SGA is beginning to finalize much-needed changes to the football ticketing system ahead of the 2009 season. After starting a campaign last fall to investigate student ticketing, SGA has arrived at three proposals that they believe will improve the efficiency and method of ticket distribution to a growing student body.
The SGA researched several possible overhauls to the ticketing system before deciding on three possible solutions to alleviate the current system’s problems.
All the proposals will raise the minimum number of student tickets distributed each week by 500, raising the total to 9,000.
In addition, all the proposals call for the ticketing system to be moved online, much like the current basketball ticketing system. There will also be no more tickets for games; instead, students will have to swipe their BuzzCards for access.
The first ticketing scenario would call for student season tickets. This would be paid for by a small increase of $5 per semester in the athletic fee. The scenario also includes a ticket exchange system that would allow a season ticket holder to place the tickets they don’t use up for grabs.
Season ticket holders would be expected to go to each game, and if they did not, they would be penalized. Proposed penalties include warnings, losing tickets and being unable to attend the game against UGA.
The second ticketing scenario mostly mirrors the current basketball ticketing system. Students would apply for tickets each week online. There has been no proposed penalty for not showing up to a game. This plan would also be paid for by a small athletic fee increase.
The last scenario would involve students purchasing season tickets to the games. The proposed price has been mentioned at $20. There would be no athletic fee increase with this proposal.
The system also provides an incentive to exchange tickets if a student decides not to use their tickets one week. If a student cannot attend a game and exchanges their ticket, they would receive back a portion of the money they paid to buy the season tickets.
“These are just three possible proposals, and there are pros and cons for each,” said Nick Wellkamp, the undergraduate student body president. “[The scenarios] are in high-level discussions right now.”
“We are really looking for student feedback [right now],” Wellkamp said. In the next few weeks, SGA will be approaching student groups to discuss the ticketing options and have open forums to allow students to voice their opinions on the matter.
SGA ran a ticketing system trial run last fall for the Gardner-Webb football game. Only students who scanned their BuzzCards were admitted.
The idea behind the use of BuzzCards was to lessen the use of student tickets by non-students. Even at a game with low attendance, the system had problems processing that amount of people.
To overcome these problems, a total of 20 scanners will be used, the scanners will use a Wi-Fi connection and an additional student entry gate will be opened.