Hutchinson hopes to improve sports fans’ experiences at Pitt

While the president of Student Government Board and several members say the board has kept in… While the president of Student Government Board and several members say the board has kept in contact throughout the summer via e-mail, it seems as though someone missed out on one big piece of information.

Board member Matt Hutchinson was unaware of the student activities fee changes when asked about them in mid-August, just about two weeks before the start of the fall semester. When told about the summer changes, which will give SGB more control over the distribution of the increased fee, Hutchinson replied, “I’d be really surprised if something like that happened and I hadn’t heard about it.”

Hutchinson said he was also unaware of the meeting between President Brian Kelly and fellow board member Todd Brandon Morris and school administrators, regarding the fee and SGB’s new role. It was at this July meeting that the SGB representatives learned they would have total control over the allocation of the fee money.

After being informed about the changes, Hutchinson said the allocation process would probably remain somewhat similar to the process used in distributing the fee in the past, to save SGB from having to approve all of the additional requests that would come from the big organizations such as the Pitt Program Council.

But while communication may have faltered during the summer, Hutchinson facilitated communication during the spring semester between students and the athletics department. He helped organize a sports forum and personally met with representatives from the department. At the forum, students got the opportunity to address department representatives with concerns and ideas they had about the sporting world at Pitt.

One of the ideas that came out of the forum was to increase the price of sports tickets, and the $5 increase in football tickets for the fall reflects this suggestion. Although the new $30 price tag for season tickets does not seem so pricey when compared to other schools, it is a step toward discouraging students who will not attend many games from buying tickets. By selling tickets at such low prices that students will buy season passes without intending to attend more than one or two games, school administrators often face a sparsely populated student section — something the athletics department wants to change.

And to help remedy the complicated process of selling basketball tickets, the school will hold a campout this year, Hutchinson said, though he had no details about it yet. He added that basketball tickets for winter break will likely be sold separately from tickets for games that take place when students are on campus, making the games over break accessible to non-season pass holders.

Hutchinson also said that students might not have to get out quite as early on football game days this fall. Before the student parking lots open, some people line up and wait to assure they get parking spots. But this year, parking passes might be sold at the ticketing office at Pitt — but only to people who have tickets to the game. This will save parking spots for only those students attending the game, taking away spots from students going just to tailgate.

Midnight Madness, the kickoff of the basketball season, might also get a facelift this year. Hutchinson is hoping to work with the athletics department to make the night more entertaining, generating increased student excitement and involvement.

During his campaign, the now-senior finance major promised to work on behalf of club sports. Because of the current allocations’ rules, club sports are allowed to receive only $2,000 each year for competition. And Hutchinson would like to see this rule changed.

He believes SGB should determine how much each group receives. Some groups, such as the women’s lacrosse team, are nationally ranked and need to travel across the country — and $2,000 is not nearly enough, he said.

“I expect … I hope we’ll get rid of that student allocations code,” he said in reference to the $2,000 rule.

In addition to his work on funding, Hutchinson has tried to get club sports more exposure on campus, including Pitt News coverage.