Starting this fall, University of Wisconsin football fans
will have to shorten their pregaming to get better seats and watch the Badgers
in Camp Randall.
The UW Athletic Department announced Monday changes to the
football season ticket process, including a ticket lottery system for all
students and adjustments in seating assignment.
Instead of having preassigned seats, Badger fans who arrive
early will receive a wristband that would determine whether they’ll be in the
lower or upper student section. Section assignment will be on a first-come,
first-served basis.
“We feel that’s one way that we can address the
students not getting there on time,” said Vince Sweeney, associate
director of athletic communications. “The sooner you get there, the better
chances of getting a better seat you have.”
The lottery system, which previously only affected incoming
freshmen, will now be used to determine ticket distribution to all students.
Section P, which used to seat upperclassmen only, will be open to all students.
According to Sweeney, the new process is an effort to avoid
last fall’s problem, when tickets sold out in 2 1/2 days, and many fans were
unaware they ever went on sale.
For UW freshman Ellie Raulin, the new seating assignment
seems to be a good idea, though she said the old process to acquire tickets was
better than the new one.
“If people really wanted them, they’d make sure they
got them,” Raulin said. “I don’t think it’s fair to put everybody in
the lottery system because some people weren’t on top of it enough to know
tickets were for sale.”
According to Sweeney, the system comes from student feedback
provided by nearly 3,800 participants in an online survey, along with input
from the two Associated Students of Madison representatives on the Athletic
Board.
“Also, we’re not going to mail the tickets anymore,
because a lot of the students have different addresses, and lot of people would
show up in August or September and say they didn’t get their tickets,”
Sweeney added.
Instead, students are invited to pick up their tickets at
the Wisconsin Athletic Ticket Office.
No changes have been set regarding basketball or hockey
season tickets.
