Athletics department chooses online lottery system
Chris Raimondi, Sports Editor
Kennesaw State athletics department has announced the student ticket process for football will be an online lottery system weighted by credit hours earned.
Students eligible for the lottery system are those who will be enrolled for the fall 2015 semester and pay the Athletics Fee.
Students will register for each home game they wish to attend at a maximum of one ticket per student. Those who receive a ticket via lottery will be notified by email and prompted to pick up their paper ticket in advance of game day at the Convocation Center. The lottery will be hosted through OwlLife so students are able to use their existing NetID and password.
The student football tickets distributed via lottery are free.
The lottery system strictly uses course credit hours earned to determine a student’s priority in receiving a ticket. The priority is as follows:
- Seniors- 90+ hours: highest priority.
- Juniors- 60+ hours
- Sophomores- 30+ hours
- Freshman- Under 30 hours: lowest priority.
Any student who is a member of the Black and Gold Student Organization will have their priority increased regardless of course credit hours.
The lottery will take place during a specified window prior to the season. The exact date(s) of the window(s) and the number of games allowed to be registered for at a single lottery window has yet to be determined. Once the lottery window closes, those who entered will be randomized for selection with priority varying on credit hours and Black and Gold membership.
Each lottery is independent. This has two meanings:
1. Students who are awarded, or not awarded, a ticket through one lottery do not have their chances of winning another lottery affected.
2. If a student signs up for the first home game, that does not mean they are entered for the entire slate of home games. Each game must be selected independently to be entered.
Students who do not receive a ticket through the lottery will also be notified through their student email and will have the option to participate in the standby line. In order to fill the student section, which will be at the south end zone nearest Big Shanty Road, students with tickets must enter the stadium at least 10 minutes before the scheduled start time or they could have their ticket made available to students in a standby line outside of the stadium. Also, students who fail to pick up their tickets at the Convocation Center after they have won the lottery will have their tickets released to those in the standby line.
Tickets will be distributed to students in the standby line at a first come first serve basis. The standby line is the next best option for those who do not receive a lottery ticket, though tickets are not guaranteed to those waiting in the line.
The athletics department used an Ad Hoc Committee including nearly 10 KSU students to determine the student football ticket allocation process. The group gathered from May 2013-Nov. 2013. Some of the organizations represented in the committee were SGA, IFC, HPHC, Student Life and the Black and Gold.
The committee seriously considered two lottery options and a third option that was a first come first serve model. The group analyzed other FCS programs such as North Dakota State and Montana to build the lottery model.
“The idea of the Ad Hoc Committee was to make sure that every single student has the most access to tickets the most fair way possible,” said Bobby Lindsey, Director of Ticket Sales and Operations. Lindsey alluded to KSU’s non-traditional student population as a determining factor for the online lottery and standby line. Lindsey said the athletics department does not anticipate single-game tickets being available by the time kick-off comes around due to the high rate at which season tickets are being sold.
“At this point we anticipate every single seat to be sold either as a season ticket or through the student distribution channels,” Lindsey said.
Away game distribution has not yet been settled. Each school is different in their allotment of visitor tickets and there is no finalization on KSU’s away game tickets.
The only non-fee paying students allowed to participate in the lottery are Military Veterans and senior citizen students who are enrolled full time. Distance-learning students, TAP enrollees and any other groups that receive a waiver from not paying the athletics fee will not be eligible for the lottery.
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This is absurd. So basically no students can plan to go to the game? No groups of friends can plan to sit together? There is no way for a student with more school spirit than another to aim to go to a game? Why not sell tickets at a reasonable price to students as first come first serve? Students will buy tickets without a doubt. The lottery system will not keep the students happy. If you want to go to a game badly then you need to make sure you beat the rush to purchase a ticket. That is how it should be, just like everything else is in life.
Look at all the super 5 conferences schools how the do their student Ticket system. It very similar to Kennesaw!!! Do your research