While students will always prove difficult to accommodate during particular games (i.e. Georgia), a new online ticketing system is a welcome change. The Student Government Association and Athletic Association should only alter those policies that do not work under the current system, and keep those that students have come to rely on.
One of the biggest questions is whether the new system should allow students to purchase season tickets or continue to obtain tickets game by game. Given the flexibility that game-by-game ticketing provides, as well as some of the complications that season ticketing introduces, we feel that maintaining the current tradition of picking up tickets based on individual games is the best option. Even though season ticketing could benefit the Yellow Jackets’ most loyal fans, the same would not hold true for the majority of the student body. Nine-thousand students would be excluded from week one, and the incentive for season ticket holders to “sell back” tickets to games they don’t attend may not prove to be effective enough.
If such a system is implemented, we recommend that penalties be instituted for ticket holders who arrive to games after the first quarter or do not come at all. Student tickets are a scarce resource that the each individual in the student body has paid for, and everyone deserves a fair chance to both obtain a ticket and a good seat. The issue of penalties is especially important to students who are tired of seeing blocks of empty seats at kickoff. The limited information on block ticketing policies further raises questions as to how it will be handled under the new system and whether any major changes will be made. The Student Government Association should make sure to address all of these major concerns before—and not after—voting on a policy.
However, in light of the recent deal struck by the Athletic Association and International Sports Properties, it seems somewhat surprising that two of the three potential plans require an increase in the student athletic fee in order to cover the costs of implementation. The new 10-year partnership will pay Tech almost $50 million, an astounding sum. Although the process of transitioning into an online-only ticketing system is very costly—at a price tag of nearly $120,000 per year—an ideal solution would explore minimizing the burden on students and taking advantage of the multimillion-dollar bonus the Athletic Association just received. If such a solution is not possible, then we support spreading the tab across the student body through an increase in the athletic fee.
Consensus editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.