Last week students purchased their tickets for the 2010-2011 Crimson Tide football season. Thanks to a revamped purchasing process, technical issues were less prevalent than in years past.
Football tickets sold quickly on June 16. Students began buying tickets at 7 a.m., and by 9:30 a.m. they were selling out.
“Day one [June 14] and day five [June18] were the slowest,” said Molly Lawrence, associate vice president for student affairs. “The sale went well into the afternoon [on those days].”
With 13,000 tickets divided equally among 14,000 students in five brackets, the system wasn’t as stressed as it was last year, Lawrence said. Every student who opted in for tickets in April had a 90 percent chance of getting a ticket package.
Students purchased tickets by logging on to their myBama accounts and clicking on an order tab. The purchasing system was also simplified by having the price of the tickets added to student accounts.
“This year we had an additional 2,000 student football tickets, which contributed to a greater opportunity for purchasing tickets, because we were closer to meeting the demand,” said SGA Vice President of Student Affairs Stephen Swinson.
“Personally, I have received a few texts and e-mails from students informing me that the online-sale was less hectic, easier and much improved,” Swinson said. “One student even told me that getting football tickets was honestly the easiest it has ever been.”
Richard Lee, a graduate student in public relations, purchased tickets Friday and said the system was quite user-friendly.
“Due to a multitude of unforeseen circumstances, I logged on to the system almost eight hours after tickets had originally gone on sale. Luckily, there were still tickets available,” Lee said. “Plus the process took 10 seconds. It was such a relief after what happened last year.”
Another student said he was shocked by how simple the process was.
“It was almost too easy,” said Ryan Leonard, a senior majoring in business. “I didn’t trust it. I even printed my conformation page, and I never do that.”
Even with the simplified system, though, not all students were able to get tickets.
Dick Brackner, a senior majoring in biology, said he applied to get tickets in April, but his request failed to send. When he logged onto his myBama account to purchase tickets on his assigned day, a message said he was ineligible.
“I just didn’t catch the ‘failed to send’ e-mail until it was too late to send a request,” Brackner said. “I am going to contact the ticket office to see if anything can be done.”
Chris Bescanceny, Assistant Athletic Director for Ticketing and Tide Pride, said no major problems have been seen or reported, and that the system was an overall success.
“If you had to compare this to last year, it’s a 100 percent increase in success,” Bescanceny said. “A little system overload during a period of high volume, in minutes, was over and gone and people got tickets. That [technical] hiccup wasn’t a road block like in years past.
“Very little complaints tell you if all’s quiet on the western front, things are going pretty good,” Bescanceny said. “People are satisfied with how the process went, when talking about an overwhelming majority.”
The SGA, Athletic Department and administration have not met to discuss the outcome of ticket sales, Swinson said, but the overall opinion at this time is positive.
“I think we’ll keep improving it, but I think this is definitely the way we need to go,” Lawrence said.
Leonard said he thinks the University should consider using the same system in the future.
“The pre-registration based allotment over several days helps those with a real interest to have a better chance of getting tickets,” he said.
To make further suggestions, students may e-mail the ticket office at [email protected] or go to the Ask SGA button on their myBama account.
