University of Virginia Library

"Advantages?"

Anyone who waited out at
U. Hall Tuesday night will
testify to the fact that all that
has happened with the new
system is that the time of
waiting around has shifted
from the day of the game to
the day on which the tickets
are first made available. Some
advantage!

Additionally, a collateral
advantage of the old system
was that since students were
forced to arrive early to get
seats, there was always a large
crowd for the freshman games.
Now students still wait, but on
the sidewalk around U. Hall
and need not arrive on the day
of the game until the last
moment, if at all.

Aside from the fact that
both of the two most quoted
"advantages" of the new
system failed to materialize, a
host of new problems surfaced.
Since students will always want
to sit in groups, individuals
were allowed to come to U.
Hall to get tickets with as
many I.D. cards as they could
carry. The individual who was
first in line because he showed
up at 12:30, carried fifty cards.
There were others in line with
more than 250 I.D. cards.

As a result, the enterprising
fan got a friend to wait out in
the cold while he sat at home.
The fan who went at 4:30 to
get a ticket for himself and a
friend couldn't get any ticket
at all since everyone ahead of
him had gotten so many. Not
only does this produce a
situation whereby students
who waited in line were shut
out and justifiably
disappointed if not angered,
the possibilities for scalping are
incredible.

First, there will be the
student who got I.D. cards for
students who later decide not
to attend the game. Then there
will be the student who
gathered cards from students
who never intended to go. In
both instances someone is
going to have lots of tickets to
dispose of and a large market
of hungry basketball fans. A
third possibility also exists. As
long as one student can obtain
large numbers of tickets,
students will be encouraged to
hire themselves out as
professionals willing to go to
U. Hall very early in the day
and guarantee a tickets to
anyone willing to pay a
nominal amount.

The possibility of scalping
and other business practices
with respect to the tickets can
of course be eliminated by the
promulgation of a limit on the
number that any single student
may obtain. But, even with
that problem eliminated, there
is the threshold question of
whether or not any system
which limits the number of
students who can go to the
games should exist at all.

There is no question in my
mind that the answer is no.
Students are required to pay an
activities fee, a large portion of
which goes to the athletic
department. To deny a student
admittance to an athletic event
is in effect to charge him for
nothing. Unless the University
is willing to reimburse those
students who are unable to get
in to see the games, there
would appear to be a valid
complaint here.