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I know, I know … this whole debate over student ticket distribution at the University of Wisconsin is getting old. Really old.
When it comes to selling tickets for the Big Three - Badger football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey - this university has changed its policies, like, what, 38 times in the last four years?
We’ve seen football tickets sell out in a week, seen ‘em sell out in three days, and seen ‘em sell out before half the student body even knows they’re on sale, resulting in a giant, angry debate across campus that somehow never turned into a riot.
We’ve seen tickets turn into vouchers, which turn into wristbands, which turn back into vouchers.
We’ve seen kids camp out for good seats, we’ve seen the institution of half-season ticket packages, and we’ve seen online purchasing turn into the most frustrating system ever: the dreaded lotteries, where everyone has an equal chance regardless of passion for the Badgers.
Some people may not care about this. They might think, well, the university’s doing fine and the student sections are just as rowdy, and hey, who cares if diehard fans are shut out and people are strolling into the games 15, 20, or even 30 minutes late?
Let me tell you something: it is a big deal. Whether you realize it or not, it is absolutely embarrassing, on a weekly basis, to see the Grateful Red or the Crease Creatures be half-full during the national anthem, and then watch kids stream in slowly well after the game begins.
Going to road trips around the Big Ten and across the country, I’ve often wondered just how other universities do it. How is it that members of their student section are punctual (sometimes an hour before game time)?
So I talked to a few ticket offices that represent the best basketball student sections around the Big Ten and NCAA, and here are a few snippets of what I found.
Marquette, Wisconsin’s cross-state rival, has an extremely impressive basketball following; despite an undergrad enrollment of 11,500, the Bradley Center hosts 4,000 deafening students every game (one of the larger student sections in the country). And remember, Milwaukee isn’t exactly a rinky-dink college town with nothing else to do.
Seating is first-come, first-served. Get there early, get a better seat. Fairly simple strategy.
Defending national champion Kansas has an interesting format for filling the student section; if people don’t show up by a certain time (usually close to tipoff), students in the stand-by line are admitted as room allows. Gee, ya think the Rock Chalkers make sure to leave a little extra buffer time in there before gametime? Apparently so; for most big games, the student section is 70 percent full two hours before game time (Insert Lawrence, Kan. joke here).
At Duke University, undergrads can only get tickets on a game-to-game basis, and have to camp out for the big games (a Duke official claims that kids will wait in line for a week for the big Duke-North Carolina showdown). Grad students, meanwhile, register for season tickets and are put into a lottery, much like Wisconsin’s undergrad policy. Based on Duke’s high tuition, student tickets are free.
Michigan State basically forces its students to get to every game and get there on time, because that information is recorded and used to determine which 3,200 students will get tickets. It also hosts a two-day “Izzone Campout”, which sounds like how UW basketball and hockey fans used to camp out, only there’s a bit more university involvement and organization.
Both Duke and Kansas’ campuses, according to their ticket offices, are littered with tents and campers consistently throughout basketball season; as soon as one home game ends, the line for the next game begins. Line monitors are staffed to maintain order and orderly conduct.
Duke, Kansas, and Michigan State also both swipe student IDs rather than issuing tickets; the scalping-minded students (you know, like the UW students who enter the lottery with the sole intention of selling off their season package for $700) cannot be happy about this.
These schools all have vastly different ticket policies than Wisconsin’s; perhaps it’s a consideration for the good folks down in Kellner Hall to transfer their Camp Randall seating arrangement (first-come, first-served) over to the Kohl Center. That’s for Barry Alvarez, Vince Sweeney and the athletic department to decide.
But it’s worth noting one other big-time school that runs a very similar operation to UW, and that’s Illinois.
Illinois and Wisconsin each have an undergrad enrollment of around 30,000. Illinois chooses to admit a larger student section, with 3,500 members of the Orange Krush compared to the Grateful Red’s 2,100.
Illinois does require its students to come to Assembly Hall to purchase tickets, while Wisconsin, of course, still has its lottery. Every student, freshman or senior, sports die-hard or sports virgin, has the same opportunity to go get tickets.
But get this: in the case of both universities, once the season-ticket holders have been determined, a points system is put into play. Illinois’ system takes year in school, number of years having bought football and basketball tickets, and the time of purchase into consideration.
Tickets are issued (no scanning of IDs) and they cost $150 a season, about the same as Wisconsin. Everyone has the same seat for the entire season, just like Wisconsin.
So Illinois has a similar system to Wisconsin, and in recent years has had about the same success as a basketball program.
Who’d like to explain to the class why the Orange Krush is FULL well before every tipoff … while the Grateful Red is just full of holes? That’s not on the athletic department. That’s on the student body.
Neither group is absolved from blame on this subject. The university has to get rid of the lotteries to ensure the diehards get tickets, and consider first-come, first-served methods along with other incentives to coax students into arriving on time or even early.
The students? Buy a watch or something. Start showing up on time … because until they do, the Camp and the Kohl student sections will remain second-rate.
Aaron is a former Badger Herald sports editor. The student section debate rages on at [email protected].
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Marquette’s undergraduate enrollment is 8,000. The total enrollment is 11,500. Thanks for the props! Go Marquette!
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I do not see how this matters at all. Students are not going to change. Sports are entertainment for the students. They will show up when they are good and ready to show up.
Now I understand the concept of school spirit and all that jazz, but if the only way to reflect our school spirit is showing up to a sporting event, I am not sure that is such a good thing. I am extremely proud to go to UW-Madison, but none of that pride hinges on the quality of our sports teams. Especially not the quality of our student sections.
I have a great time when I go to the games, and I don’t see how the “quality” of the student section can extend much beyond that. The games are for the students (and to make big bucks for the university) so if they tickets are all sold, what does it matter if the students are there at kick-off/tip-off/face-off or not?
It’s wrong to come down on the students for not sharing your passion of Badger sports. We like to watch them as a past time, not as a lifestyle. The people who really enjoy the events and want to get there early and cheer as much as they can: more power to you, I wish you well. But I will go to the games when I feel like going, not when someone else wants me to be there.
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I agree, though I put more of the blame on the University than on the students in this case. There’s no real incentive for anyone to show up early to any of the games. Keeping the lottery system, but making seating first-come first serve (like they do at Marquette) would be enough to amp-up the Grateful Red a bit, but I don’t think anything short of moving kickoff back and keeping track of who shows up on time would be enough to get people to show up on time to football games.
As to the person above, is it really too much to ask to show up on time to games? I understand that purchasing a ticket entitles you to do whatever you want with it, but I think most people would at least appreciate it if people who do care enough to show up on time would get better seats. Especially seeing that we pay the second highest student ticket prices in the country. (full season tickets are actually tied with Indiana’s prices, 180 is for half-season if I remember right).
http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=9860810&nav=menu68256
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UW needs to rearrange their student sections for bball and hockey first. We are stuck all the way on the end, while schools like Duke and many others allow students one long end if the court so they can have a real impact on the game. The endzone crowd seems to work for football, as more people are loud and rowdy. But for basketball in particular, the small total of students and relatively laid back alums don’t do nearly the job we could. So even giving us the first 10 rows on one side and keep most of the end section could make a huge difference for our team. Of course this would mean pushing some high donating alumni back a few rows, and with the economy….well I’m just wishing here but perhaps those alums would realize it’s for the good of the program and give in a little.
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to the comment @ 4:39pm yes thank you that is how I feel also. I’ve been early, on time, and late to badger games. does that make me less of a fan? maybe, but in the end it doesnt really matter to the university, as long as their dollas are accounted for at the end of the day
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That’s exactly the point. There are people who want to be there as early as possible and aren’t given the opportunity to do that because students who just don’t care have their tickets. You can tune into the game whenever you feel like it on television—but leave the stands for the students who care.
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I completely agree with Aaron here. It is nothing more than a common courtesy to be at the games on time! The date and time of the event is scheduled well in advance, just as an interview or class is. Are students going to show up to their summer internship when they’re “good and ready”? No. The same principle applies here.
This is something that many people take seriously, and the argument before me completely validates the call for a first come, first serve basis. If you are a casual fan, get to the back of the line where you belong! Do not take up space in the lottery just to get tickets while I sit at home wishing to be at the game.
It’s ludicrous to think that students should not be held accountable. If you don’t have the pride for the university carry over to all of its endeavors, then you are not at the right place. The national media has noticed the lack of support that our students give their teams; College Gameday has not been in Madison for football since 2000. College Gameday came here for basketball and that is because it is a much smaller venue than Camp Randall and there was a heavy influx of the general public in attendance.
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“I have a great time when I go to the games, and I don’t see how the “quality” of the student section can extend much beyond that… We like to watch them as a past time, not as a lifestyle… I will go to the games when I feel like going”
This is exactly WHY our student sections are sub-par as compared to other Universities. I’m a student, and everyone who knows me can tell you that I’m about as extreme a fan as they come. And you’re damn right I’m embarrassed that our student sections are NEVER full before the start of a game.
I’m happy that you’re a fan and that you enjoy the game, but if you don’t want to be there before the game and create an intimidating atmosphere for the opponents, then why not just buy a general admission ticket and sit with the rest of people who enjoy watching “as a pastime. There ARE people who want to come and live their “lifestyle” that helps our teams win. But it isn’t fair that those who do get shut out by those who don’t really care about being there on time and helping our teams win. If you don’t care about seeing the whole thing, stay home and watch it on TV.
Want to know why we should want people like me in the student section, just ask the athletes. Ask them how much a full, deafening crowd helps them. Home field/ice/court advantage is huge, and the beginning of the game sets the tone for the rest. As a former athlete, there was nothing more exciting than to have a packed, loud house at the beginning of the games, and it was a much different environment when it wasn’t.
Get there early. Be loud. Help the team win.
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——UW Student, you are the exact one who should not be allowed into the games. Sports are a lifestyle and mean much more to the University than entertainment.
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I agree with your article 100%. I have seen many changes in the ticket process and also a change in the enthusiasm of the student section over the last 5 years. Neither have really been for the better, sadly. My biggest pet peeve with the ticketing process is that there is no way to prevent students from winning their tickets from the lottery and then selling them for $500+ dollars. Not only does it prevent actual fans from chances at getting tickets through the lottery but it causes them to make the choice of paying a ridiculous amount of money or not being able to go to Badger games.
I’ve been lucky enough to have received season tickets every year I was in school (twice I got second chance tickets for basketball when I didn’t win them through the lottery). I’ve also noticed the quality of the student section go down. Obviously, that’s not something that I have the power to change but it just sucks to see less and less people participate in Badger traditions like “Tequila” or “Time Warp.” The Grateful Red used to stand in the leagues of the Duke and Michigan State student sections now we’re a bit lackluster in the enthusiasm and participation department.
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“College Gameday has not been in Madison for football since 2000”
Gameday for football has been to Madison twice since 2000. ‘03 and ‘04: purdue and penn st.
Please don’t make bold statements without knowing at least a little bit of what happened.
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It’s about time someone wrote about this. I just graduated this past May and was very disheartened with how pathetic our student sections had become. What made me the most mad is for 7PM football games or other later football games this and last year. I can understand not getting to the 11AM game for kickoff…i guess. But showing up so late for the night games was a joke.
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For die hard fans it is a huge issue, i showed up on time to every football game only to get yelled at and forced to sit in the last row of section N when there were lower section seats available in mkjl and had to watch as students who strolled in at half take those seats. Also, this has been two years in a row i have not gotten basketball tickets and every time i try to go to a game people try to rip me off because their sole reason of getting tickets was to sell them. we should absolutely have to wait and line and have a loyalty system to see who goes to games, much like at Kansas and at Maryland. “t’s wrong to come down on the students for not sharing your passion of Badger sports.” that is absurd to say because you should come down on students who dont go because their people like myself who did not get tickets and love to be their being a die hard badger fan. badger athletics are what keep me going through the week and is the reason i decided to come here. someone needs to talk to sweeny and get this figured out
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Everyone knows the real reason College Football Gameday hasnt been back to Madison recently is because last time Kirk Herbstreit puked his way up and down University after a night at Wandos. Know your madison history.