KEVIN KLAUS

More than 1,000 students gather outside of the McKale Ticket Office yesterday morning to purchase basketball tickets. As part of its new ticket distribution system, McKale Center employees passed out colored tickets that would disburse tickets sales over three days, beginning yesterday and ending tomorrow.

Tuesday October 9, 2001

New system proves some hitches still exist in process

UA students showed their support for the men's basketball team yesterday as more than 1,000 students lined up in front of McKale Center for the chance to purchase 2001-2002 season tickets.

"It was awesome with a capital 'A,'" Arizona graduate volunteer assistant Josh Pastner said. "This shows why we have the best fans in the world. It is just a real shame that there are not enough tickets for every student that wants to go to the games."

This year, UA officials have implemented a new system intended to be more efficient. Students had to come to McKale Center in order to receive one of three cards that would allow them to either stay that day to pick up their tickets, or come back within the next two. This replaced the long-standing lottery system that was used to distribute student seating.

UA students were critical of the new system, which they say fails to reward those willing to stand in line. Because tickets were given out on a random basis, those arriving early could have received worse seats than those students toward the end of the line. In fact, the first student to receive his tickets learned that after hours of waiting in line, he had received upper-deck seats.

"Every year, the athletic department and government come together to improve the process of selling basketball tickets," UA Director of Ticket Operations Darlene Sprigg said. "This year, we decided to set a specific sale date in order to keep the process as short as possible. This year there are only 11 home games, which made it unfair to try to split the season into two parts. We decided that it would be better to give students an opportunity to purchase the entire season."

The system sounded promising to students, but the athletic ticket office was unprepared for what occurred.

Students began to arrive at McKale Center around 5 a.m. yesterday before UAPD officers informed them that the ticket office would not recognize students that formed lines before 8 p.m.

Four police officers made students leave the general area in front of the ticket office at 6:15 a.m.

Students dispersed for a period of 30 minutes or so, but then they began to show their dissatisfaction.

UAPD finally gave in and allowed students to crowd around the ticket office at around 7 a.m.

The UAPD officers told Sprigg that if she did not open up the box office soon, the potential behaviors of restless students would be a cause of concern for everyone's overall safety.

Sprigg agreed with UAPD, and the box office was opened just after 8 a.m., two hours before its scheduled opening time.

In an unorganized fashion, students crowded around the ticket office and forced police officers to step in and mandate which students were able to approach the box office.

Students were each given a card, which told them the date they were eligible to purchase tickets.

However, the ticket office did not check CatCards when handing out each card, allowing students to get back in line and receive multiple cards.

With these duplications, the box office unexpectedly handed out 1,170 cards, which accounts for the 2,340 allotted student seats.

"UAPD caught a couple of people getting back in line," Sprigg said. "It is unfair that some students may not get tickets because others got back in line, but most people that knew about the lottery received tickets."

UA sophomore finance major Mariah Napoles said she was displeased with the organization of the ticket office, but felt that allowing students to line up to receive tickets was a step towards improving ticket dispersion to students.

"Last year, it was definitely organized better," Napoles said. "People were out in front for a long time, and it would have made things better if the school was more prepared. This new system gave die-hard fans who really want tickets a better chance of receiving them."

Sprigg said the new system has been a success, as more than 30 percent of student tickets were sold on the first day.

Students, though, are still wondering why tickets aren't sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Sprigg said the university won't change its policy, because it wants to avoid students missing class to get better tickets.

"I think we should be allowed to camp out if we want tickets bad enough," Napoles said. "It is unfair to wait that early in the morning to get tickets randomly."

Pastner said that students are here to learn, but can decide for themselves if missing class is worth getting basketball tickets.

"Students are here to get an education," Pastner said. "That, though, is the nature of the beast. Men's basketball tickets are a hot ticket on campus. Everyone here are adults, and they are mature enough to suffer the consequences. That is what is better about college sports in comparison to professional sports. The atmosphere students bring to an athletic event make college sports unbelievable."