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Athletics delivers ticket verdicts to 7,600 applicants
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by Pedro Oliveira Jr.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
To the delight of some and displeasure of many, the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department announced Tuesday the lottery winners of coveted basketball season tickets.
Vince Sweeney, associate director of athletic communications, said the department took students' feedback from previous years into consideration when reviewing the ticket lottery in an effort to make the process fairer and reach more students.
According to a UW Athletics release, about 7,600 students applied for tickets.
Instead of offering only full season tickets, Sweeney said this year students were offered 1,200 full-season tickets and 1,800 half-season tickets.
"It's a little bit better than last year," Sweeney said. "Last year, every ticket was a full season ticket."
Sweeney also said seat assignments will be conducted the same way as the ticket lottery, eliminating the need for long lines in front of the Kohl Center.
"A lot of people were unable to stand in line for the many days that some people could," he added.
Unlike previous years, in which seats were assigned in a first-come, first-served basis, this season students will be assigned to seats depending on their class standing and dedication to the basketball team.
Students receive points accordingly to their class standing — freshmen, sophomores and juniors receiving one, two and three points respectively, seniors and graduate students receiving four points — and also one point for each time they have applied for season tickets.
Each group of students will have their points averaged, and the highest numbers will be assigned to the best seats. In case of ties, Sweeney said groups will be randomly selected.
"In theory the senior-dominated groups would be assigned first," Sweeney said.
Students who received full season tickets will be unable to register for seats with students that received half season tickets, however, and seat assignment for students registering individually will follow the same procedures as students in groups, Sweeney said.
UW senior Nick Lowenberg received half-season tickets and said the random assignment system is fair.
"Given the demand for tickets, it's probably better that more students get tickets," Lowenberg said.
Hockey seat assignments are scheduled to be unveiled next week, according to Sweeney, and will follow the same procedure for seat assignment.
The deadline to register as a group is 4:30 p.m. Oct. 10.
—Tom Schalmo contributed to this report.
Anonymous (September 26, 2007 @ 7:40am):
The Athletic Department should track those students who immediately turn around and post the tickets they won in the lottery for sale to make extra money and remove them from the lottery list in future years.
Anonymous (September 26, 2007 @ 11:10am):
Agreed.. I mean i can understand if none of your friends got them, and you don't want to go by yourself, so you need to sell them... but if that was the case i doubt you'd try to make a 3X profit.
Anonymous (September 26, 2007 @ 10:16pm):
I strongly disagree that this new procedure is a better way to go. All it does is give more greedy kids a chance to make a big profit, a record profit judging by the prices these tickets are going for. $800 dollars for a season ticket? Thats insane. Something has to give because this system is obviously flawed. But hey at least we're encouraging some school spirit for the underclassmen by earning the best seats waiting in line...oh wait, you just have to be old now.
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