UA plans to enforce football game seating

Starting with this Saturday's game against Northeast Louisiana, the event management staff will have additional personnel in Arizona Stadium to help deter students from sitting in areas they do not specifically have a ticket for.

"Our goal here is to try and make going to a football game a safe experience for everyone,"

said Mark Harlan, UA director of operations in event management. "And last week we had a lot of calls from concerned students and have decided to take a more active roll in helping people find their seats. But we want people to realize that we have had little to no trouble with the behavior of the fans. This additional (group of) personnel is not there to restrict the enthusiasm of our fans."

The problems encountered included everything from congested, long waits in the tunnels and stands, to students sitting in seats that other students had tickets for. There were also concerns about the numerous fans that were sitting in the front walkway near the 50-yard line, and consequently restricting traffic in the stadium.

"The entryways in the student area are a little small and we had problems with students getting crushed while they waited or stuck in the tunnel area for over 20 minutes," said John Perrin, senior associate director of athletics in charge of business affairs. "People were also showing up with reserved seats getting into confrontations with other fans currently in their seats. We just want to try and monitor the area a little better in hopes of avoiding these types of situations."

The current layout of the student section is that each student has an assigned seat and should enter in the correct admission gate. In the past, the students have been pretty flexible in regards to their actual seats assignments, with many taking the best seat they could find. But because the team is doing well and there is an additional push in attendance, this old "first-come, first-serve" strategy to seating has caused some problems. Also contributing to the added congestion is the ticket office's current policy of allowing each student to purchase up to two additional guest seats in the student section.

"In the past, I would say that 90 percent of the students we've talked to were not worried too much about sitting in their actual seat. But with the increase in attendance from both students and guests in the student section this season, we've heard more complaints on this issue," Harlan said.

These additional concerns have caused some university officials to look at additional seating possibilities for the student section next season.

"We are thinking about changing the student seating to general admission for future seasons," Perrin said. "We've talked to different organizations in the Pac-10 and this arrangement seems to make sense."

But for now, the best way to avoid potential problems might be to arrive early.

"We would like to advise fans to get to their seats as soon as they can and to remember that the student seats are reserved," Harlan said. "If someone is sitting in your seat, find a university official and let us help resolve the situation."

Political Science graduate student Tim Ponce said that while the new rules would help create a more orderly seating process, it still takes away from the overall game experience.

He said that since students often can't buy tickets in large groups, the current system allows them to sit together.

"That creates a much more enjoyable atmosphere," he said. "That's what the college game is about."

Arlie Rahn can be reached via e-mail at Arlie.Rahn@wildcat.arizona.edu.