DUKE BASKETBALL, a lightning rod for all those who follow college sports, polarizes students into two groups: those who love Duke and those who loathe it. Because of the men's basketball team's consistent excellence, name recognition, and ability to inspire widespread hatred, the number of tickets requested through SHOTS exceeded the supply by 2,700, and many students who desperately wanted seats did not get them.
That so many students would be denied entry to the game seems odd at first glance, especially given that the University just opened an arena that seats 15,219. Theoretically it could hold the vast majority of the student body -- and at least twice as many students as requested tickets. Yet, many students who should have gotten tickets, who have attended games religiously, were denied them in part through the randomness of the lottery system the University employs, but more directly through the limited number of spots available.
The lottery system allocates tickets fairly. For each "sabre point" and "men's basketball point" a student has, he or she gets one additional entry in the lottery. Thus, ten sabre points and four men's basketball points would earn 15 entries. Those students who have attended the most games get the most opportunities to win, which works well most of the time. For the Duke game, and for the first time this year, demand for student tickets exceeded supply.
The problem, however, lies not with the random lottery system, but with the lack of student seating available. According to the SHOTS website, there are only 3,250 student seats available in the John Paul Jones arena. In other words, for sporting events played on grounds by students, not even a majority of students can attend. Instead of revising the ticket allocation system, therefore, the answer is to open up more seats to students.
According to Corbin Hunt, Assistant Athletics Director for Ticket Sales and Operations, "For all games, the goal is to have a full building." While this makes sense, it also seems reasonable that students, for whose benefit the game is theoretically played, ought not be denied the chance to go to games, especially important match ups. Hunt said this is the first time that there have been more ticket requests than tickets available this year. Nevertheless, in the hierarchical world that is college basketball, some games always will draw more fans than others.While the athletic department feels the current situation is adequate, the 2,700 students without tickets would obviously disagree.
According to Hunt, the John Paul Jones Arena holds 15,219 seats. This season, about 9,000 went to season ticket holders, while the remaining several thousand were sold in a variety of packages or as single game tickets to the general public. The arena is sold out for all the games except for the contest against Longwood. Clearly the University is not having a hard time filling the arena. The difficulty is getting those in who most deserve to see the game: students.
For games against highly ranked opponents, such as the Duke game, the ticket office ought to open those seats not already given to season ticket holders to students.
The athletic department should have an idea as to which tickets will be in high demand. So, before the season begins, for games against ranked opponents, the athletics department should take the tickets left over from the season ticket holders and the student section and then divide that number in half between those sold to the public and those offered to students. This would have opened up over a thousand more seats to students for the Duke game. Fewer season tickets could be sold, but that would hurt attendance at all games, without guaranteeing a significant boost in student attendance.
Granted, this is a new arena;all the kinks may not have been worked out. Measures have been taken to give students the best seats, but it seems reasonable that in a university setting a higher percentage of the tickets available ought to go to those paying to attend said University, especially for games that students really want to see. While turning paying seats into free student seating might result in a loss of revenue, the John Paul Jones Arena hosts enough events that the money could be made up elsewhere, particularly through concerts. For high-profile games, the athletic department ought to sell fewer seats individually and hold them for the loyal student fan base that otherwise might not be able to support their team.
Robby Colby's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at rcolby@cavalierdaily.com.
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