OPINION & EDITORIAL
Athletic Department boxes fans out
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by Letters to the Editor
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
I’ve been a loyal Badger basketball fan up to this point. I was one of those people who would pay a three-digit figure for one Big Ten Conference game ticket. I was patient when the athletic department needed to conduct a second lottery for season tickets and was heartbroken when I did not receive the opportunity to buy a season ticket.
I was told the lottery was weighed so that a better chance of getting tickets would go to upperclassmen and students who bought tickets last year, but with just one of those advantages going for me, I still have been unable to secure season tickets and am forced yet again to search scalpers and dealers for just the chance to see the Badgers play ball.
When I found out recently that the people who were lucky enough to receive season tickets would receive those tickets for free, I almost blew my top off.
Now I will have to buy a game ticket from someone who didn’t pay a cent for that ticket to begin with.
On top of receiving that free ticket, those people also receive an advantage over me to receive tickets next year. Giving those tickets away for free, with collaboration of Paciolan Inc., was a huge slap in the face for the hundreds of students who are in my position. I understand that those tickets were given away in good faith, but I feel that this act was wrong because it would only please some students, and it is the duty of the athletic department to work to please all involved parties in this situation if possible.
I stress “if possible” because it would be impossible to please everyone, but when actions end up displeasing hundreds of students like me, who were already displeased to begin with for the loss of the second lottery (whether or not they won the first), someone has to step back and say, “What gives?”
Now the question I pose to the athletic department is how can they take responsibility for the consequences of their actions? At the rate they are going, they are just digging a deeper and deeper hole into my Badger heart and a good many Badger hearts out there. Certainly nothing can be taken back, but things can still be done to repair the damage. The lottery should be, in my opinion, scrapped entirely due to lack of trust with the system, and a new system should be implemented that is fair for all and tries to please as many students as possible. Perhaps the weighted lottery should be replaced by a simple raffle or first-come first-serve basis.
I am very disappointed with the athletic department’s actions and am demanding change and reparations for the basketball games my fellow students and I have missed these past years due to a flawed system predisposing a discriminatory marketplace.
Joseph P. Monahan, III
jpmonahan@wisc.edu
Anonymous (November 9, 2004 @ 1:17pm):
I agree, the Athletic Dept. just can't get anything right. Holding another lottery... fine, but giving away the tickets for free is an absolute outrage. Completely wrong, and childish! And it only makes the people who didn't receive any in the second lottery feel that much worse!
Anonymous (November 9, 2004 @ 2:58pm):
First, if the person you have to scalp a ticket from didn't pay for it, then it should drive the price of the ticket down, not make it an extra hassle. The ticket company fucked up and they are paying for it by covering the cost of the tickets, what part of that is a "slap in the face"? They should charge the people that got tickets so the people that didn't get them don't feel as bad? If this guy could settle down and stop whining he might realize what an inane rant this is.
Anonymous (November 9, 2004 @ 2:59pm):
First, if the person you have to scalp a ticket from didn't pay for it, then it should drive the price of the ticket down, not make it an extra hassle. The ticket company fucked up and they are paying for it by covering the cost of the tickets, what part of that is a "slap in the face"? They should charge the people that got tickets so the people that didn't get them don't feel as bad? That might be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If this guy could settle down and stop whining he might realize what an inane rant this is.
Anonymous (November 9, 2004 @ 4:50pm):
Look, you are gonna be happy if you got tickets and upset if you did not. Thats obvious. The thing people have to realize, is that the University tried to make as few people unhappy as possible. As a ticket holder myself, I find it troubling and disasapointing that students are profiting off other students from tickets they didnt buy in the first place. It is inevitable that the system will change soon, but just realize this was a pretty good solution to a confusin problem.
Anonymous (November 10, 2004 @ 3:40pm):
I agree and disargee with the writer, but it's important to note by itself that with the current lottery system statistically there is a group of students out there who will apply to be in the lottery every year of their college career and never win season tickets ever. Can this guilt be beared by all of those season ticket holder/scalpers?
