Town Hall Meeting "Student Ticket Issues"

[strong-like-bull]

If this has already been posted feel free to remove. 

This is more for students... I cannot attend (work) but if anyone else has any good ideas on how to distribute tickets in a fair and more efficiant manner please attend!

THIS WEEK'S EVENTS

SG and Athletics co-sponsor Town Hall meeting Reviewing the USF Ticket Distribution policy

The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the BIG EAST room in the Athletic Department Building on the main Tampa campus.

In its continued effort to provide the best service to the University of South Florida student population, the USF Athletics Department and Student Government are calling a Town Hall Meeting on Monday night.

The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the BIG EAST room in the Athletic Department Building on the main Tampa campus.

"We want to provide a forum to discuss the student ticket distribution for football this season and in the future," said Senior Associate Athletic Director Bill McGillis. "We know the distribution process is not perfect and we want to work with the student population to improve it.

"If you have an idea on how the process can be bettered, this is your forum and we look forward to the discussing it on Monday evening."

A six person panel will be hand to answer questions and provide feedback. The panel will consist of Assistant AD for Marketing Ayo Taylor Dixon, Student Body President Garin Flowers, Director of Student Life and Development Gregory Morgan, Athletics Student Assistant Megan Latchford, a TicketMaster liaison and McGillis.

USF Senate President Nathan Davison will moderate the meeting. "We are all excited about the recent success (and therefore national exposure) of the football program at this great university," said Davison.

"As we are all coming to find, though, this national recognition is not without its share of growing pains. We must overcome the new challenges we all are experiencing: Challenges with ticketing, challenges with seating, and others still developing as we embrace our national ranking.

"Working with members of Student Government, the USF Athletics Department, and our University Administration, this town hall meeting has been formed in an effort to alleviate these concerns."

[cmhatter]

hopefully people from this board will go and then update us on the meeting.

[Matt]

im guessing it will be about explaining the new online student ticket policy that the athletics department is trying to launch and making sure that the student leaders know about it.

[outrunner]

I'm heading out right now to go to it. I'll be back later tonight with an update. Hope to meet some board members there as well.

[cmhatter]

I'm heading out right now to go to it. I'll be back later tonight with an update. Hope to meet some board members there as well.

can't wait to hear about it.

[SattyBull]

im guessing it will be about explaining the new online student ticket policy that the athletics department is trying to launch and making sure that the student leaders know about it.

Is it like UCF's lottery? If so, I will be sure to buy student season tix (if available) when I attend USF.

[cmhatter]

i really wouldnt mind having to pay for season tickets in the student section.

[SattyBull]

i really wouldnt mind having to pay for season tickets in the student section.

It would be more than worth it. With the lottery, you might miss a game or two depending on opponents where as with student season tickets, you only pay a few bucks a game ($12) and are guaranteed a spot to every game. I couldn't imagine being a student at UF, where they only give out like 50 student tickets for Freshman.

[outrunner]

Ok just got back from the meeting. There were about 30-40 people there, representing alot of different view points of the university. There were Student Bulls Club members, Beef Studs/Babes, Society of Automative Engineers (the people with the bus), Greeks, and just your average joe/jane.

The start of the meeting was mostly Bill McGillis explaining the past ticket procedures, and how they have adapted it over the last few weeks to arrive where we are today. It was mostly stuff we already knew, with just a few extra bits of information, such as the fact that the spent $6000 (without even debating it) to overnight 6 new scanners in for the West Virgnia tickets. They also admit that they have hadled some things poorly, while others they got right.

They then opened the floor for questions, comments, and suggestions. It was very free flowing, alot like a brainstorming session just jumping from topic to topic and back. Here were some of the highlights as I recalled:

- Setting aside reserved seating for organizations such as SBC and Beefstuds. Pro: Reward the Diehards in these groups. Con: More orgnaizations at USF than those two.

- Lottery versus first-come first-serve tickets.

- Season tickets versus Game-by-Game tickets

- Companion tickets; elimination, limitations, distribution

- Ticket security: scalping, punishments, policing

- Loyalty points: attendance, rewards, lottery?

- online ticket system (more below)

Towards the end, they handed out a 7 page PRELIMINARY DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION ONLY, about implemeting an online system that handles ticket distribution for footbal, men's basketball, and women's basketball. I'm still reading through it, but they said it is a combination of systems in place used by Maryland, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Kansas. I'm working on obtaining a digital copy, but as of right now I only have a hard copy and they asked that this not be released to the masses yet. So far from what I hae read, it seems pretty good.

What I really took away from this whole thing, is that no matter what course of action is choosen, someone is always going to get a short stick. The best they can do is find a system that works the best. I really have to commend all the people working on this. They are busting their butts to make sure the students can get to these games.

If you have any specific questions, post them and I will try to recall as much as I can about the topic.

[nobull.Bulls]

I really appreciate the summary!

  Are there any notions towards increasing the student section in the lower bowl, since thats where everyone wants to sit? Or maybe just increasing the student section in general?