Student Ticket and Attendance Issues - Former Employee Perspective/Solution

Jan 25, 2018, 11:32 PM

I worked for the Ticket Office as a student back in the 2004-2008 timeframe.

Here's my take...

How we ran Student Distribution, for those of you that don't know:
-Block seating had a due date for each game where all student ID numbers were required, and the 'Block Girl' would come in on Sundays and put them all together/run all numbers. Student reps from the blocks would pick them up, usually, on Monday.
-IPTAY distribution went on Sunday afternoons. Pay $30 to be in the Collegiate Club, and you got priority seating, which was pretty much a guaranteed Hill Ticket or a lower deck ticket. We never ran out of Collegiate Club tickets, as they were priority.
-Monday mornings were distribution for Seniors (Section A, Section B, Section UA, Hill, and Upper Deck tickets, while supplies lasted and as requested), Tuesdays for Juniors, Wednesdays for Sophomores and Freshmen.
-If you wanted to sit together, everyone in your group needed to be considered, at minimum, the current distribution class or IPTAY (ie. on Tuesday mornings, everyone in your group needed to be classified as juniors, seniors, or IPTAY).
-We would distribute tickets until they ran out.
-Usually, a few weeks prior to the game, we'd make a call on if you could purchase 1 Guest Ticket at face value for each student ID number (which depended on the demand for the game -- there were never guest tickets available for purchase for South Carolina or FSU). The Guest Ticket would allow anyone to use the ticket; these were solid for inviting your parent to the game on Parents Weekend.
-All we needed was your student ID number to give you the student ticket (you could give your friends your ID number and he could pass it to us to type in). No need to pass off IDs. You could only give us 1 ID number extra per person in line (you couldn't send one person with 50 ID numbers).
-Grad Students could purchase season tickets at face value, then trade them in for a Guest Ticket on Senior Day (Monday) if they wanted.
-When the Bridge Program stood up, they had to buy season tickets (usually in the Upper Deck).

Everything worked GREAT when we ran it, however, there were a few issues:
1. While students were camping out all weekend, it was a liability for CUAD. All it took was one student to get hurt (ie. weather, etc.) and it would have been awful. I still have no idea how we made it past those years without a student being hurt while camping.

2. Right before the window opened, there would be a mad rush of newcomers to the front of lines claiming they were joining back up with their friends. This was impossible to control; we tried passing out little red tickets the night prior, then demanding them the next morning, but it never worked. Too many students would join in and it was impossible to prevent.

3. After the camp outs, the campus was TRASHED! Danny and I, along with a bunch of other IPTAY folks, spent 6 hours every Monday picking up pizza boxes, used tents, bottles, and garbage like you would never imagine. This particular issue probably pushed for the online system more than anything else, in my opinion. I remember Billy D being very upset one rainy Monday afternoon while looking at the mountain of garbage on the lawn and stairs at Littlejohn.

4. Block seating attendance was HORRIBLE! All those tickets would go out, and the block folks would never show up for the game...even big games. I used to take pictures of the holes in Section AA every football Saturday and send them to our staff with comments I'll keep to myself. Block seating was the worst thing for attendance at football games that Clemson has ever done, besides lose football games.

My recommendations from everything I know:
1. DO NOT bring back Block Seating. Ever. Students/Parents are going to complain about not being able to sit with friends, so ensure the solution lets them do this.

The Fix: No block seating, but create a General Admission seating (for students only) to allow students to sit together as long as they go in together. They'll sacrifice a better seat to sit with their friends; their choice.

2. Having a system where dedicated students get priority is key. The problem is the cost/fairness of such a system that rewards points for attendance [maybe counting other sports as well]. Camping out showed dedication, but presented other problems. This online system doesn't move the dedicated students to the front like camping out did. Unless you're going to create a system of points to reward students for attending other sports, etc, this will always be imperfect.

The Fix: First off, reward IPTAY members. Bring back the old method of distribution for camping out, but this time, it will go on a Sunday (just like IPTAY did before). If Collegiate Club students want to start lining up on Saturday after a game, that shows dedication and it will only be for one night. No missed classes. Small impact on campus. Also, right before the gates open, have the head of the distribution guy go up and down the line to ensure everything is cleaned up prior to opening the window. DO NOT open the window until the area is spotless (peer pressure works like a charm). Collegiate Club have dibs on Section AA, A, UA, and B tickets until they run out, then, they will receive general admission tickets. General admission tickets are allowed on The Hill, until it fills up, then are forwarded to the Upper Deck student seating areas.

3. Students need to get to the stadium earlier. That's the problem with the gaps on the North side of the Hill. If they get there too late, you can't cross to the other side. There was an attempt to fix this towards the later part of this past season, but eventually, the ropes would have to go up. The rush of students always got there too late and the problem was never fixed. To fix this, I'd make The Hill general admission, and as soon as The Hill filled up, all general admission would be required to go to the Upper Deck seating areas. You could even sit with your friends on The Hill!

The Fix: Making The Hill general admission and noting that the first 3,000 students that get there are permitted will force students to get there earlier. Once security determines that The Hill is full, no more general admission tickets will be allowed in the Lower Deck areas of the stadium. Bottom line: if you want to tailgate before the game, either get there early for IPTAY Distribution and get an assigned seat or be satisfied with an Upper Deck seat from your general admission ticket.

4. Students need to use the tickets that they are issued.

The Fix: A mandatory two-game ban for anyone that received a ticket, but didn't use it. Students may also pass off their tickets up until Noon on the Friday prior to the game via the ticket office's online return system. If the ticket is not officially turned in, it is the student's responsibility to ensure that the ticket gets used, even if not by the owner of the ticket.

I'm very confident these steps will work. Let me know if you have questions.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

Student Ticket and Attendance Issues - Former Employee Perspective/Solution

TL:DR***

i was one of those fools camping out for bc tix in 2007

Re: Student Ticket and Attendance Issues - Former Employee Perspective/Solution

I think that's how it is at USCjr

Re: The current program works well enough with minor changes

Re: The current program works well enough with minor changes

Re: Student Ticket and Attendance Issues - Former Employee Perspective/Solution

^^^ Ditto ^^^

TigerBoard POTD