University of Virginia Library

More Damns

There are hundreds of
discontented Cavalier fans at
the University today due to the
inept way the Athletic
Department has handled the
problem of student seating at
basketball games. It has
allocated only 3800 seats to
the student section and has
compounded this mistake by
using a grossly unfair method
of distributing student tickets.

The latter need not concern
us for the root of the problem
rests in the restrictions on the
student section. Why should
seating be limited to 3800? If
last year's turnouts are any
indication of student support,
then the Athletic Department
must realize that upwards of
4200 students desire to attend
the basketball games.

I question the turnstile
figure of only 2600, clearly it
has decided to ignore this
demand in favor of the more
remunerative non-student
demand for general admission
seats. Full student
participation is being
sacrificed to increased gate
receipts. I could ask "Do we
have athletics at the University
to maximize profits or for the
students' benefit?", but that
would lead us astray from our
topic.

The fact is that part of each
student's comprehensive fee
goes to pay for University
athletics including b-ball. How
then can anyone justify
denying students admission to
the basketball games?
Obviously no one can without
some tricky mental gymnastics.
I don't care if the University's
system allows a higher
percentage of students to
attend games than other ACC
schools — their unjustness does
not justify the Athletic
Department's.

A number of solutions
exist: 1) abolish subsidizing
University athletics with
student funds and let those
students who wish to attend
athletic events pay the market
price. This means making all
sports at the University
self-supporting. I suspect the
Athletic Department would
soon discover it has nothing
left. It needs the student
subsidy.

2) expand the student
section to about 4500 or so,
raise general admission prices,
and pray that next year's
misguided expansion doesn't
saddle U-Hall with 5000
student fans.

3) announce the following
plan: all students who are in
line before the opening tip-off
of the Cavayearling games are
guaranteed seats. Students
arriving later pay general
admission prices (which must
be raised) along with all others.
This plan would insure that all
students who really desire to
see the games could—no one
would be turned away because
the "quota" was filled. The
Athletic Department would
know well before the varsity
game how many general
admission seats it has.

The value judgement
underlying all this is that
students should have priority
over all others when it comes
to seeing University games.

After all, the team is called the
University of Virginia, not the
Charlottesville Cavaliers.