Although a final date has not been set for when students will receive details about purchasing tickets for the upcoming football season, Doug Walker, associate athletics director for media relations at the University, said the information is set to be released very soon.
“Basically, we are in the final stages of planning, but we are still in discussions with the SGA in trying to get down an exact plan,” Walker said. “The athletics department and the SGA have been in constant contact. The SGA has been great about giving some really valuable input on how things should be broken down. Once again, details have not been finalized, but we are working to address problems with last year’s ticketing.”
Walker said that with the expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium, which is slated for completion this summer, there would be approximately 2,000 more student tickets and some 500 additional tickets for faculty and staff tickets available for purchase this year.
“As far as location, when you’re looking at the stadium, the student section will basically look the same,” Walker said. “It will still be in the end zone, but some of the seating will just be on the top deck.”
In a prepared statement, SGA spokeswoman Katie Breaseale said the SGA is still working with the athletics department to ensure students are well represented in the process of their deciding when and how students will be able to purchase l football tickets.
“The SGA will always ensure that all students’ voices are at the table of leadership when decisions are being made that affect students of our University, and the football ticket purchasing process is no exception,” Breaseale said. “We want to emphasize the things that have worked well in this process in the past and to better the parts of the process that are less than perfect. Students should rest assured knowing that as soon as information becomes available, the SGA will inform students in adequate time before the purchasing process begins.”
Alison Stout, a senior majoring in hotel and restaurant management, expressed her frustration at the lack of information made available to students regarding football tickets for next fall.
“The longer that we have to wait, the harder it is to make any plans for not just buying tickets, but even knowing whether or not I will even be able to buy tickets,” Stout said. “The online waiting rooms they used last year were crazy, and I ended up not being able to buy them directly, but I could at least start looking for someone to buy them from early on. Not knowing when the sign up is this late in the game, I have no idea where or what I might be doing on that day.”
