As a three-year member of the 'Hoo Crew and as a rabid basketball fan who hasn't missed a non-winter break home game since first year, I would like to endorse the Athletic Department's proposed online basketball ticketing system.
I'll admit that I was skeptical at first, believing that any system that required the Virginia student body to plan to attend a basketball game was inherently flawed considering the large fluctuations in student attendance over the past few years. The fair to middling performance of our men's basketball team for most of the season certainly didn't help, but all things considered, average U.Va. students proved themselves to be apathetic and unmotivated.
Why, then, should the Athletic Department expect students to register for a ticket up to a week before tip-off? Here's why: From my experience in talking with students about basketball games, the rampant -- and incorrect -- impression most students have is that it is difficult to get into games. Since diehard Virginia fans started camping out for the best men's basketball games, the perception has grown that it is impossible to purely show up and go to games.
That false perception led to more than 500 empty student seats at the Duke home game in 2002 despite the approximately 70 tents that spent upwards of six nights camping out. Admittedly, the weather was cold and wet that night, but only 2,191 students sat in the 2,738-seat student section. My conjecture is that students were deterred by the appearance of a large campout. But, the camping rules allow only 10 members per group, which means that only 700 students were in line prior to game day and that more than 2,000 student seats remained as of the morning of the game.
The biggest benefit of this online ticketing system is that securing a ticket prior to game time will assure students that they will be able to get into a basketball game. I can't tell you how many times this past year friends would call me an hour or two before tip-off asking if there were still seats available. Not once this season did we fill the entire student section, meaning that not once were students turned away at the gate before game time. (If the arena is not full by tip-off, general admission tickets are sometimes sold to the public). Duke had the highest student attendance (2,043), and no other game even reached 1,500. Only four games attracted at least 1,200 students (Duke, Wake Forest, Maryland and UNC). The Georgia Tech game drew the fewest number of students to a conference game, a staggeringly low 606.
From conversations I've had with interested students, the biggest concerns I've heard are: 1) Why change things at a time when fan interest is low? 2) Why make the system so complicated? 3) What happens to camping? 4) Why do I have to plan so far in advance? 5) What happens if I decide to go to a game at the last minute and haven't registered?
1) Empty seats are an embarrassment to our program and hurt the fan atmosphere. This system allows the Athletic Department to gauge student interest in a game and work to fill the arena, preferably by students but potentially by selling tickets to the general public if necessary. Presumably, if students had a ticket to provide the confidence that they can get into a game, more students would come. Also, with the increased student capacity of the new arena looming shortly, it makes sense to implement a system now and work out any possible kinks.
2) I had the chance to visit Maryland to see the system in action, and their students had fully adjusted to it and, by and large, gave it very positive reviews. Honestly, folks, if Maryland students can figure it out, then Virginia students won't have any problems.
3) Camping will continue to play a role in determining the order students enter the arena. The diehards who choose to camp out to make sure they're first in line will still be able to do so. Maryland's system employs a timed entry based on one's accumulated number of loyalty points (earned by attending games), but we can certainly draft our own set of procedures to allow for camping.
4) The ticket registration process is not a binding contract. One will be able to cancel his or her ticket without penalty up until a few hours before game time, so there's no harm in registering if you think there's a good chance that you will go.
5) You can still go to the game, even if you haven't registered. Up until game time, all you will have to do is take about 30 seconds to log online to the ticketing system, check for ticket availability and print out your ticket as long the game has not yet sold out. There will also be accommodations for simply walking up the arena.
It's hard to explain all of the benefits of this system in just one column and still keep everyone's attention. But, as someone who understands the flaws of the current ticketing process and has been in close contact with the Athletic Department about this new online ticketing system, I hope you'll listen to my arguments in support of it. Please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns or suggestions.
(Joe Lemire is a Cavalier Daily sports columnist. He can be reached at lemire@cavalierdaily.com.)
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