(1383 of them were selected by the HC/AthDept and "contractual obligations") prior to the announced time of initiation of selection this year. With rare exceptions, those seats will be empty this year, because they are corporate seats.
The HC decided not to do Hokie ticket share this year, because they could not make money off it. They didn't announce this decision, until posters on this board challenged them on it.
The HC/VTAF/AthDept, have, in their opinion, done their job by selling the seats. Getting them filled is another matter, about which they are not concerned.
The initiation of seat "premiums" is, for lack of a better term, a corporate money grab by them. I always believed there was a select group of insiders who got preference when Weaver was AD. I believe there is a similar situation under WB, only the members of the insider group may have changed. The AthDept controls all ends of the deal, and they are systematically exploited that control, i.e., just like a corporate monopoly.