University of Virginia Library

In This Corner

Ticket Hassle

By Randy Wert

SINCE 5:00 TUESDAY AFTERNOON, the major topic of
conversation around the Grounds has been "the
inconsiderateness of the Athletic Department concerning the
availability of basketball tickets." As is usually the case with
human beings, the gripes heard in the last 48 hours have been
extremely one sided, which leads us to believe that much
clarification is needed concerning U-Hall's ticket policy and its
goals.

Of primary importance in understanding the problem faced
by Messrs. Corrigan and Sebo are the facts that they are in no
way trying to pull a fast one on students at this University,
and that in developing this plan for ticket distribution, they
had only past experience to turn to for guidance.

TO INVESTIGATE THIS FIRST PROPOSITION let us
recap the original program. Devised by U-Hall officials in
conjunction with the three members of the Student Athletic
Committee, the plan called for allocation of exactly one half
of University Hall's 7,619 places to students, or roughly,
3,800. These seats would be awarded on presentation of a
student ID card on a day specified by the Athletic
Department. For those students wishing to sit together
(because all seats are on a reserved basis), one representative
could present all ID's for the group and receive a block of
tickets. This was for the convenience of fraternities, dorm
floors, communes, and just plain friends and neighbors.

Should all tickets be given out before the student demand
was met, the next day would allow students first choice of the
remaining 3,800 (excluding season tickets) at general
admission prices. Only after ample time had been allowed for
student seating would the general public get their shot at the
tickets. Obviously, this plan was arrived at with the
convenience of the student body in mind.

HOWEVER, UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES
CREATED DIFFICULTIES from the start as the company
entrusted with printing the passes for the first two home
games made delivery three weeks late, forcing Ticket Manager
Larry Stanley to keep adjusting the pickup dates. Because the
Baldwin-Wallace tickets came in just on Tuesday, the extra
pickup point at Newcomb Hall had to be eliminated for the
first day in order to get them prepared for distribution. Also,
"opening game" and Maryland's pre-season ranking are largely
responsible for the ticket crush. Only the UNC game will
witness comparable circumstances for demand.

The rationale followed by the Athletic department in
making up the ticket plan is little known but extremely sound.
How did they arrive at the 3,800 seat figure for student
seating? It was not simply a matter of randomly picking a
chunk of the arena for "those darn college kids." Much
consultation was done with AD's of all other Atlantic Coast
Conference schools to determine their formula for student
sections. Figures (which are not supposed to lie) show that the
3,800 seats in University hall is superior, in terms of
percentage of student population able to attend in the regular
student section, to every other ACC school and South Carolina
except for the two with enrollments less than Virginia, Wake
Forest and Duke. Maryland provides for 26% of its students.
North Carolina 22%, and South Carolina 33% as examples.
Virginia allows for 35%. In addition, only one school reserves
more than half of its arena for students, three, including Wake
and Duke, actually allow less. Maryland is the exception, it
having by far the largest coliseum at 14,000 seats. Here in
black and white, Virginia's plan stacks up AT LEAST as fair as
the competition's.

PROBABLY A MORE INSTRUCTIVE STATISTIC is the
actual turnstile counts from last year's games which show the
student gates as having admitted an average of only 2,600
students for all home contests, with the individual high of
3,316 for South Carolina, still far short of the 3,800 seat
allotment of this year. Critics should also keep in mind that
these numbers include date and guest tickets, which the 3,800
figure does not. In this view, University Hall is being liberal
with its student section. Mr. Sebo adamantly maintains that
even though the student section was smaller by 500 seats last
year, no one who came to a game, and was willing to wait for
ushers to find places for them, were turned away at the doors.
The new plan is also designed to eliminate seats being occupied
with coats by making all places reserved.

If you think things are tough here, North Carolina,
formerly operating on a three color system which allowed
only one third of the student body to be eligible for tickets on
a rotating basis, switched to a first come-first served basis
favorably comparable to ours. That comes to an extra 6000
students competing for the same 4000 seats to which we have
access. Theoretically, everyone has an equal chance to get
tickets.

SO MUCH FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE SYSTEM'S
ORIGINAL INTENTIONS. But University Hall is not an organ
without ears. Realizing the shortcomings of the system as
demonstrated Tuesday, the Athletic Department released the
statement appearing elsewhere in this edition and this morning
held another meeting of the SAC to hear suggestions and to
iron out the troubles. Mr. Corrigan and Mr. Sebo are on the
side of the student and have, we think, demonstrated this in
arranging the ticket system. Another example of this is the
fact that eight dates, nor guests, nor even student wives are
permitted to hold tickets in the student section. The students
will have first choice and first consideration.

Changes made may involve limiting pickup to one ticket per
student appearing in person or some small ratio (1.5 or 1.3),
requiring a separate pickup date for each game, or separate
pickup times for blocks of students based on student
numbers—all of these being inconveniences to students U-Hall
had originally tried to avoid. But, if the furor over the tickets
causes changes, rest assured they will come at the expense of
your convenience.