It just got easier for students to get tickets for West Virginia University football games. Under a new student ticket distribution policy introduced at Wednesday’s Student Government Association Board of Governors meeting, students will be able to go online to register and print their football tickets beginning this fall.”We believe this new online ticketing service will provide greater convenience for our students, thus making it easier for them to obtain tickets and avoid long lines,”said Vice President for Student Affairs Ken Gray. Under the plan, students will have a two-day, round-the-clock window in which to claim ticketsafter which remaining student seats can still be claimed online by students and their guests while supplies last until kickoff.
Gray said officials from the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and Student Affairs, along with representatives from several student groups, have been discussing the new procedure for nearly a year. Under this plan, students will have secure, personal accounts from which to manage their account information, track their attendance history, view proposed loyalty points, print their tickets, cancel a previously claimed ticket and purchase student guest tickets, if available.
Additional details about the process, such as how to log on to the site, will be announced as the plan is finalized.
Athletic officials also announced that Section 121 on the east side of the stadium will be converted to student seating to accommodate former seating in the northeast corner that is being lost because of the current stadium renovation. The number of available student seats will actually increase slightly due to this change.
“We think the new seating in Section 121 will be ideal for nontraditional students and students with families,”said Deputy Director of Athletics Mike Parsons. Plans for distribution of tickets in this section are still under review, he added.
And, because of stadium renovations which have eliminated the grassy area above the north end zone and to eliminate overcrowding, standing-room-only tickets will no longer be available.
There are approximately 11,000 seats allotted to students at Milan Puskar Stadium on
game days, according to officials and, historically, only a few WVU games over the years have attracted more student fans than there are seats available. In such cases, a loyalty distribution process will go into effect this fall. The process will reward students who regularly attend games.
We’ve seen a similar plan work well at the college level,explained Mary Collins, executive director of Student Affairs,and we have met with representatives from several student groups to obtain their input. The consensus has been that they like this approach and the convenience it offers.”
The loyalty point plan will also receive additional student input before it is finalized, Collins noted.
In addition, members of the Mountaineer Maniacs student booster group will still enjoy a reserved section and be involved in finalizing the ticketing process for members.
Our goals are to get students to attend home games, to make it easy for them to obtain tickets, and to maintain a safe and fun environment,”Gray added.It’s one more way we’re continuing to strive to be a student-centered university.