Ticket Distribution Changes
By Jackie Pearce
Santa Clara hasn't been talking about their sports teams this much since the Santa Clara Police Department recorded 14 couch fires after the home victory against the Gonzaga men's basketball team.
Ruff Riders President Jennifer Dyckman sent out an email to the campus community last Thursday that announced the new Ruff Rider Loyalty Program, which is a system that would require students to accrue points by going to smaller sporting events in order to attend the big games like Gonzaga or St. Mary's.
The program is not settled in its final form, according to Manager of Marketing for the Athletics Department John Schuster. The program is new and we are responding to a range of student feedback, said Schuster.
"I understand they're trying to get more people to go to other games, but that's the only game people go to," said sophomore Bailey McHugh. "Besides, people pay to be a Ruff Rider anyway, so it's a waste of money if they aren't going to other games."
Shortly after the announcement, students reacted to Dyckman and the ticketing office, which was responsible for the new program.
Dyckman received a good amount of feedback from students after the email was absorbed by the student body. She and the Ruff Riders executive committee took all the feedback into consideration. After extensive meetings with the Athletic Department, it was decided that the ticket distribution process would not be as was originally laid out in an email.
Currently, the ticketing office is devising a new system. There will be 1,000 tickets available to Ruff Riders for the Gonzaga game. Either 500 or 250 tickets will be saved for the most loyal Ruff Riders, while the remainder will be up for grabs in the traditional first come, first serve system.
Schuster said that the program is a way to boost school spirit by rewarding the students who go out to many athletics games and encouraging students who have less school spirit to come out to games.
While there has been a strong reaction against the policy, some students agree with the rewards system. "Our school lacks school spirit, and I really don't think it's too much to attend a sporting event a couple times a month," said senior Kendall Fleming.
Some worry that some students might find a way around the new system.
"It sucks for upperclassmen who have looked forward to these games for the past three years to possibly not be able to go this year because we don't have time to go to every sports' home games with everything else we have going on," said senior Kelly Menold. "I would assume people can cheat the system by just swiping in at every game and then immediately leaving."
Contact Jackie Pearce at jpearce@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.