Visiting Team Ticket Allotment

[et hoc transibit]

I am spending my last day of a long weekend in Columbus after watching the football game on Saturday. I got my tickets through the Gopher ticket office this year and was put in a pretty high row in section 6C. Don't get me wrong, there aren't a lot of bad seats in the Shoe, but I was looking in envy at the maroon and gold fans that were right next to the field in what I think was section 6AA or 8AA. I bought my tickets within fifteen minutes after the ticket office opened when the away game tickets were first available back in July, so I want to know what it takes to get the more premium seats down by the field?

I assume that it is probably parents of the players, people with significantly more seniority/Gopher points than I have, or premium members of the Goal Line Club, but I was wondering if anyone knew what kind of connections it takes to get closer to the field? (I could probably find out from the ticket office, but I don’t want to bother them with something that is admittedly pretty trivial).

Also, in my head the idea was that the people in the visiting sections would be primarily Gopher fans, but I was surrounded by Buckeye scarlet on all sides. There was a fair amount of maroon and gold in the section, but we were definitely in the minority. Is Ohio State giving us scattered seats in the section or are Minnesota season ticket holders selling them back to Buckeye fans?

Side notes: The OSU fans were leaving in droves before the game was over despite it being Homecoming and the promise of the "incomparable" Script Ohio after the game (it was partly the blowout, partly the rain that started, but hardly what you expect from that type of program). The Saturday Columbus Dispatch had a 24 page special section dedicated entirely to Buckeye football (imagine that in the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press). The section included an interesting article on Seantrel Henderson, which included a Rivals recruiting analyst saying that he thought from talking to coaches that his decision will come down to Minnesota, Notre Dame or Ohio State and that he thinks “Ohio State is the team to beat”. Having to hear a morning radio show defend the subdued stadium crowd as a result of a football game on a “crappy day versus a crappy team” doesn’t give me hope on our image in the Big Ten.

 

[UST82Gopher]

I am not sure if it's changed, but in the mid 80's when I had a very close friend on the team, each school was required to give out 2 sections of tickets - ~100 on the lowest level near the 15 yd line and and 2nd, much larger # of tickets (a 550+), in an upper level section between the end lines. The team controlled the 100 tickets and they were almost exclusively for family and maybe a few for key contributors. The upper section were sold with some priority to alums.

My guess is it is probably very similar today.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

After purchasing away tix from the UM tix office numerous times, I have been in the lower section and up in the far corners both in Wisconsin and Iowa. I have always been told that you can not choose which visiting section you want to sit.

Unsold visiting team tickets are returned and sold to the general home team public prior to the game.