FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Pretty good blog. Hope you got your frustrations out.

Once I made the blog a little nicer and sent it off to the OSU Alumni Association, I did... :)

interesting system

It is nuts. I couldn't believe they left the lottery system (hope your luck is good girl) - you could go years and not get tickets?

Of course, I have my answer to everything.
1. Use the lottery to rotate in people. The longer term people will get to go more often, everyone should be able to get some tickets at least every other year.
2. For anyoe not getting home seats, give them 1st shot at the alotted road game tickets.
3. Fill in the ned zone.
4. My favorite - the birds eye view seats. Cover the top with benches similar to your Chiropractor uses. You walk across the cover to your bed, lie down, and watch the game thru a 4" slit. If you have a cold, try not to lauch one on the people below when you sneeze.

I am telling you, I could make it work!

Great minds, Prove It... Below is the response I sent to the Alumni Association as well as their reply. (I was just shocked that I even heard from anyone...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Regarding the New Football Ticket Policy for Alumni

The old system for football ticket distribution to alumni was severely flawed, and I\'m willing to give the new system a chance to be better. It does seem much more equitable and I am much more satisfied with the way this system appears on paper, but I have three concerns:

1) If one happens to be an unlucky person, he or she may NEVER get to attend a game according to the lottery system as it stands. Based solely on the odds, it is not likely, but it is indeed possible. I personally think that, if someone\'s name is not drawn in the lottery in a given year, he or she should be automatically included in the ticket pool for the following year. The remainder of the tickets can then be distributed by standard lottery. That way, alumni will be guaranteed a game at least every other year. (And if one is lucky enough, he/she will be able to attend every year.)

2) The loyalty shown by years of consecutive ticket purchase should count for SOMETHING; seniority should not be completely ignored. For many, attending the games and showing support to the University requires budgeting and sacrifice in other areas. Those people should not be dismissed with a simple pat on the head and a \"we appreciate your support over the years, but it is insignificant now\" statement.

3) Perhaps the lottery for the Michigan game should be handled as it was before. One of the positives of the old system was that I at least had a SHOT at getting tickets to the Michigan game. To be sure, the odds were against me in the past, but now they are *exponentially* against me. I haven\'t been to a Michigan game since I graduated, and now unless I win the REAL lottery and can buy my way into the elite circles, I\'ll have a better chance of being killed by a meteorite than I will of ever being able to go to that game.


buck-i-girl,

Thanks for the note regarding the policy changes. You do raise some strong points. We have particularly heard from many people about the lack of a seniority-based system, and will take that into consideration when we do our process review in the fall.

But, the fact remains that we have far more people who want to go to games than tickets available. Thus, any priority based system would likely wipe out a large segment of members and give them no chance.

We do share your concern over the lottery not working for some people and leaving them out multiple years. But again, our ticket allotment probably would not permit what you propose. I'd say there is a decent chance that we could not cover everyone denied this year with our allotment next year.

I do appreciate you taking the time to write, though. And as I mentioned, we will review the process after the year and may try to incorporate some new elements to the system that would give a nod to seniority.

Jay Hansen
Director of Communications
Ohio State Alumni Association

Would you like me to send my proposal for the belly down birds eye view seats?

I can even get out my crayons and make some diagrams.

How many requsts did they get any way? And how is "Purely random perhaps never" better than once every 2 (or 3) years?

You could always sneak in. I had a room mate my 1st year who diden't buy season tickets but decided to sneak in. He grabbd his 35mm camera and decided to pose as a CBS camera man (this was a long time ago)
He needed a name badge. The only thing he could find was a box top he ripped off (didn't have scissors or a knife).
He tried to make the CBS logo but completely screwed it up. Then he wrote Steve under it - all with poor pensmanship using a blu ball point.
he decided it needed some color but didn't have any markers. He used a pink high lighter which proceeded to smear all the ink.
He didn't have a pin, but did have some tape to secure it to his jacket.
As he approached (his friends loosing it

oops - hit wrong button...
As he approached (his friends loosing it at a distance) the gate man reached out for his ticket. Looking in the distance he tugged at is jacket to show the gate man his poorly crafted smeared pink and blue ball point inked box top lid.

The gate man glanced at it, then said "Come on in Steve" he said "Thanks" and cruised by.

So much for security - forget the tickets, all you really need is a box top lid, ink pen, pink high lighter, piece of tape, 2 minutes of art work, an a camera with a big lens.

I am willing to give the lottery a chance. However, if I start getting snubbed for tickets more often than not, receive a non-conference game in the years I get tickets, and consistently get a seat in Ohio Stadium with an obstructed view I will be very upset.

Though, right now my concern with the lottery is the fact it will take an extra month for alumni to learn their assigned game. For those living in Ohio it may not be a big deal but for the alumni who live out of state it could have consequences when it comes time to book a flight, reserve a hotel, etc.... In fact, in my particular example (and yes I know OSU is not worried about one person) I would have loved to begin planning a trip to the USC game (and visit some relatives for a week (before/after). However, with the lottery taking an extra month I cannot plan the trip because I do not know I'll have tickets for one of the sandwich games