There has been a lot of discussion about student tickets and whatnot.  I've
made a "few" comments, but after talking with some fans and administrators
this weekend I figured I'd post some more thoughts.
 
1.  Student tickets need to be cut.  The students were great this weekend
and both nights to me it felt like a couple thousand students were in the
building not around 700.  The facts are simply that students have never
picked up the allotment of 1500 tickets and they were not even close this
weekend.  I have a lot of respect for the president and the administration
for giving students a chance before just making the cut.  That shows a lot
of class and respect for the student body and it should be commended.
 
2.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  The students together in the
balcony, rather than spread out among the area, is a great thing and it is
already having an effect on the atmosphere.  If the balcony is full of
students every night, things will be great!
 
3.  One administrator I spoke with suggested that one outcome of cutting
student tickets that might be discussed would be to sell more season
tickets.  I don't like this at all.  It is a difference between possible
vs. guarenteed money.  So I can see the logic.  There is a 1200-person
waiting list for season tickets, so if you cut 500 student tickets and sell
500 more season tickets, that is guarenteed money.  It is not guarenteed
that if you open these seats to the general public that they will sell.
But there is a reason that walk-up sales are fairly low -- people don't
know!!  Alfond used to sell out every night, so anyone that has been around
for awhile has this impression they can't get in.  In recent years I've
heard advertisements with Greg Cronin and Shawn Walsh trying to get the
word out that you can buy tickets!!  The unversity owes a duty to the
tax-paying public, many of which can't afford season tickets.
 
4.  The ticket distribution system before did not work well and that
included students having to pick up their tickets ahead of time.  Now, if
it was on a weekly basis (i.e. pick up your tickets the Monday and Tuesday
before the game(s) you want to see), that "might" work.  However you can
have students picking up tickets and not using them, or students who can't
pick up tickets who want to go.
 
The problem is picking up tickets is the only way to get an accurate count
before hand to be able to have tickets left to sell to the general public
and then you intermingle students and general public and that might work
counter to the whole idea of setting up a student section.  (Example:
Let's assume for the sake of argument more students show up at game-time
than days in advance to go to a game.  You have 1,000 student tickets.  500
students pick them up at distribution days, 500 are sold to the general
public prior to game time.  That means the balcony is now only half-filled
with students, which totally defeats the purpose and brings us back to the
last few years)
 
5.  The current system is good for students and good for crowd atmosphere.
It is bad for the general public to get tickets.  It is a tough call
because the tax paying public deserves access, as do the tution paying
students.  I still think the best answer for everyone is cut student
tickets to 1000 and sell 500 general public tickets each game and don't
increase season ticket holders unless you put some ticket exchange system
in place, otherwise the university gers guarenteed money, but NOT
guarenteed support at ALL games and that is no good!!
 
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Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
 
"Any idiot can face a crisis -- it's this day-to-day living
that wears you out."    - Anton Chekhov
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