It’s not news that the athletic department’s new ticketing system is causing anguish to many students.
University senior Stephanie Herr, who missed out on a ticket to Saturday’s game, can attest to that.
“That was an amazing landmark game and I missed it,” Herr said. “I had to sit at my apartment across the street, hearing the buzzer and the crowd and then watching it two seconds later on TV. I’ve only been able to go to one football game this year. It just infuriates me.”
The problem, Herr explained, is a glitch in the new system that allows one computer to get the user a ticket and then that person is able to get their friends tickets by continually logging in and out with their information, essentially turning the system into a popularity contest — whoever has a friend who has gotten through will be able to get a ticket.
“It becomes this game of what computer is the lucky one,” she said. “I know they were trying to make it more efficient, not have to skip class on Monday. This just isn’t the way to do it.”
The problem is so widespread, Herr said, that people are publicly posting their student ID numbers and passwords on Facebook statuses in hopes that a friend with a “lucky computer” will get them a ticket.
“It’s hard to believe. That’s a security issue, too,” she said. “It is just such a freak thing.”
Duck Athletic Fund Executive Director Garrett Klassy said this was the first he has ever heard of the glitch, saying most of the complaints he has heard are that the server had crashed, which he says is not the case.
“It’s one 100 percent incorrect,” he said. “I think the big issue is that the team is really doing well this year; there are more students who want to go to the game. In the old distribution system, students could camp overnight to guarantee themselves a ticket, but there’s no way to really guarantee yourself a ticket anymore.”
ASUO Sen. Alex McCafferty, chairman of the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee, says the system changed because some students would skip classes to wait in line
Monday mornings.
Fundamentally, he said, the new system allows more students — who all pay the incidental fee — better access to the tickets.
“It’s not supposed to be this way,” McCafferty said. “Students shouldn’t have to choose between getting their education and their being able to attend football games, so we made
this system.”
McCafferty plans to bring the issue up in a formal meeting in a few weeks. Reintroducing the old distribution system of physical ticket distribution is out of the question, McCafferty said.
McCafferty said that because online ticket distribution is more desirable than waiting in line, the economics of the situation is ultimately the problem.
“The demand has skyrocketed, and the supply really hasn’t,” he said. “I would argue that since the system is so convenient and successful that it is a victim of its own success.”
For some students, especially Herr in her last year at the University, the system is causing more harm than good and her football game memories are the real loss.
“In general, I’m feeling really upset and really discouraged. I’m a senior, this is my last year. If something does change, it’s going to be too late,” she said.
