Wisconsin has one of the nation’s greatest football teams. While Wisconsin may be ranked highly in the country, however, our student football ticket policy at Wisconsin may be the worst.
I believe our football-ticket policy is unfair because football tickets should be provided free of charge. A couple weeks ago, I traveled south to De Kalb, Ill., to watch college football on a Tuesday night as the No. 22 Northern Illinois Huskies battled the Toledo Rockets for the MAC West division title.
As I arrived on the Northern Illinois campus, I learned two important things about the school. The first was that Northern Illinois University is surrounded by farmland and desolate nothingness for many, many miles. The second fact was that Northern Illinois gives students football tickets for free!
Wisconsin should emulate Northern Illinois and think of students first. As a student who is paying an exorbitant out-of-state tuition, is it too much to ask for some free football tickets?
Undoubtedly Wisconsin makes a great deal of revenue from football, and therefore would most likely be able to afford giving students free tickets. Evidence of such high revenues can be seen directly in the athletic departments spending of more than $100 million in renovation of Camp Randall Stadium. Moreover, in 2002 Wisconsin ranked seventh in the country in alumni donations with $307,213,842.
While giving students free tickets would take away roughly $2 million in revenue, the gesture would show that the university is not all about profits. The school would be committed to winning — winning not only on the field, but also winning over the student body.
Unfortunately, while Northern Illinois students saw Tuesday’s game for free, their team lost 31-17. After all, winning isn’t everything, and neither is the cost of a ticket.
Marc Levy
