USUSA officers discuss success of new printed ticket system

Students at Utah State University are required to bring their student ID cards and a printed ticket to enter any football games this year. The new ticket system registers the number of students who pick up tickets and come to Aggie athletic events.

And the numbers have grown.

“About 6,800 tickets distributed to students,” said Thomas Rogers, USUSA vice president of athletics and campus recreation. “That’s a lot of tickets in two to three days.”

The NCAA has always required athletic events to track how many students are at every event. With the ticket system, tracking numbers is effective and provides real results.

Although the ticket system has proved successful in recording numbers, a few unforeseen problems have USUSA leaders working to improve the ticket system while still meeting their objectives.

“It’s still a work in process,” said Madison Manors, USUSA public relations and marketing director. “What we want students to understand is we know the system isn’t perfect, and we’re actively finding ways to make it easier for them, because the students are our priority.”

Previous to the new system, students simply presented their student IDs to be slid through a card reader to enter the events. To be admitted into sporting events now, students need to pick up a student ticket at the ticket office in the Taggert Student Center before the game.

A new addition to the system this year is if students can’t make it to the ticket office, they can print off tickets online with a one-dollar fee for printing. Tickets picked up at the TSC are free.

The new system was put in place the beginning of last fall semester.

“The system was changed for multiple reasons. I think the biggest reason was student safety,” Rogers said. He explained that in games past, students had camped out at the stadium for long periods of time to get seats at the sporting events. With printed tickets, students now have reserved seats.

However, the fine print at the bottom of the tickets states no seats are guaranteed after kickoff time. Manors said Linda Zimmerman, the executive director of the USUSA Student Involvement, is working to remove the disclaimer.

Rogers explained another purpose of the ticket system is to have an exact number of how many tickets and seats are available.

“We know exactly how many tickets are left. It’s very beneficial to keep track, having a real number of how many students are anticipating to attend the event,” Rogers said.

Supporting the tailgate was also a motivator for the change to tickets. Manors said in the football game against Southern Utah University, the tailgate ran up until kickoff because of all the student support. The problem with running until kickoff was the line that formed.

“All the students went right up from the tailgate and tried to get into the stadium at one time, and there were some students who waited for up to a half hour to 45 minutes to actually get in,” Manors said.

Despite these problems, USUSA remains confident that the ticket system will benefit the students at USU. According to Manors, USU athletic director John Hartwell is looking into a completely new system for tickets for the stadium that should be introduced in the next few years.

“Based on the biggest motivating factors, we feel like it’s been very successful so far,” Manors said.

— ashley.ruth.stilson@aggiemail.usu.edu