BYU basketball leaves student fans out in the cold
by Jacob on Jan.27, 2007, under Sports
While BYU athletic administrators are out celebrating a men’s basketball win over Air Force in front of a sold-out crowd, hundreds of students are wishing they could have been a part of it all. BYU athletic’s postgame notes record that the game had the 23rd largest sell-out crowd in basketball history. But what did BYU do to sell the Marriott Center out? They spent the week selling tickets at a dollar a piece to anyone who wanted them. Then, when large student crowds showed up to view the game, they had to turn hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of them away because there were no seats left.
Anyone who has been around BYU men’s basketball knows the dedication of the student section. Long before the game begins, it is common to see the student section packed with fans eager to be the loudest in the house. Many student fans spend $40 or more on student-access-cards which allow them access to BYU sporting events. At today’s game, these card holders showed up expecting to be granted access as usual to the game, but many were disappointed when they were turned away at the doors. Those turned away were angry that they were not able to attend an event that they had already purchased access to. Access and seat availability is controlled by ticketing policy which determines how many tickets should be sold at various prices. The ticketing policy for today’s basketball event failed because it did not give access to those students who had purchased it.
I strongly recommend that the ticketing policy for future events be examined carefully to be fair to students and other fans. Some policy changes that could be considered are:
- Increase the size of the student section,
- Improve communications about seat availability,
- Limit the number of tickets sold at promotional discounts.
Additionally, I recommend that the athletic administrators issue an apology for today’s ticketing failures and make efforts to improve future accommodations to dedicated student fans.
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