Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Paper tickets have moved one step closer to extinction at the University of Kansas. The Athletics Department announced that faculty and staff would be issued new access cards that would hold their basketball season tickets. The University had previously done away with paper tickets for students.
Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said the University wanted to attempt to prevent unauthorized use of the tickets, which includes scalping. The printing of cards is also much cheaper than tickets.
“This is the direction that tickets are going,” Marchiony said. “It may not be happening now, but more and more tickets are going to be like this. We are preparing for the future. We are ahead of the curve.”
Indeed, Kansas is the first school in the nation to issue electronic cards holding season tickets, according to Marchiony. Kansas offered regular season ticket holders the option to accept the electronic cards — about 200 did so.
KANSAN
Not everyone is happy with the University’s initiative, however. Linda Lee, associate professor of journalism, and season ticket holder, said the department might be discouraging faculty and staff from buying tickets.
“I thought, ‘What a hassle,’ ” Lee said. “I didn’t initially understand the reason behind it, but I knew it had to be about money.”
Marchiony said that because faculty and staff were given a 20 percent discount on tickets and were not required to donate to the Williams Fund to gain points for premier seats, the University wanted to make sure the tickets were not being scalped.
“I remember when airlines stopped giving hard tickets out,” Marchiony said of the resistance to change. “A lot of people had an issue with that, but eventually the world moves on and the world moves forward.”
Lee said she understood the scalping issue and the University’s need to do something about it, but didn’t like the newfound difficulty she would face when attempting to give tickets to family members.
Faculty and staff can lend their cards to others, or they can go to Allen Fieldhouse and transfer tickets to another access card. For $1.50, tickets can also be transferred to others online and printed as an e-mail that can be used as a paper ticket.
Max Utsler, associate professor of journalism, and teacher of the sports media and society class, has been a season ticket holder for 25 years and enjoyed putting the paper tickets on top of his refrigerator.
Mr. Utsler has already encountered a problem with the new system.
Mr. Utsler’s wife used the couple’s two cards to attend Thursday’s season-opening game against Pittsburg State with a friend. Mrs. Utsler then traveled to see family in Illinois and forgot to take the cards out of her purse. Mr. Utsler was forced to make a trip down to Allen Fieldhouse early Tuesday morning to get paper tickets as a replacement for Tuesday’s game.
Still, Mr. Utsler said he had no problems with the Athletics Department for the decision.
“Tickets are such a valuable commodity,” Mr. Utsler said. “There is so much money to be made on them. I understand the rationale. I don’t begrudge the Athletic Department for trying to squeeze out a couple extra dollars.”
Mr. Utsler said faculty and staff that had a problem with the decision needed to understand that the Athletics Department was a business.
“This is the entertainment business,” Mr. Utsler said. “They have to run it that way. When I write the check for my season tickets, I make it out to the KU Athletic Corporation.”
— Edited by Luke Morris
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