By Jimmy Hyams

Tennessee will offer men’s and women’s basketball season-ticket holders a chance to buy only season tickets via emails that will be sent out Tuesday, Nov. 10, with a 24-hour response time required.

Season ticket holders who do not respond by the deadline will automatically be declined.

Thompson-Boling Arena seating will be about 4,000 – or 18 percent of capacity, which the Sports Animal reported Monday. That includes student seats (which have yet to be determined) and premium seats.

Fans in the lower bowl will not be seated until Row 5 and team benches will move to the South end of the arena, with UT’s bench on the southeast side, which the Sports Animal reported on Monday.

The season tickets will be offered with priority based on Tennessee Fund annual gift amounts and rank order. If not all of the season tickets are claimed, then individual game tickets will be sold. But early demands indicate UT will sell all of its season tickets, UT officials said.

Last month, basketball ticket holders were given the opportunity to opt out for this season. Donors who purchase tickets for both the Vols and Lady Vols will receive two separate emails.

Donors who opt out retain their status for the following year.

Donors with premium seats will be allowed 100 percent capacity in their skybox with “suite partners’’ but there will be no “suite hopping.’’

The 4,000 seating capacity includes students and premium seats.

While UT’s schedules for men and women have not been finalized, the Vols will host nine SEC contests, a game against Kansas Jan. 30 and a “handful’’ of non-SEC games. The Lady Vols will play eight SEC games, a Hall of Fame revival contest against UConn Jan. 23 and a “handful’’ of non-conference contests.

The student seating for Vols games will be Sections 128-130. Students will sit in Section 129 for women’s games. The UT Office of Student Life will oversee the ticket allocation and physical distancing measures in those areas. Students can request single-game tickets via BigOrangeTix.edu.

Visiting teams will receive 80 tickets per game.

A small group of donors will be capped at eight season tickets. Most will be capped at four or two. If you have three season tickets, you can request two as UT is trying to restrict fans to pods.

Gates for men’s games will open 90 minutes before tip-off and one hour before tip for women’s games.

Capacity restrictions in place at the start of the basketball season could change as the season progresses, UT said in a release.

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