OPINION & EDITORIAL
UW Athletics, what were you thinking?
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by Letters to the Editor
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The new ticket policy for University of Wisconsin football games is absolutely unacceptable. As a first-year student who was not awarded tickets in the 2007 football season lottery, I was looking forward to a new ticket policy more than most, especially after I ended up paying more than $400 for a season’s worth of football tickets that should have cost me only a fraction of that. Ignoring the fact that the largest problem of the old system — the issue of students entering the lottery simply to resell their tickets — has not been addressed at all, there are still other major flaws with the new system that are evident immediately upon looking over the press release. I can only imagine how the creative students of University of Wisconsin will find ways around this idiotic system.
Since I was already a victim of the lottery system, I was happy about being able to attend every football game next year without worrying about how my terrible luck would affect me. Thanks to the now-universal lottery system, I will probably miss out on tickets again every year of my stay at UW, and those who want tickets simply to resell them are in prime position to abuse the system and price-gouge the true fans.
The replacement of tickets with wristbands, aside from being childish, will just be another easily abused system once the security guards start to look only for color. Once they become dependent on the system, wristbands from previous games can easily be worn between sections while giving the guards a sense of security that they’re doing their jobs. Another problem is the presence of long sleeves during cold weather games makes this policy completely useless. Last season coach Bret Bielema said “I’d love to walk into Camp Randall and see a sea of red of everybody in the stands.” I don’t think a technicolor tribute to every other color of the rainbow in the student section is what he had in mind.
While I was never able to take advantage of the reserved seating area of Section P, I know it provides a worthy seating area for the truly die-hard fans of the Badgers who have been here for years, who know every step of the “Time Warp,” every word of “On Wisconsin” and who don’t screw up the hand motions of “If You Want to be a Badger” — even during that tricky part. Section P has the duty to gather and lead the rest of the student section and the stadium several times per game, such as leading UW’s complicated wave, and I don’t see how a section diluted with less experienced fans can do that.
I am amazed no one at the Athletic Department saw all the defects of this new structure. When comparing the systems, while the old one was clearly flawed, it seems the university fixed only the things that weren’t important and decided to leave all the tougher, more significant problems for someone else to deal with. I can only hope this issue will be fixed before August when — no matter what — I’ll be in the stands cheering on my Wisconsin Badgers.
Steven Shutt
UW freshman, computer engineering
shutt@wisc.edu
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 3:43am):
Stop complaining. I didn't get tickets my junior year because of a computer error that didn't send the invitation email to about half the students so we missed the opportunity.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 7:27am):
boo hoo
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 9:57am):
Seriously, quit whining. It's not like you have some sort of inherent right to the football games just because you are a student.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 10:07am):
Someone call the waaahmbulance!
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 10:15am):
cry me a river. there's nothing you can do to prevent people from entering the lottery simply to make a profit. what do you want UW to do? administer a quiz or something?
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 10:19am):
Stupid freshman. How can you POSSIBLY complain about not getting tickets your first year on campus? Don't you realize that every other freshman class in recent memory dealt with the same problem? In this new system, first year students have a BETTER chance of getting tickets than before, since each class is now guaranteed 2,000 vouchers. This means that students who have NEVER had to cope with missing out on season tickets are now taking those tickets away from the upperclassmen who deserve them, and who paid their dues (by buying overpriced student tickets from scalpers their freshman, and maybe even sophomore, years) when they were underclassmen. Stop complaining, and lose the false sense of entitlement. No one who's been here for more than one year feels bad for you.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 10:23am):
i didn't get an invitation email last year, but i still got tickets. why? because i checked the website around the time i knew tickets were going to be sold to figure out the date....its the same every year. people who whined because they "didn't get the email" are idiots. if i don't get tickets for my senior year because of this new system, i'm going to be incredibly angry.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 11:06am):
I don't understand why they would get rid of section P. I totally agree with the idea that the cheers will not have a leader which will result in some pathetic attempts at the wave.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 11:51am):
Again, like everyone said last year, if you were a dedicated and informed fan you would have known when the tickets went on sale. Yet another reason why the old system was fair to true football fans.
matt g (April 8, 2008 @ 2:07pm):
I think the original poster has a valid opinion. As a senior I am pissed that my chances of getting a ticket have been reduced to a statistic. I found that a senior has a 78% chance of getting a ticket, a junior 58% , a sophomore 39% and a freshman 19%. Think of it this way, what is the probability that a student and their significant other both receive tickets? As a senior it is 61%. How many couples do you think are going to not get tickets because of this new idiotic system. Additionally, this new system allows for the possibility of going all four years without receiving a ticket, is that really fair?
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 2:32pm):
What's with UW? They screwed up picking classes, and now they have screwed up the ticket policy. It truly does suck.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 3:07pm):
I must say that a major flaw in the new plan is the Section Reserved Seating. Having a seating range as wide as Rows 6-46 is going to cause major crowding issues, fights, and an incentive to come to the game late. I understand that the athletic department has worked to make changes to address student needs. I'm afraid though, that the new section reserved seating is going to greatly impact the enjoyment of the game of many student fans. Hopefully there is still a time to further limit the number of rows from 40 to something smaller that won't bring the crowding issues.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 4:03pm):
how'd they screw up picking classes, its by credit??
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 4:20pm):
When there is more demand than supply, there will always be complaints. I find it puzzling that despite all the demand, the student section is still only 1/2 full at opening kickoff. With the new policy, instead of finding a way to reward the dedicated fans that are there for all 60 minutes, UW-Athletics punishes them by making the process completely random. Get ready for even worse student sections than previous years.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 4:47pm):
I think if people would not have bitched and complained so much last year when they didn't get the e-mail UW probably wouldn't have been prompted to change the policy. Secondly, who were the student reps for this thing and what the hell were they doing. I think anyone who is in touch with the student body could have seen that this policy was going to piss everyone off and sure enough here we are.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 7:34pm):
honestly, there are more important things in life than football tickets. get over it!
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 8:49pm):
The football team sucks anyway. Go frisbee golf!
Anonymous (April 9, 2008 @ 11:38am):
This new policy encourages me to apply. More true fans are going to be without tickets, which means more opportunity to sell the season for profit.
I'll talk a group of my non-football fan friends into applying, get sets for me and my sig. other, and sell the rest for gross profit, thanks Athletic department!
Anonymous (April 9, 2008 @ 11:03pm):
well stated steven!
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