It’s almost midnight on a January evening in Oakland, and thousands of Pitt students sit anxiously around their computers. Except, they aren’t studying. It’s almost midnight on a January evening in Oakland, and thousands of Pitt students sit anxiously around their computers.

Except, they aren’t studying.

That’s because the online Pitt athletics portal is about to unlock, meaning the request period for men’s basketball tickets to the next Panthers home game will open.

This scenario occurs frequently during the early months of the spring semester as students all over campus log on to their computers and race to quickly request a ticket in the Oakland Zoo student section for the next crucial Pitt game against a Big East rival.

Football

The 2012 football season features six home games in the fall: Youngstown State, Virginia Tech, Gardner-Webb, Louisville, Temple and Rutgers. And students can see all six with a $25 season pass.

There are several ways students can order their football tickets to see the team of newly-hired Panthers head coach, Paul Chryst, play.

The easiest way is online through the my.pitt portal. Click on Student Services > Student Tickets > Buy Season Pass. Tickets purchased online are held at Will Call at the Panthers Ticket Office in the Petersen Events Center.

Students can also call the Panthers Ticket Office at 1-800-643-PITT(7488) to order tickets or mail in their request and accompanying money when the Ticket Office mails student ticket order forms to undergraduate student home addresses in May. The ticket office also sells tickets Monday through Friday during the summer from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Football tickets are always really easy to order and affordable,” senior Erika Wahl said. “Attending the games was a great way to get initiated into the Pitt community my freshman year.”

The ticket office will also be open during PittStart sessions throughout the summer and during move-in week. Students who attend these sessions can purchase their tickets during this orientation.

For students wanting to bring a non-Pitt-student friend to a football game, the University also offers buddy passes for games that do not sell out within the student section. One buddy pass per student is the maximum, and passes can be purchased at the Petersen Events Center during normal ticket office hours. The cost for a buddy pass is $5, and guests must enter with a student holding a valid Pitt ID.

Students are limited to sitting in certain sections of the 65,000-seat home of Pitt football: Heinz Field. Sections 123-130 and 224-228 are reserved as lower-section seating for students, but sections 528-531 are also available for students who arrive later.

On game day, students can get from campus to Heinz Field by hopping on one of the Pitt-provided school buses that wait on Bigelow Boulevard in front of the Cathedral of Learning. After the game is over, the buses line up on Art Rooney Avenue next to Heinz Field to return students to Oakland.

If students want front-row seats, they should plan on getting to Heinz Field very early.

Seating works on a first-come, first-served basis. Gates open two hours before kick-off, but students often line up four to five hours in advance to obtain good seating. All students enter through Gate C of Heinz Field, and are required to show a valid student ID upon entry.

Wahl also has a piece of advice for first-time football goers.

“Wear tennis shoes, because you will most likely have to run in order to get the seats you want,” she said.

Basketball

With basketball season comes certain restrictions not seen during football season. In a stadium that seats more than 12,500 fans, only 1,400 seats in sections 6A-6J are reserved for students. These seats encompass most of the lower bowl of the Petersen Events Center, nearest to the court.

This means that unlike football tickets, men’s basketball tickets are somewhat difficult to come by. For this reason, students must participate in a competitive process in which they accumulate loyalty points.

“I always enjoyed registering for basketball tickets. It was pretty easy for me freshman year, and I never had any problems,” senior Ben Koch said. “Loyalty points are important.”

These loyalty points are awarded to students for attending men’s and women’s basketball exhibition and regular-season games. Tickets are scanned and points are tracked online on the my.pitt portal.

Each men’s regular-season ticket costs $5, while women’s tickets are free. Exhibition game tickets for the men’s team cost only $2.

To buy tickets, go to the my.pitt portal and log in to your student account. Click on “Athletics Login” in the bottom right-hand corner of the website and then “Request/Claim Tickets.” Finally, select the game you wish to attend.

The more loyalty points students collect, the more likely they are to be selected to receive a ticket to the next game. However, having a lot of loyalty points does not guarantee a student a ticket over a student with fewer loyalty points.

The lottery system that determines which students receive tickets is a game of chance. A student with five loyalty points will not always be awarded a ticket over a student with only one loyalty point — it’s just more probable that will be the case. The advantage of having five loyalty points is that the student’s name will be entered into the virtual drawing four more times than the student with only one loyalty point.

For games where the student demand doesn’t exceed the number of tickets available in the Oakland Zoo, all students who request a ticket will be awarded a ticket and loyalty points if they attend.

Students who are awarded a ticket through the lottery system are notified of their selection via email. They are then given a two-day claim period. Students must claim and pay for their tickets within 48 hours, or they will be offered to students placed on the waiting list.

While students are awarded loyalty points for attending games, they can also be docked points for not going to a game that they have purchased a ticket for. To avoid penalization, students must cancel their ticket by noon two days prior to game day.

Getting basketball tickets is one part of the experience. Arriving at the game is another.

“Don’t be late — or you will miss the exciting announcing-of-players ritual,” junior Allison Crawford said.

This exciting pre-game ritual includes heckling the other team during warm-ups, welcoming the Panthers onto the floor, singing the National Anthem, and energizing the crowd as the Oakland Zoo jumps up and down during player introductions, at which time the entire arena goes dark except for a single spotlight on the team.

Crawford issued one final warning for incoming students wanting to go to a home basketball game.

“Don’t dare sit in the Zoo without wearing either a Zoo shirt or a wild costume!” she said.