Friday, February 8, 2008
Tyler Luke’s quest for seats close to the court for Kansas men’s basketball game against Missouri began eight days before the game. Liz Kozarits’ quest began an hour before the game started. Both sat just as close to the court.
Luke, Wichita freshman, camped with his group during the eight days. Kozarits, St. Louis junior, asked groups if they saved too many seats. She found a group who saved too many, and let her sit with them.
Students who rely on leftover seats from camping groups will have an even tougher time at the Baylor game Saturday, as the Kansas Athletics Department reserved about 50 seats for inductees into the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame and their families.
Tom Dorsey and Shannon Elder, both Topeka seniors, use a newspaper to save a seat for a friend before the start of the men's basketball game against Missouri Monday at Allen Fieldhouse. Dorsey and Elder said at least one person from their group had been holding their spot in line, third from the front, for the past week.
Some campers get frustrated when fans like Kozarits try to sit in seats they camped out for. Names thrown around for the latecomers include “seat scavengers,” “freeloaders” and “moochers.”
Kozarits said that although the group she sat with at the Border War game didn’t mind her, some other groups she talked to gave her bad looks for sitting with campers.
Luke said that his group typically did not allow fans not in the group to sit with them.
“If people ask for our seats, we tell them we’re saving them,” Luke said. “You can’t just freeload. If you want good seats, join a group and camp out.”
Some fans who want seats saved for campers who haven’t arrived to the game yet will talk to the ushers to get the seats.
If game time is getting close, ushers ask fans to move closer together to get more fans into seats. This is when fans start to find their way into once-saved seats.
This process gets some campers angry with the ushers. One usher at Monday’s men’s basketball game said that fans called him names like “asshole.”
“I’m just doing my job,” said the usher, who asked to remain unnamed to prevent problems with his employer. “If the Athletics Director says saving is over at 6:30, I’m going to follow that.”
Kansas Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said that students who saved too many seats caused a problem for those who were stuck outside Allen Fieldhouse.
Marchiony and others in the athletics department recommended that campers get to the game as quickly as possible to avoid potential problems.
“We understand about saving seats, but there comes a point where the fire marshal may shut the building down and not let anyone else in,” Marchiony said. “Then your friends may be stuck outside and not able to get in.”
Marchiony said that his problem happened at last year’s men’s basketball game against Texas A&M. More than 50 students had a hard time getting into the game because the fire marshal wouldn’t allow any more fans in. Ushers asked fans to move in closer, and directed the fans to empty seats during the game.
Kansas Athletics Department has nothing to do with the camping process, Marchiony said. He said that the students controlled most of that process, and that the Kansas Athletic Department didn’t want to get involved with it.
Rules regarding saving seats are unclear, but the usher said that he understood that the saving process ended 30 minutes after student gates opened. This is when all other ticket-holders can enter.
Luke said that the current system could reward those who showed up to the games late.
“If someone’s showing up late at every game and asking security to put them in a group’s seats every game, then that’s a problem,” Luke said.
Marchiony said that the current system didn’t benefit latecomers because they risked ending up in seats far from the court.
“The later you get to the game, the less chances you have to get a seat where you want,” Marchiony said.
Kozarits said she admired students who had time to camp for the games.
“I respect the campers because it take a lot of work to organize a group,” Kozarits said. “I definitely don’t come to games to screw them over.”
— Edited by Jared Duncan
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