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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Students camp out for tickets only to end up with poor seats

By Jonathan Kealing

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KU-MU tickets

Students wait for tickets to the KU-MU game

KU football tickets on demand

It's not unusual to see KU students lined up for tickets for an athletic event outside Allen Fieldhouse, but this line of fans was not waiting for tickets to the next basketball game.

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Photo by Thad Allender

Kansas University student football fans wait Monday in front of Allen Fieldhouse for tickets to the KU-Missouri game Nov. 24. Ryan Leiker passed the time by tossing a football to friends as he rested in the grass. Hundreds of KU students camped out all night to pick up tickets they had purchased for the game.

KU football

It's not uncommon for lines of students to stretch around Allen Fieldhouse before a game.

But on Monday, for perhaps the first time anyone can remember, the line of Kansas University students waiting for football tickets was perhaps 50 times longer than the line of people waiting for tickets to men's basketball games.

Yet in some circles, Monday's student ticket distribution is being called the Great Ticket Fiasco of 2007.

"It wasn't bad until the actual ticket process started happening," sophomore George Ressler said. "People were freaking out. It was very chaotic."

More than 100 people camped out for at least eight hours in order to get the best tickets possible to this year's KU-MU game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., only to discover that the best tickets possible were in the upper deck because a quirk in the rules allowed a group of people to redeem 100 or more tickets at a time.

Monday morning, associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said there were enough Arrowhead seats for every student who purchased student season tickets.

And while virtually every student was thankful to be in the game, most were also disappointed that hours of camping or their attendance at every game this season earned them a spot in Arrowhead's upper deck.

"We should be down lower. I'm kind of upset about the upper deck," Ressler said. "I feel like we should be closer to our team."

Lindsey Hanbliff, a sophomore from Smithville, Mo., said her friends arrived at Allen Fieldhouse at 4:30 a.m. Monday. They got their tickets sometime around noon and found themselves in the upper deck.

In a letter to season ticket holders, athletic director Lew Perkins said few season ticket holders were in the lower level because a number of seats had to be set aside for students. Students were being given upper deck seats within less than an hour of seats being handed out.

Marchiony said there were about 1,000 student tickets in the lower bowl, with the rest allotted to areas in the upper deck. Marchiony said about 6,000 tickets were distributed Monday, with more than 1,000 still available for pickup. Any student tickets not picked up by Nov. 19 will be made available for other students to purchase.

The first 1,000 students who picked up their tickets Monday also were given for free the new KU-MU rivalry shirts, which KU leaders hope will replace the infamous "Muck Fizzou" T-shirts. These shirts, produced by a consortium of student groups, say "Tigers are an endangered species, Extinction starts today." KU also unveiled a nongame specific shirt that says "Wave the Wheat, Bring the Heat."

Many students had suggestions for how to streamline the process if KU plays at Arrowhead in the future: move basketball ticket distribution to another location and use all ticket office windows for football. While both men's basketball and football had two windows open to process student requests, the line for basketball tickets was about two dozen, while the football line stretched nearly to Murphy Hall throughout the day.

Students also suggested that students be allowed to bring a limited number of IDs with them to the window. Many complained that the first three or four groups snapped up virtually all of the lower level seating, despite having only one or two people camping at the fieldhouse throughout the night. Marchiony said the athletic department tried to accommodate the students with the process and would make changes only if students requested them.

"The pick-up is handled exactly the way students want us to handle it," he said. "There were a lot of people out there, but there were a lot fewer people than there could have been."

Cameron Killen, a freshman from Omaha, Neb., was one who did spend a lot of time in line, choosing football tickets over class.

"There was some skipping going on today," he said of his attendance in Monday's classes. "Our group got here about 8 and we weren't going to leave."

He said as of noon he'd been waiting four hours and still had about 200 people in line in front of him.

For those who couldn't get tickets to see the KU-MU game at Arrowhead, tickets still remain for the Senior Day game against Iowa State. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

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Comments

McGuzzo23 (anonymous) says...

KU Athletics had their head way up their you know whats yesterday. They knew sunday there was going to be a huge line because people were already camped out and they still didn't do anything. Very poorly ran and my sister waited in line for 8 hours missed everyone of her classes just to pick up tickets for the game. KU always has some kind of fundmental problem in most the things they do. Marchiony says they will only change things at students request. That's just a bunch of BS if you ask me. Lets piss everyone off first and then now we'll change it. All this stuff could have been diverted very easily. Send an email saying Basketball pick up will begin on Tuesday and open up every line for Football now how tough is that. There are some serious Chimpanzees that are running that ticket office.

November 13, 2007 at 7:21 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

patton6 (anonymous) says...

Maybe so, but at least they unveiled some really creative t-shirt ideas. But just in case you aren't awestruck by that creativity, here is a link for a different shirt. http://www.spreadshirt.com/us/US/John...

November 13, 2007 at 7:44 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

ohioburg (anonymous) says...

Nice original t-shirt until you see the back. Then it reverts back to juvenile trash.

November 13, 2007 at 8:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkjim80 (anonymous) says...

Another bad example of how Chiefs ticket holders (of which I am one) got priority in this deal when they should not have. Students should be in the lower level, probably in the end zones.

As I have indicated previously, Chiefs ticket holders could buy for the past Big 12 Title Games, but really didn't have priority. If this deal continues past next year, this arrangement must change to accomodate the schools and their fans.

November 13, 2007 at 9:09 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

troutsee (anonymous) says...

Agree. Giving Chief season ticket holders priority trashes many of us who have supported KU football for years....through all those losing years. My tickets at Memorial stadium are on the 40 yard line. At Arrowhead on the goal line, right in the corner, probably the very worse viewing spot for football.

November 13, 2007 at 9:27 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says...

Here's site for great designed t-shirt for the game and ANY Missery game.

www.jayhawkertees.com

November 13, 2007 at 9:53 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

shelleysue (anonymous) says...

I agree that Chiefs ticket holders getting priority seating is complete crap. It's also something they don't talk about. At Memeorial we're on the 15-yard line but got tickets in row 40 of the upper deck. To give up home field advantage to our biggest rival is also crap - I don't care what people say. Recruits can't possibly be impressed with the fact that the Jayhawks are playing at Arrowhead. All those kids want to do is play and win. And the argument that it helps stay in touch with all the KC area alumni? If they aren't driving to Lawrence for games, they don't care about their alma mater. On top of that add the fact that it's a nuetral site and take away a home game, allowing Missouri to fill at least half the stadium with black and gold makes me so mad ... If Perkins thinks we need the money so bad fine. Raise the price of a pretzel or the price of the tickets or both. But keep the game in Lawrence. The only reason I'm going to the Missouri game is that I can't take my support away from the players and coaches because they deserve to have their fans there. I also agree with troutsee.

November 13, 2007 at 11:03 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

pj_hawk4life (anonymous) says...

as a KU student, I must say that I feel betrayed by Lew and the athletic department. All Lew cares about is putting money in his pockets, and that often comes at the expense of the students. I camped all night and there's no reason i should get tickets at the top of the upper deck. Growing up in Lawrence, i went to every game through the late 90's and can truly say I'm a KU fan because i was there when it was bad, but this just further proves that this athletic department obviously doesn't know how to handle success. That being said, i suppose the athletic department still wins because I'll still go because i love my hawks. Rock Chalk!

November 13, 2007 at 11:21 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

hawk_bred20 (anonymous) says...

This whole process was complete BS. I was also one who camped out from 9 pm Sunday night to 7 am Monday and was in an early group. But because there was no order to it (believe me, we tried to create some), fraternities and huge groups in front of us were allowed to take the entire bottom section. Well that was fine by me when I got my seats because I got front row of the upper deck in the endzone. But then later I find out that people who probably didn't get there until 7 or 8 am got upper deck seats at the 50 yard line. Basically I feel like I camped out all night for nothing.

Furthermore, athletic department officials got there around 8 or 8:30 and just stood around, not trying to help the situation or make it more organized. I realize they probably weren't prepared for this but why not? If you are going to try and make this game a big deal by moving it to Arrowhead, then get your s*** together and treat your students well.

November 13, 2007 at 11:38 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

kellermi25 (anonymous) says...

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

November 13, 2007 at 1:03 p.m. ( | )

FlaHawk (anonymous) says...

How could some poeple redeem 100 tickets as the article says?? ?? Did they let friends in line (not 100 I am sure).

What kind of amateur crap is the Athletic Department showing with this debacle?

Lew has his 5 year plan and a dozen assistants making $100K plus and they can not figure out how to distribute tickets.

The Arrowhead experience looks like a "raw" money grab by the AD!

Wonder what the reaction is at Columbia. They are having their best season sicne 1969 sothey should have a similar grumbling!

November 13, 2007 at 3:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

seattlehawk_78 (anonymous) says...

Clearly the system of distributing tickets needs to be modified but I disagree with the anti-Lew sentiments. Like any bottom line entity it is his job to be concerned with finances. We can't compete at this level with alumni donations. To think otherwise is pure naivete.

November 13, 2007 at 3:07 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

hawk_bred20 (anonymous) says...

Yeah I definitely don't really blame Perkins for this. How students get tickets is not really his job. But it is someone's job and whoevers it was really messed up.

Also, yes there were groups getting over 100 tickets. There was a group of 12 people right in front of me that all had 10 IDs a piece. I listened as the ticket distributor counted out 120 tickets! It was a pretty crazy morning to say the least.

I just hope some of these students who don't care that much don't sell them to Missouri fans...that would make me very very very angry.

November 13, 2007 at 3:52 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

truefan (anonymous) says...

I understand that Lew needs to make his money and that's fine, but I don't understand why there was not a designated student section that would hold the usual, if not more than, the student section at Memorial? He tried to get the students to one side of the field, but did not group them together. The only advantage we had is now gone due to the fact that many of the Chiefs season ticket holders are also Mizzou fans. It's going to be about fifty-fifty and with the lack of organization in seating there are going to be fights. I guarantee you will see many people escorted out of the game for brawling in the stands due to the fact that they did not section off the fans. This could be the one and only year that we play at Arrowhead if they can't keep the crowd under control. They obviously underestimated the level of hatred between these two schools.

November 13, 2007 at 4:17 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

RyanKCMO (anonymous) says...

For anyone who didn't know..."Sweet" Lew Perkins is all about one thing and one thing only...to quote our coach (the guy who Lew probably almost fired)..."dollar signs"...enough alums and students better start getting pissed or we're going to lose what we love about KU...and the fact that the guy is getting so much credit for KU's b-ball and football success...Drue Jennings hired Self and Crazy Al Bohl brought back tailgating, hired Rich Price(pretty sure) and Mark Mangino...Lew (the guy gives off a ganster feel) showed up just in time to soak up the spotlight...about 3 feet from Coach Self at every game...creepy old dude.

Lots of empty student seats at the UMKC game...does this have something to do with the ticket process? Thanks in advance for an answer on this.

Hawks beat MU 34-24 Go KU!

November 13, 2007 at 4:44 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

Just as a note, Arrowhead seats 78,000. KU, since it is their home game this year, was allotted about 40,000 seats, with Missouri getting about 10,000 (I think) and the rest going to Chiefs season ticket holders (a mix of KU and MU supporters) and a variety of other places. Next year, the split will reverse, with Missouri getting the lions share (about 40K) and KU getting fewer.

So to those that argue that it will be 50/50, you are incorrect. While not a home game, it shouldn't be a hostile environment, unless KU fans either don't show or didn't get their tickets.

November 13, 2007 at 4:45 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jayhawk86 (anonymous) says...

Well, as stated in the article, the students and student government organizations dictate how student tickets are sold and distributed. Is it silly that some groups could get there and gobble up all the tickets? probably. Is it Lew's Fault? I don't think so. Maybe some of this should be directed at the student organizations that make the rules. I am sure that if the athletic department changed the rules about how they handle student tickets without student approval, there would be just as much of an uproar, if not more. Just a thought.

November 13, 2007 at 5:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jessayk (anonymous) says...

I just wanted to say one thing. My group of about 12 kids got to the ticket office at 2pm on Sunday afternoon and stayed all night. I don't know about behind us, but for the the top 5 groups (we were number 5) we had the right number of people to pick up the tickets we needed ( 10 per person). So, yes, my group picked up close to 100 tickets at one time, but we did exactly what they had told us to do and had a person for every ten of those tickets. I agree that only have 2 lower level student sections is BS, but don't complain about the students that were there before you getting all the lower level seats.

November 13, 2007 at 5:08 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

scootja32 (anonymous) says...

I heard something about either Chiefs season ticket holders or Jackson county Chiefs season ticket holders getting first dibs on the best seats. Can someone explain as to if, how, or why?

last time I checked this isn't a Chiefs game.

November 13, 2007 at 7:10 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkjim80 (anonymous) says...

scoot -

As I have indicated in prior posts, I am a Chiefs ticket holder in addition to being a big Jayhawk supporter with tickets here as well. Our family is involved with a suite at Arrowhead, so I know a thing or two about the process for these games there.

The major difference this year for the KU-MU game compared to years they had the Big 12 Title Game there, is that somehow this game had it worked into the deal that Chiefs ticket holders who bought for this game got some limited priority on seat locations. If you have ever been there when the Big 12 game is played, you would immediately notice that the schools playing had all the lower level seats between the goal lines. That should have happened this year, but somehow it did not.

The only reason I can think of for this is that both schools did not get allotted the same number of tickets, unlike the Big 12 game. That being said, they spread all three groups of buyers around the lower level, and some other levels as well.

Understand that when tickets for these other Arrowhead games go on sale, the Chiefs give their ticket holders opportunity to buy tickets. Helps fill the seats when they have a game like '04 when Colorado-Oklahoma played. No one from Colorado came, they barely filled a couple of sections. Buyers for the Big 12 game had no priority that I know of, but it depended on what was available in each level after a certain period of time as to where they got seated.

I will say that as far as I know, Jackson County residents don't get first crack at these games. The only thing they get a shot at are single game tickets for Chiefs games, after all season tickets are processed.

After next year's game, this needs to be revisited if they are going to continue playing there. The schools must get the lion's share of the best seats. They must do this as some kind of payback for the fans who have to give up their good seats at either KU or MU. It will be interesting to see what happens next year when it is MU's home game. I have heard they are not including this game in their season ticket package, so there may be an opportunity for us to get some good seats.

Let's kick some butt this weekend first, and people - please - fill the stadium Saturday. This is a must. We'll worry about Arrowhead on Sunday.

November 13, 2007 at 7:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

pj_hawk4life (anonymous) says...

while i agree that the first few groups did operate by the book (it was posted in numerous places around the ticket office that tickets would be limited to 10 ID's per person), one guy in front of me had 190 ID's and he was the only one in his group. For some reason, after the first handful of groups, the ticket office chose not to regulate the rules that had been posted everywhere and students in front of me were accepting bribes from people who weren't even in line to take their ID's. It may not be Lew's fault, but whoever's fault it is could've used a little more organization (as hawk_bred20 stated, there was NONE whatsoever!)

November 13, 2007 at 8:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkintx73 (anonymous) says...

I for one don't mind the game being at Arrowhead. When I did live in the Kansas City area, the only way I could see the Jayhawks play was when they played at Kemper in Basketball. Football tickets you could come by except for against K-State or Nebraska or Mizzou. Moving the game gives more fans the opportunity to watch the greatest rivalry in college football in person. And the national exposure it will bring to the program will bring recruits. And remember, Memorial Stadium only holds 50,000 people. Arrhowhead holds 80,000. KU Fans just need to make lots of noise, and people that are going to that game who aren't fans of either school will probalby root for KU because of superior class any way.

November 14, 2007 at 11:42 p.m. ( | suggest removal )