When the results of the men's basketball season ticket lottery were announced on Tuesday, Oct. 7, many students did not take the news well.
Fewer season student tickets were awarded this year than last year. Last season, a computer glitch involving the junk mail filter caused the ticket office to give students an extra chance to win tickets. Last year, 2,134 tickets were given out, but this year the department returned to its normal allotment of 1,500.
Associate Athletic Director for Ticketing Services C.A. Smith had a pile of complaint letters from disgruntled students not pleased with their success in the lottery.
"Every one of them (had) 'never missed a game.' We scanned 10 games last year. Out of all of them, one person went to all 10. Several of them were only five out of 10," Smith said.
Senior Chris Ginandolfo won the lottery and held season tickets last year, but did not have the same luck this year. He said the system should give priority by age.
"I know some juniors who got them, who didn't have them last year," Ginandolfo said. "I went to every game that I could and I really enjoyed going. I think we should get priority over juniors. I thought that is how the system was."
Smith emphasized that the process is completely random in its attempt to offer an equal chance to everyone.
"First of all it's not an entitlement," Smith said. "You have the same opportunity as everyone else. We're trying to be fair. Just because you're a freshman doesn't mean you don't have the same enthusiasm as someone who is a senior."
Ginandolfo said high attendance rates should be rewarded.
"If you were a season ticket holder last year, then you follow the team," Ginandolfo said. "When I was a freshman I didn't get them."
Associate Ticket Manager Stephen Medley said this leads to an exclusive system.
"We only have 1,500 tickets for basketball," Medley said. "If you start rewarding people for coming to the basketball games with their season tickets, then you're only rewarding the people that were lucky enough to win the lottery in the first place. So how is that fair to all the other students? Should they have an extra opportunity to win tickets this year because they were fortunate enough to get tickets last year?"
Loyalty systems were explored by ticketing services but passed over. Up until last year, Tech did not even have the technology to keep track of student attendance. Still, attendance is not tracked for sports for which tickets are not sold.
"A lot of schools scan for every sport," Smith said. "That becomes difficult because we don't ticket for other sports."
Medley said the proposed system would not actually aid their cause in major sports.
"At most of the schools that do things of that nature, their seating is equal across the board. Almost all of them work some sort of attendance-based system, from every sporting event," Medley said. "You are getting credit for going to all the sports, not the sports you bought the ticket for. Almost none of them tie getting tickets or location of tickets directly to the use of that ticket."
Computers run the lottery, Medley and Smith said. The ticketing department does not classify students.
"To us, all students are the same," Medley said. "You don't get to be an avid fan of Virginia Tech athletics by sitting at the games and watching. You're an avid fan whether you can be there or you're not there."
Students who did not win the lottery will still have chances for every single-game lottery drawing.
Tickets that have not sold, or have not been allotted to alumni and recruits, will be available in the lottery.
Tech's system also differs from other schools in the assigning of seats. Smith said most schools offer general admission sections. Tech does not.
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This is absurd - to call each fan the same is laughable. The fact that they think students who couldn't even name the head coach is going to bring the same to the overall atmosphere as the guy who didn't get season tickets but would have painted his body for the games is just....frustrating? I don't even know the right word. I didn't get tickets and I am disappointed with the University in how they continue to not think outside the box. Let's live up to our slogan, Invent the Future. I reiterate, ALL fans are NOT the same.
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Gotcha, Brandon. Let's institute a basketball literacy test to students before they enter the lottery. That way, we weed out the people who 'really don't care' and make sure they are never allowed to get tickets. You're right, all fans are not the same - and that's why it is important to give all students the opportunity to get involved with the program. You think the freshman class this year will have the same passion for the team when they are seniors, if they are never offered the opportunity to watch the games themselves live? Offering the opportunity to all undergraduate students is a fundamental part of the 'building the program' mantra Greenberg has instilled on campus. What is truly laughable is the sense of entitlement and elitism expressed by people who simply had the poor luck not to be selected.
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Freshmen don't get football season tickets so why should they get basketball season tickets? There should be priority given to seniors then juniors then sophomores. They have more invested in the university than freshman who are just starting their second semester here by the time basketball is in full swing.
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More invested? How so? Just 'cuz they've been there longer? Football season ticket access, as I understand it, has more to do with credible enrollment (ie, since the football season starts so early, they need to make sure the people receiving tickets have paid the appropriate fees etc.) than it does with entitlement. But really, I'd love to hear what this 'investment' consists of. . . .and why is is some sort of de facto truth that Seniors invariably love Hokie Hoops more than Freshmen do.
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When I was a freshman, my friends and I were denied season tickets to basketball because we were freshman. It was a seniority system then. Now when we're seniors, they pull the rug out from under us and make us all the same, and we don't get tickets again. You tell me how that's fair.
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A Smith, you have the closest thing to a justifiable gripe yet. However, as a freshman, you were still entitled to get individual game tickets, as you are now. The ticket office has an inherent obligation to all students to distribute tickets in an unbiased manner, since all students have paid the athletic fee. As an alumnus who has probably attended more football and basketball games than anyone currently in school, I will be watching basketball on TV this year because I understand that there are not enough tickets for everyone, whether students or alumni.
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Kyle Minor, I can address that one. "cuz they've been there longer" is the exact reason. Seniors have had to put up with four years of ticket office incompetence and should be rewarded with having to put up with it. All this article said basically was "Other schools have a better ticket office and this is why, Virginia Tech does the exact opposite and here's their BS answer"
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You make it sound like this year's senior class is the only one ever that has had to deal with 'incompetence,' although it is necessary to note that no evidence of such incompetence has ACTUALLY been presented. Look, the issue is one of increasing attention being paid to the program. When I was a freshman, you couldn't pay people to take your basketball tickets from you. Now, there are far fewer tickets than students who desire them. It's a great problem to have, honestly - but it also means that some people aren't going to be happy when the lottery is held. By the way, how many years ought one be entitled to this "senior privilege?" I spent 4 years in school, but I had senior standing for 2 and a half. I know other people who spent 5 or 6 years in school and didn't have senior standing until their last semester or two. College ain't like high school - you don't just move along to the next grade every year. How do we make the system equitable for everyone? I know - have a blind lottery. Oh wait, we already do.
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