Tuesday afternoon I received a hurried, urgent phone call from a friend, informing me that if I wanted basketball season tickets, I had better hurry to the ticket office because they were going fast.
What? I thought season tickets went on sale Wednesday at 1 p.m.?
Apparently not.
I hopped in my car and hightailed it to the ticket office, where the scene at hand was only slightly shy of mass hysteria.
As I approached the line of people that extended out the door, two pick-up trucks pulled up in front of me and out poured a swarm of guys, all inquiring, in a panic, whether they were sold out.
These guys reminded me of middle-age women fighting over a new shipment of Beanie Babies or Tickle-Me-Elmos.
I patiently stood in line while the stressful mood of the scene began to impress itself upon me.
Was this mess really necessary?
First of all, I think it was wrong of the ticket office to sell season tickets a day early without warning. I knew of many people, myself included, who had planned their Wednesday afternoon around standing in line, and this disrupted everything.
Word-of-mouth was the only way news of the premature ticket sales got around, which was unfair to everyone who depends on MSU e-mail to keep them posted of the latest sports news.
We were wrongfully informed and I am not pleased with the so-called “experiment.”
The e-mail about season ticket sales claims that the Student Association and Department of Athletics teamed up to see if offering season tickets would be more beneficial to the student ticket process.
I don’t think it takes an experiment involving a limited number of tickets to prove how beneficial this would be.
I fondly recall this past winter standing in a long line every week at 6 a.m. in the cold rain just for tickets. For the love of my team.
The ticket office should have been prepared with enough season tickets for everyone, or at least as many student tickets as are usually sold for basketball games, not just a limited number.
It was easily predictable that this experiment would go over well with the students.
I doubt I’m speaking only for myself when I say that at 6 a.m. when it’s cold and rainy outside, I’d much rather be in bed.
Also, I don’t see why tickets bought weekly are free but season tickets cost $20. I’m not complaining about having to pay; our basketball games are certainly worth the price. But I still don’t understand the need for the extra expense.
If the Student Association and Department of Athletics really want to improve the student ticket purchase process, they should remember a couple of things:
One, be prepared with enough tickets to accommodate the number of students that will obviously take advantage of the opportunity to purchase season tickets.
Two, put tickets on sale when it is originally stated that the tickets will go on sale, to avoid confusion and simply to be fair.
It was only by luck that my friend called me and I was able to make it to the ticket office before they sold out.
I can imagine the results of this experiment will show that half of the students are pleased and happily clutching their shiny sheet of basketball season tickets, while the other half are disgruntled, angry students, who have all the right to be disgruntled and angry.
Perhaps next year the whole process will be revised to run more smoothly.
Until then, to those of you who missed out on the abrupt and poorly planned ticket sales Tuesday afternoon, get ready to bundle up for standing in line every week; it’s going to be a cold winter.
Erin Clyburn is a sophomore English major. She can be reached at [email protected].