The slogan “At some places they play football, at Alabama we live it” is familiar to nearly every Alabama student. Last Saturday, when Alabama played LSU, Bryant-Denny Stadium was rocking during “Dixieland Delight” and “We Will Rock You.” It is an understatement to say Alabama’s students love our football team. Everyone in the nation knows it to be true.
Why, then, does the administration think that it is okay to give out tickets to the SEC Championship only to students who have 98 or more institution hours? Most seniors don’t meet this requirement, much less juniors or sophomores. This places an unnecessary artificial limit on the number of students able to attend the game.
It makes sense that Alabama promises tickets to boosters and other people willing to donate money to the football program. It is an investment that will positively benefit the program. What doesn’t make sense is that 73 percent of tickets should go to those who donate when there is such an obvious lack of tickets to go to students. According to rolltide.com, only 12 percent of tickets are allocated to students; Alabama lettermen, faculty and staff make up the remaining 15 percent of ticket allotment.
Many students at the Capstone may not have come here solely because of the football team, but I’m more than willing to bet helped put Alabama on the radar for a large number of them. Since their arrival, I’m also positive that a large portion of these individuals have gotten consumed by the football culture that dominates our campus, just as I was. After spending 3 1/2 years in Tuscaloosa and spending potentially upwards of $100,000 on tuition, housing, books and course fees, these students more than deserve to go to at least one SEC Championship in their time here.
For some reason, the University has decided to make this impossible.
I can’t imagine that anyone else who gets tickets to football games is nearly as immersed in the Alabama football culture as the students here. We see Bryant-Denny every day and many of us have stories about a class or two we’ve attended with a football player.
As active members of The University of Alabama, students deserve a chance to go to at least one postseason game in their time at the Capstone. The people who go here, spend their money in this city and attend every regular season game should not be overlooked because there’s no way they can possibly meet the number of required hours to get a ticket. I’m not trying to say every student deserves a chance to get a postseason ticket; that would be impossible. However, if you’ve spent a significant portion of your life at the University and given it a significant amount of money, you deserve an opportunity to see Alabama’s football team play in championship games.
Zachary McCann is a senior majoring in philosophy.
