Clair Chesley <[log in to unmask]> wrote, in part.. > What is disturbing is that if 1,500 students decide to go to the > games this year or if the ticket office decides to continue to hold > them only for students, there will be no seats available to the > general public. The only options would then be to attempt to get a > ticket from a player or from a visiting school, ... Please, oh please, don't ask a player for his seats unless you are Mom or Dad. Maybe someone else can explain the actual *NCAA* rules, if need be. > I do not begrudge the students their 1,500 seats at all. What does > disturb me greatly is that if the University is successful in getting > the students to fill up the 1,500 student seats, there will be NO > seats available to the general public, and the only way to be sure of > being a continuing fan (which my son and I have been) and attending > games, is to become a donor or to buy season tickets. ... Maybe I'm wrong here, but I think it is "donor *and* buy season tickets". > AND, there should NEVER be an empty seat in that arena when there > is someone who wants to go. Well, *if* you say students may come to the games *at game time* and receive their ticket, what else is there to do? So alternatives are (1) reduce student ticket allocation, (2) reduce season ticket allocation, or (3) restrict student ticket allocation to some point in time (and then release any remaining seats to anyone of a first-come basis). Alternative (1) will take care of itself if the students don't show up. By that I mean, it is the obvious place from which to find "per game general public" tickets. Alternative (2) is a poor one, IMHO, since there is a waiting list of people wanting to give the University money for those seats ... and income is a very, very important area for the Athletic Department and all of the University. Alternative (3), IMHO, may come to pass (again). If there is a need for drop-in purchasers. Perhaps undistributed student tix could be made available at 7pm (or some time). I am not recommending this, but something like this might be considered by someone someday. But it seems like the poster is suggesting some tickets be made available for advance purchase for most or all games. I can see that many people would *like* this, but I don't understand how the University should do it. U Maine has done wonderfully in the "public perception area" since the arrival of Pres. Hoff, IMHO. If you can suggest a better way of doing things, I'm confident you'll be listened to! All that said, when I have friends or relatives coming to town that want to see a hockey game, I call around looking for another season ticket holder that might want to sell their tickets for the night (Don't do it on campus; that's not allowed by your ticket agreement). Of course, if you're not at the games, it's difficult to figure out which of your friends might be season ticket holders! Anyway, it's great to talk about problems getting tickets, as the alternative of less interest is worse! Now if someone could find about $100 per game, wouldn't it be great to get the audio of Maine games on the net? $100 per game is my estimate of the cost. Convincing WZON and/or UMaine to actually do it might be another thing. Now, ... gotta get some work done ... so I can get to see them: DROP THE PUCK! cheers, wayne Wayne T. Smith [log in to unmask] Old Town Landing Co-owner of the College Hockey lists - Hockey-L/Info-Hockey-L/Hockey3