USU Students Find New Ticketing System Troublesome
The new student ticketing system for Utah State football is, according to Utah State students, off to a rocky start. In fact, if Utah State students had it their way the system would be done away with, as an unofficial poll showed that an estimated 88% were in favor of eliminating it entirely.
In a system that requires extensive planning and forward thinking, students have had a hard time adjusting their game day and even game week plans to fit the new requirements.
“I know of people who have elected to not even go to the game because of the added hassle to get in,” said Brittani Bushman, a senior majoring in family consumer and human development. “The great thing about the old system was that you didn’t have to work so hard at going to a game. If you got off work early for example, before you could just go to the game and sit with some friends. Now, you have to make sure you plan in advance to get to the ticket office and make sure you get the same section and row as your friends. It’s just more hoops for students to jump through.”
The new hard ticketing system is drastically different than the show up and swipe the ID card tradition of seasons past. In order to gain entrance and a nice seat at home games, students must go with their student ID to the card office in the Taggart Student Center or to the ticket office in the Spectrum and present their card in exchange for a free student ticket with an assigned section and row.
These hard tickets are then presented to the ushers upon entering the gates at Romney stadium and the ushers help direct the student to their assigned section. Students can also be admitted to the game with just an ID card but must wait in line until 15 minutes after kickoff, and then are left to fill in any remaining available seats.
Freshman dietetics major Brooke Maughan praised the lack of waiting on Saturdays.
“I like having pre-assigned seats so that you don’t have to stand in line for hours and not get a good seat,” Maughan said. “It gives the people who get to the card office first a chance at better tickets and those who come later don’t.”
One of the original goals for the new system was to allow students more free time on game days, with hopes to promote higher attendance at tailgating parties and reduce or eliminate the necessity to show up hours in advance to have one of the more sought after seats. However, some students have determined the tailgating to be unappealing.
“The main point of the system was to get more students at the tailgates right?” said Connor Nuss, a senior majoring in business. “We went to the first tailgate and got free granola bars. Granola bars? That’s the best they can do? They have to make the experience more entertaining and rewarding for students to actually show up.”
Students also have found it much more tasking to organize seating arrangements with friends, one of the biggest factors in creating a fun and enjoyable atmosphere.
“You have to decide who you want to go to the game with, gather ID cards, decide who will actually wake up Monday to go pick them up,” Nuss said. “It’s a hassle to make weekend plans in advance when so many students are either gone for the current weekend or aren’t sure if they will be at the game the following Saturday.”
Nuss added that students who have taken the time to get close seats have had to either kick people out or squeeze in with other students who just decide to sit in their row without the right tickets.
“The first game my friends and I had to stand sideways in the third row just to fit,” Nuss said.
Bushman added concerns that the new system hinders the enthusiasm of the student section.
“At the Idaho game, I was quite shocked at the quiet student section,” Bushman said. “There was a lack of cheering, and overall just a boring student section. While the Wake Forest game was much better in that regard, the student section didn’t even look full until ten minutes into the game. In years past, the student section was always full before the game even started, getting ready to cheer on the players. I honestly believe that this new system discourages that.”
Not being able to sit with friends has been a major contributor in what some would say is a noticeable “lack of hype” or “less spirit” at the games this year.
“The energy of the crowd has definitely taken a dip,” said Lance Hendricks, a senior majoring in finance. “It was nice to have rows of friends bunched together rather than spread out along one individual row, it makes the games less enjoyable and the crowd isn’t as enthusiastic.”
Many students have their own personal ideas for how to best alter the new system to fit the needs of the USU student section.
“The security staff is so small, students can get away with just about anything,” Nuss said. “I think if they wanted to take this new ticketing system seriously, they would crack down and check tickets when students are in the row, and not just at the top of the section.”
For those that cite a lack of time for a trip to the card office during the week, senior Megan Craghead proposed a new possibility.
“I would either make tickets available online and students would just have to enter in their A# and maybe be able to insert up to 10 more A#’s,” Craghead said. “Then let students choose their section, or have students get the tickets the day before the game so that they have more time. I personally preferred the system the way it was last year, much more convenient for students, but if alterations were to be made to the current system that is what I would do.”