Editor’s note: Kayla Hayden and Thomas Coffer are University of Kentucky who normally can be found in the front row of the e-Rupp-Tion Zone for UK home games. They share their insights here on the UK student ticket lottery process and what changes they think would make the process better and fairer for true UK fans.

By KAYLA HAYDEN
and THOMAS COFFER

There are certain days when campus just feels a little different.  On those days you can feel the buzz in the air; you can tell that everyone is a little jumpy.  Your phone continues to ring and vibrate with multiple text messages and phone calls.  People you haven’t talked to in weeks are all of a sudden your new best friend. This is a day when previous plans don’t matter, and normal schedules are changed.  Today is Ticket Lottery Monday.

At the University of Kentucky, student tickets to men’s basketball games are distributed in a process called a “Ticket Lottery.”  These lotteries normally take place on a Monday night in Memorial Coliseum. At each lottery, tickets are handed out for a select group of games. Students can either choose lower level reserve, upper level reserve, or a spot in the e-Rupp-tion Zone. Full time students at either UK or BCTC are eligible to get tickets for $5 a piece. All BCTC students must pay an athletic fee at the beginning of the school year to be eligible.

A total of 3,200 tickets can be given out for any single game, and 650 of those will be for the e-Rupp-tion Zone. When a student enters the lottery they are given a number that includes them in a group of 50 other students. When the lottery begins, group numbers are called at random  — each group has an equal chance of being called, numerical order does not matter. When your number is called, you go down to the floor and choose one of four tables to buy your tickets. Each table has all three types of tickets and this process continues until all tickets are gone.

While this process may be relatively easy for UK to organize, we do not feel that it is fair to the students; mainly those who really wish to attend the games.  With the increased success and expectations of the team this year, ticket demand is at an all time high.  In previous years, every student who attended a lottery would walk out with some form of a ticket.  Now, with nearly 10,000 students attempting to get tickets to a game, chances of success have dropped to around 30 percent.

There is not a problem with 10,000 people wanting to attend a game. However, with a group that large, not everyone is there for the right reason.  Many students, both those who grew up in Kentucky and those who are from out of state, look forward to being a Wildcat and supporting the team they grew up admiring.  Sadly, there are a growing number of students who try and take advantage of those loyal fans.  Student ticket scalping has become the new way for some to cheat their way through college.

It has become no secret that a large number of students attend the lottery with the sole goal of getting a cheap ticket they can sell for a profit.  Only minutes after the lottery ends, multiple student tickets start showing up on Craigslist, eBay, Facebook and other social networking sites.  Individuals will ask anywhere from $20 to $400 for a single $5 student ticket.  It is clear that these students had no intention of ever sitting foot inside Rupp Arena.

It is widely known that college students are usually low on cash.  While I understand the need for some extra money, this is not the way to get it.  Student tickets are sold at a discount to reward all the hard work that goes in to attending college.  Are some people really that desperate for cash that they turn and take advantage of a thing that someone is passionate about? Is one student really going to stoop that low, so low that they forget what the college experience is all about?  I have an idea for those people that really need money — GET A JOB!

This is a problem that must be fixed.  A new method for ticket distribution must be created that will be both fair and feasible.  The University of Kentucky has the best fans in the world, and those are the fans that should be at the games!

Before we implement a new system here at UK we must look at what works for other large universities.  Some schools such as Western Kentucky, Florida, UCLA, Purdue and Duke do not have tickets at all but let students choose their seat based on a first come, first serve basis. While this would reward the die-hard fans, and those that really want to be there, it would not be feasible at a school with large demand and multiple seating choices such as UK.  Most other major schools use the lottery system, but all of them perform it electronically.

North Carolina and Texas use a lottery system similar to ours. However, it is done entirely online.  Tickets are distributed randomly, and you are notified via e-mail if you will be getting a ticket for the games you selected.

The two schools with, in our opinion, the best method of ticket distribution are Kansas University and the University of Tennessee.  Both of these schools use an online lottery, with the first students who register for tickets getting benefit over those who wait.  Also, these schools use paperless tickets where your student ID becomes your “ticket” into the game. Here at UK, we will combine all of these methods and come up with the best system possible.

The new student ticket distribution system will take place online.  Tickets will still be distributed for a small group of games, normally three or four at a time.  Students will register online for their tickets beginning at a certain time; an example being on Monday morning at 5 a.m. The window for requesting tickets will be open for a week.  When a student goes online at this time, they will be required to enter their personal information along with their student ID number.  This will ensure when they are requesting tickets that they are a full time student at UK.

Also, when a student at UK submits an online request for tickets to a game they must pick either lower level reserve or e-Rupp-tion Zone.  The first 650 students to request an e-Rupp-tion Zone ticket will be notified by e-mail that they were successful.  The same would work for those who requested a lower level ticket.  Upper level tickets would be saved for all those who wish to attend a game, but were unsuccessful at getting either lower level or e-Rupp-tion Zone.  Once the time period for requesting tickets is over, the computer would select at random, from the remaining students, who would receive tickets in the upper level.

Tickets would remain $5, and payment would be taken from the student’s plus account when they were approved for tickets.  All ticket information would be saved to a student’s ID, and could be printed from the e-mail notification at any time.  When attending the game, a student’s ID would once again be scanned.  This will guarantee that the ID is active, the student is still full time, and that they have indeed purchased a ticket for that particular game.

Students would be required to bring a print off of their seat number, or go to the ticket window at Rupp Arena and have one printed the day of the game.  If a student had purchased a game ticket but no longer wished to attend, a transfer would have to be performed.  Both students would have to take their IDs to the ticket office and have the ticket transferred from one ID to the other.  When this happens, $5 would be refunded to one ID, and subtracted from the other.

The benefits of this system are obvious.  The online system would eliminate the need for a physical lottery that students would be forced to attend and UK would have to staff and operate.  The constant need to scan an ID would make sure that only full time students are the ones going to the games, eliminating the people that are not full-time students or people that are no longer students at UK.

The major benefit to us is that this will greatly reduce the scalping of tickets. The electronic tickets would make the process of reselling the tickets for profit much more challenging.  Students who do not plan on attending the game will have to put much more effort into actually acquiring the ticket.  Also, the process of selling the ticket to another student would now take much more time and effort.  Individuals who are not students would no longer have the chance to buy a student’s ticket due to the ID scanning that would take place at the door.  Hopefully we would no longer have Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist advertising their “deals” for $100 a ticket. Tickets will be at $5, rightfully where they belong.

This system would also benefit those that really wish to attend the games.  We would be able to be one of the first ones to log on and request a ticket, and specify which type of ticket we want.  The casual fans would either have to step it up and get up early to get a ticket or settle for taking their chances in the random drawing later in the week.

While this may not be the perfect solution, it is a step in the right direction.  Everyone will agree that something needs to be done but merely talking about it will accomplish nothing.  We must work together and formulate a system that will reward the die-hard fans, give everyone a fair chance, reduce scalping, and eliminate non-students from cheating their way in.

We need to bring the attention of our Student Government to this issue and encourage them to take an active role in leading the way to a solution.  An open line of communication and teamwork must be formed that connects those students with ideas to the Student Government, and then onto the Dean of Students office and the Athletic Department.  As Wildcats, we pride ourselves on having the greatest college basketball program in the country.   Shouldn’t the greatest program, have its greatest fans at the game?

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