First, I would like to thank everyone for the student ticketing feedback that I have been getting lately.  It would be an understatement to say that I’ve been hearing about ticketing just a bit over the past week; however, it is an awesome problem to have.  I would like to thank students for the tremendous amount of support you have shown our athletics teams this fall.  We are currently experiencing high levels of success in each fall sport –  every team has a record of .500 or above. But, I will attempt to address a few main student-ticketing concerns.

Supply vs. Demand
Almost 16,000 requests were made for approximately 8,000 seats.  No matter what the distribution policy is currently, or would be changed to, we will be turning away almost 50% of those asking for tickets. That in and of itself creates an unenviable situation from a customer service perspective.

Distribution Policy ‘flaw’
In reviewing the lottery process, all was executed as the policy states and the frustration and feedback being experienced is largely due to supply and demand. Student Government in conjunction with Athletics developed the loyalty/seniority point distribution process.  The biggest misconception in this whole process is that seniority is the only component in determining awarded tickets.  The fact is, however, that this hybrid system does not guarantee a seat to any senior, graduate student or frequent attendee.  The system merely increases the probability that anyone in this group would receive a ticket. Student Government will be examining changes to improve the ticketing system, however we cannot change these factors mid-season.

Additional Seating Distribution
The additional seating was offered outside the general student allotment, over and above the quantity of tickets approved for students.  While any on-site method is not perfect, we were attempting to award almost 2,000 more students with seats.   The positives that go along with that drastically outweigh concerns about a first come, first serve process and as a result, we elected to move forward.

 
Money Generating Opportunity
Some concerns have been expressed stating that the two guest ticket process is based on financial gain.  I would like to reiterate that Parent’s and Families weekend is a campus event.  Athletics offers two guest tickets to accommodate families that may be partaking in the weekend’s festivities. Knowing the burden this added ticket demand would place on inventory, Athletics cut-off sales for the game to commit almost $65,000 worth of saleable inventory to students, as well as also incurring costs to erect temporary bleacher seating to get an additional 400 students and parents into the stadium on game day.  I assure you that hosting Parents and Families weekend during the Virginia Tech game would not have been the first choice, however our other Saturday home games happen to be Fall Break, Labor Day and Homecoming.

Increased Student Seating in the Future
The demand and buzz from our student body this season has been spectacular and it has not fallen on deaf ears. We are working with Athletics and looking very seriously at increasing student allotments moving forward and hope that is something you will see in the near future.

Go Pack!

Jeffrey Johnson is the chair of Student Government’s Commission on Athletics and is a senior in business administration.