Official Word for Student Tickets:

[buddylee853]

Talked to a friend today who is a manager for the U event staff and security, and he told me they are in fact scanning U cards for every game and will check for photos. He said there will be no exceptions and they'll be very strict about it.

This info. is FACT, straight from those who will actually take tickets at the game; this isn't a rumor.

For those going, have fun at the game. I won't be there... unless by some miracle of God.

I'll be drowning my sorrows in a bar.

 

[Iceland12]

Talked to a friend today who is a manager for the U event staff and security, and he told me they are in fact scanning U cards for every game and will check for photos. He said there will be no exceptions and they'll be very strict about it.

This info. is FACT, straight from those who will actually take tickets at the game; this isn't a rumor.

For those going, have fun at the game. I won't be there... unless by some miracle of God.

I'll be drowning my sorrows in a bar.

I hope you can get in but as for the card checking:



Now "ta hell" with all the Wisconsin U of M students who were planning on "getting their buddies in".

Now we just have to wait for the inevitable "just wait until the Gophers start to suck" responses!

 

[Ski U Master]

This is excellent news.

 

[AeroGopher]

Talked to a friend today who is a manager for the U event staff and security, and he told me they are in fact scanning U cards for every game and will check for photos. He said there will be no exceptions and they'll be very strict about it.

This info. is FACT, straight from those who will actually take tickets at the game; this isn't a rumor.

For those going, have fun at the game. I won't be there... unless by some miracle of God.

I'll be drowning my sorrows in a bar.

I don't believe you or your friend on the grounds that I don't have enough faith in marketing/ticket office/facilities management/security to coordinate together last minute after they thought about it, changed their mind, and then now allegedly pushed last minute it and made it happen. Then again if it does happen it'll be too bad for the recent grads who couldn't/didn't get season tickets because they're Gopher fans and actually, you know, cheer. As for the outsider phobia, relax, it's what spices up the rivalry. They'll always find a way to get in.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

Yeah, I've enjoyed sitting in the student sections of other football and hockey arenas. It's not a huge deal because it's what makes the games a little more fun. The problem is when there were thousands of seats available and it was easy for our own section to be flooded with red. That won't be happening.

 

[GortonsFisherman011]

Normally I won't stand for "cardcheck," but this one seems to be a good idea

 

[DLguy]

I don't believe you or your friend on the grounds that I don't have enough faith in marketing/ticket office/facilities management/security to coordinate together last minute after they thought about it, changed their mind, and then now allegedly pushed last minute it and made it happen. Then again if it does happen it'll be too bad for the recent grads who couldn't/didn't get season tickets because they're Gopher fans and actually, you know, cheer. As for the outsider phobia, relax, it's what spices up the rivalry. They'll always find a way to get in.

This is not a last minute thing. This has been the plan for over 2 years. Recent grads are not students and should not be allowed to get discounted tickets and sit in the student section. This is the only fair way to do it when you have demand like they do as the student section is completely sold out.

 

[DiehardGopher]

I would much rather have a recent grad who had gone to football games for the last 4-5 years than some freshman who had the tickets fall in their lap and didn't have to suffer through Mason years and the Dome. I am torn between whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[parkinglotgopher]

For those going, have fun at the game. I won't be there... unless by some miracle of God.

I feel badly for you only in the sense that any true Gopher fan is welcome in the stadium and it's a shame you won't be there. Ultimately though, I don't feel badly for you because you were trying to skirt the system, it ended up backfiring, and now what they've said all along will happen (more strict about non-student using student tickets) is in fact happening. You gambled and lost, and that's part of taking risks like this.

I know there's a million reasons why people who are recent grads didn't buy season tickets, but I can't feel terrible for those who didn't simply because you could have still gotten on the waiting list only four or five months ago and probably swooped two tickets next to one another and began to work your way up the list.

I imagine there are people with tickets this year that are only staying on for 2009 to get the new stadium experience. My advice is get your name on the waiting list ASAP and you can probably take a run at tickets next year.

Recent grads are not students and should not be allowed to get discounted tickets and sit in the student section. This is the only fair way to do it when you have demand like they do as the student section is completely sold out.

The question is - how many of the 10,000 tickets sold were sold to people who were recent grads that were using some friend's ID to skirt the system or sold to people who only intended to scalp these tickets (which now appears to be a non-option)? Think the number may be as high as 1,000? That would be a big chunk of tickets

I would much rather have a recent grad who had gone to football games for the last 4-5 years than some freshman who had the tickets fall in their lap and didn't have to suffer through Mason years and the Dome. I am torn between whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Where do you draw the line? I agree with your basic thought here (reward loyal fans) but I have uncles who suffered through the Wacker years, should they get cheap tickets because they've been going to the Dome for 15 years and their student years completed sucked? If you saw the 10-3 Gopher team in 2003, are you not included in this because you saw a good team? What if you were a senior during the 1-11 season and now you're two years out, do you "deserve" student tickets this year? It's just the luck of the draw - current students got a good one and students during past regimes at the Dome didn't.

 

[GoAUpher]

I would much rather have a recent grad who had gone to football games for the last 4-5 years than some freshman who had the tickets fall in their lap and didn't have to suffer through Mason years and the Dome. I am torn between whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

I get what you're saying, but if the frosh with tix get as excited as the ones in the U's YouTube of the welcome week event at TCF (the one where they formed the block M) then I wouldn't be worried about the enthusiasm. Still sucks for the recent grads though.

 

[inflectionpoint]

Parkinglot - you bring a up a good point about if there is strict enforcement, how many of those 10k tickets were for friends/spouses that had ins to a U student? Based on some grad students I know, it could be a number toward 1000. That's bad news.

Which brings up another point - how many seats are there in the student section and do they sell tickets like they are doing a wedding? As in maybe there are only 9000 actual seats as you expect people to be busy, gone, sick etc. Or should they have maybe sold 11k tix if there are 10 thousand seats?

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

So as long as you have 6 credits on your card you should be fine ? Or does it show whether or not you actually bought student tickets? If its just to make sure your a student at least you can sell the tickets to other students..

 

[DLguy]

They are only allowed to sell as many tickets as they technically have seats for. This is due to fire codes. There are over 10,000 seats and all have been sold.

 

[GopherTailgate]

Check out the sweet "U" shirts I just found - http://bit.ly/Sst47 - FansEdge.com has some really nice stuff. These are considered the Student Union tee's.... too bad they don't make a gold one.

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

They are only allowed to sell as many tickets as they technically have seats for. This is due to fire codes. There are over 10,000 seats and all have been sold.

i mean for if I wanted to sell the tickets that I have safely in my desk right now

 

[DLguy]

Flying Squirrel,
Sorry for the confusion. My post was in response to them selling more tickets then the student section capacity. I believe you can use someone else's tickets if you are a student, but not sure how many credits you need to be taking. Either way, you should call the ticket office and ask both questions.

 

[ChemEGopher]

The question is - how many of the 10,000 tickets sold were sold to people who were recent grads that were using some friend's ID to skirt the system or sold to people who only intended to scalp these tickets (which now appears to be a non-option)? Think the number may be as high as 1,000? That would be a big chunk of tickets.

I know there was at least one ticket sold for this purpose. I admit it. I had a girl who has absolutely no interest in football buy me a ticket. I paid her $100 and I don't feel bad about it at all. In defense of those in my situation who graduated in May or December, we did graduate into the worst economy since the great depression. At the time season tickets went on sale I'd estimate at least 75% of those expecting to graduate and looking for work had no full-time job lined up since NO ONE was hiring entry level positions. Hard to justify spending $275 on entertainment when in that situation. In hindsight, I probably should have ponied up the $275 for a regular ticket and sold some of them for higher than face value, but at the time I couldn't imagine not being able to go to all 7 games. Now it looks like I'll have to settle for going to one of the seven.