...because you won't be admitted.
For State's only exhibition game of the season, held tonight at Reynolds Colisuem, only season ticket holders with vouchers and students with valid IDs will be admitted.
While not technically the first "real" game of the season, this is the first time folks will be able to see the new-look State take the court. That folks without season tickets will be turned away at the door is equal parts confusing, saddening and frustrating.
A good friend of mine debated me on the matter last night. His argument (a sound one) is that if a sizable percentage of season ticket holders and a sizable number of students show up for the game and you sell general admission tickets on top of that, you could run the risk of exceeding Reynolds' reduced capacity of ~9,500 and open the school up to all sorts of fire code and liability issues.
I get that. But couldn't that STILL occur if nearly all season ticket holders and a very large contingent of students decided to attend? It's not likely, but eliminating GA ticket sales DOESN'T do away with the potential for fire code and liability issues...it merely diminishes the likelihood.
So if the Wolfpack Club is banking on a less-than-capacity crowd comprised of season ticket holders and students, could they not come up with an effective way to allow entrance to those locals without season tickets that'd like to go? Surely the numbers of folks looking for GA tickets won't be that large...not so large as to prevent all three groups from attending. Why not charge $10 for GA tickets for the first 1,000 non-season ticket holders? I doubt more than 1,000 would be necessary, and that total would only consume a little over a 1/10th of the available space.
Personally, I can't afford season ticket but always I've enjoyed exhibition games in the past because the GA tickets allow someone like myself to take my son to a game fairly cheaply in better-than-I'll-ever-have seats. Tonight's ticketing scenario eliminates that possibility for folks like me.
And what message does it send that this exhibition is ONLY available to those of you willing to pony up cash for a year's worth of tickets? The ticket office may spin it as an "added benefit" to those season ticket holders, but for some folks out there, the execution feels more like neglecting the everyday fan to pander to the folks that can afford the special treatment.
In my opinion, NO game -- sans those games scheduled as closed scrimmages -- should be off-limits to ANY State fan for ANY reason. Wolfpack Nation -- by virtue of decades of mediocrity -- needs to value EVERY fan within its fanbase, not just the season ticket holders. If you want to give the season ticket holders a perk for ponying up a large sum of cash, great, give them a free cooler or t-shirt or ticket for a free pint of N.C. State ice cream. But DON'T let one man's perk become another man's punishment when he (or she) may want nothing more than to drop by Reynolds tonight after work and spend a few bucks to sit in Reynolds and remember the good times or just see his or her favorite team play on the cheap.
Building a "fence" to keep the non-season ticket holders "out" is just a bad idea...another in a long, long line.
For State's only exhibition game of the season, held tonight at Reynolds Colisuem, only season ticket holders with vouchers and students with valid IDs will be admitted.
While not technically the first "real" game of the season, this is the first time folks will be able to see the new-look State take the court. That folks without season tickets will be turned away at the door is equal parts confusing, saddening and frustrating.
A good friend of mine debated me on the matter last night. His argument (a sound one) is that if a sizable percentage of season ticket holders and a sizable number of students show up for the game and you sell general admission tickets on top of that, you could run the risk of exceeding Reynolds' reduced capacity of ~9,500 and open the school up to all sorts of fire code and liability issues.
I get that. But couldn't that STILL occur if nearly all season ticket holders and a very large contingent of students decided to attend? It's not likely, but eliminating GA ticket sales DOESN'T do away with the potential for fire code and liability issues...it merely diminishes the likelihood.
So if the Wolfpack Club is banking on a less-than-capacity crowd comprised of season ticket holders and students, could they not come up with an effective way to allow entrance to those locals without season tickets that'd like to go? Surely the numbers of folks looking for GA tickets won't be that large...not so large as to prevent all three groups from attending. Why not charge $10 for GA tickets for the first 1,000 non-season ticket holders? I doubt more than 1,000 would be necessary, and that total would only consume a little over a 1/10th of the available space.
Personally, I can't afford season ticket but always I've enjoyed exhibition games in the past because the GA tickets allow someone like myself to take my son to a game fairly cheaply in better-than-I'll-ever-have seats. Tonight's ticketing scenario eliminates that possibility for folks like me.
And what message does it send that this exhibition is ONLY available to those of you willing to pony up cash for a year's worth of tickets? The ticket office may spin it as an "added benefit" to those season ticket holders, but for some folks out there, the execution feels more like neglecting the everyday fan to pander to the folks that can afford the special treatment.
In my opinion, NO game -- sans those games scheduled as closed scrimmages -- should be off-limits to ANY State fan for ANY reason. Wolfpack Nation -- by virtue of decades of mediocrity -- needs to value EVERY fan within its fanbase, not just the season ticket holders. If you want to give the season ticket holders a perk for ponying up a large sum of cash, great, give them a free cooler or t-shirt or ticket for a free pint of N.C. State ice cream. But DON'T let one man's perk become another man's punishment when he (or she) may want nothing more than to drop by Reynolds tonight after work and spend a few bucks to sit in Reynolds and remember the good times or just see his or her favorite team play on the cheap.
Building a "fence" to keep the non-season ticket holders "out" is just a bad idea...another in a long, long line.
a friend of mine said he got them from the wolfpack club for $5, and he's not a STH...me I'm a bandwagon state bball fan because, well I just hate bball anyways and only watch it on TV when state's on or it's march...so I'd only go if it was frizzle (free)
ReplyDeleteI guess we can thank the might Mr. Fowler for this debacle as well???
ReplyDeletemighty Mr. Fowler, that is.
ReplyDelete