Unless all of the 1500 student tickets are sold, ALL 11,000 of the Maine students have had access. On the other hand the remaining 1,000,000 Maine residents (not to mention alum's from out of state) have had exactly zero access for these first four games. Now, In no way am I suggesting cutting the 1500 student tickets. All of the students should have access to all of those seats. However, I think that we can all agree that if the students are not interested then they should be made available to the general public. (I still think empty seats are a crime.) I think that we can probably all agree that all 1500 tickets don't need to be infinitely available to the students. The ticket office should not be holding 1000 tickets right up until game time, for example. At least some of those seats if not spoken for by students should be made available to the public with at least enough lead time to drive to Orono say from Kittery. .........More later........ ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Hockey Ticket Availability Author: [log in to unmask] at Internet Date: 10/23/98 12:44 PM Just to follow up on Clair's comments, which I mostly agree with. What also must never be forgotten is Maine is a university. There is a duty to taxpayers, but also to the 11,000 students at the University of Maine. If you figure students get 1500 seats, that means about 14 percent of the student body has access to attend games. I want to see the building as full as it can be, but I do not want this to come at the expense of the students. Too much has contributed to the decline of student attendence to just cut the number of tickets, even after 4 games. It will probably happen, but I hope that the administration gives deference to students and cuts only the bare amount to be feasible. Remember, more students will be wanting to come out in February in the middle of a title run, than in October. I'm worried a decision will be made with too much haste. Another point in this discussion here should be that in addition to the fact that only 14 percent of the student body can access Maine hockey games, but the fact that there are almost 4,000 seats promised out already. If we want more general public seats (and I think there should be) let's cut into that too. Let's not just advocate the cut of student tickets, there are lots of donors and season ticket holders who don't show up for their seats either. -dt