get hit pretty hard on tuition increases.”

At this time, KU officials are pushing the sale of football season tickets. No donation to the Williams Fund is required for football purchases.

“We sold out Allen Fieldhouse in 1985. Basically, from that point on you needed to be a donor if you were a first-time ticket holder,” Konzem said. “Quite frankly, we’re hoping that same situation occurs in football. Now is the time to buy season football tickets because right now you wouldn’t have to (donate).”

If you wait, he said, it may be too late.

“Had you known in ’84 you could walk in and buy season tickets in Allen Fieldhouse and the next year they’d be sold out and you wouldn’t be able to do that, a lot of people would have bought tickets (in ’84),” Konzem said. “We’re extending that same message in football.”

In the meantime, no new seating plan is in the works for Allen Fieldhouse. And there are no plans to replace the venerable arena.

“We’ve made a commitment to doing a great job of maintenance to keep that facility a viable facility,” Konzem said. “It’s a great tradition-filled building, great homecourt for our basketball program.”