The athletic department, in cooperation with SGA, has instituted a new ticketing policy for students starting this fall.
“Our goal is to ensure the integrity of student tickets,” said Alina Staskevicius, Undergraduate Student Body President. “These tickets are for students as opposed to alumni who are trying to sneak in. With this system, it guarantees students receiving their tickets.”
“The students’ problem was that a lot of alumni were getting in and not students, which wasn’t fair because they weren’t paying an athletic fee. So [the change] was initiated by students. This is actually the result of two years’ worth of discussion,” Staskevicius said, elaborating on the reason for the change. “The new system is entirely online. All you need to get in with is your Buzzcard.”
However, that might lead to long waiting times similar to what happened at the Gardner-Webb game last year. According to Staskevicius, SGA had considered this and had implemented a viable solution.
“We purchased, SGA has funded and the athletic association has funded the purchasing of a new turnstile so you shouldn’t have too long of a wait to get into the game,” Staskevicius said.
Eligible students have two options in receiving their tickets. The first one is by reserving a season seating at a cost of $36. The seats will be on the north end zone between sections 112 and 120.
Students may also register as part of a group. Each group will will submit a single payment on behalf of the entire group. Alternatively, students may join SWARM. If the student does not wish to join any group, then he or she could purchase a reserve season ticket individually.
Registration for season reservations is done on a seniority basis calculated by the number of hours accomplished by the student.
The order is as follows: students with 90-plus hours will be able to register 8am on August 14, 60-plus hour students can begin registering on August 16, 30-plus hour students may register on August 18 and any students with fewer than 30 hours can register on the August 20. In total, six thousand tickets will be available in the first ticketing option.
The second option for students is on a first-come first-serve basis. The dates at which students may claim their individual tickets are available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
These tickets will be free, excluding the already paid student athletic fees. Students will not be able to claim both a season reservation and a free individual ticket. Approximately 2500 tickets will be available each week under this option.
For students interested in inviting non-Tech students to games, student guest tickets will be available should ticket inventory remain on Wednesdays prior to the game. These guest tickets will cost $25 each except for the Jacksonville State game which will cost $12.50 each. Payments will have to be made online. Each student is limited to one extra guest ticket. Guests will have to accompany their host student to the game. At the entrance, the guest ticket will be a second scan on student’s Buzzcard.
Guests are required to sit at the general admission seating in the end zone, so reserved season ticket holders will be unable to sit with guests.
Basketball ticketing will be similar to football ticketing as well.
At regular season games, students will simply have to show their Buzzcard at the ticket booth.
Post-season home games will cost $5. All other varsity sports will follow a similar policy: students will have to show their Buzzcards in order to gain admittance.
Online through the Athletic Association. The system will be managed by Paciolan, a subsidiary of Ticketmaster.
2,900 season tickets will be available for $36. The remaining 6,100 tickets will be free single-game tickets.
Students will need to scan their Buzzcards at stadium gates to enter. Paper tickets will no longer be used.
Groups applying for block seating will need to purchase season tickets.
$35,000 from SGA + $115,000 from AA = $150k