Basketball ticket fiasco a distant memory

In the grand scheme of things, the morning of Oct. 8 will probably go down as any old day… In the grand scheme of things, the morning of Oct. 8 will probably go down as any old day in Pitt history.

Classes went on as they do every day. Buses and cars circled the campus like they always do. Students worked hard, or hardly worked, like normal.

But for the athletics department, it was a nightmare. The plan to sell men’s basketball tickets online crashed, along with the server, and many Pitt students were complaining about the way the department decided to straighten out the mess. Call it The Basketball Season Ticket Debacle, Part II.

A lot has happened since then that has made people forget the problems that came with purchasing student tickets for men’s basketball games. But the process that was originally planned is still being used and, according to Jim Earle, it has worked.

“The sense here is that it’s gone well, except for the original sale,” said Earle, who is the Associate Athletics Director for New Business and Fan Development. “As far as the actual distribution, it’s gone well. Our intent behind this was to make it possible for as many students as possible to get tickets.”

The plan to give tickets out on previously scheduled pickup dates has worked, up to this point. Students with season tickets have come on those scheduled days to get their tickets and the tickets that aren’t picked up after two days are held for other students to purchase.

With just five home games remaining, there are only three pickup dates left – today for games against Boston College and St. John’s; Feb. 2 for Pitt’s matchup with Connecticut and Feb. 16. to see games against Syracuse and Villanova.

While Pitt has been able to continue its success in the Petersen Events Center, Earle believes that it could not have been done without the students.

“We’ve all seen the impact students have,” he said. “I don’t know if we win against Notre Dame [on Jan. 12] if they aren’t there.”

Unlike last year, the department feels the students have done a decent job of supporting the team recently.

“It seems that students are coming out in masses for conference games,” Earle added. “Early on, we were concerned because during the early season non-conference games, attendance was pretty poor.”

But with the way the early-season schedule exists at the end of the fall semester makes it harder for students to attend games. With Thanksgiving break coming close to the beginning of the season, followed shortly afterwards by finals and winter break, students are either too busy to attend games or just aren’t in Pittsburgh.

“With it being the end of the semester with finals makes it more challenging for students,” Earle said. “If we had some Big East conference games at the end of the semester, then they’ll be there. It’s the timing and the competition.”

Watching a team like Pitt compete on its home floor with the likes of Chicago State or Arkansas Pine-Bluff is not exciting to some people that purchase tickets. But with a team that has been consistently high in the rankings for over two years, it’s hard for Earle to understand why students wouldn’t want to attend games just to see their own school perform.

“It’s a rare opportunity, with as successful as [the team] has been,” he said. “I sense that the perception is that it’s not going to be as competitive and that’s a dangerous assumption. It’s a fact that any team can lose on any given night.”

Pitt almost found that out the hard way against Georgetown College, a NAIA school from Kentucky. Just 6,234 people saw the Tigers give Pitt its toughest game up to that point of the season, falling to the Panthers, 79-74.

“We knew they were going to be a good, talented team. They have some transfers from Division I,” Earle said. “You never know. You almost saw it there. It’s a prime example of never knowing when you’re going to need that sixth man.”

Despite the fact that only an average of 300 students attended games early in the season, Earle feels that students’ biggest complaint will be that there are not enough season tickets offered to them.

“By them not showing up makes [that] difficult to justify,” he said. “There is a core group of students that is always there, but we need to find ways to get kids to come out to earlier games. It’s really a different atmosphere.”

While he says that the department has not looked into revising the system for next year yet, Earle said that they are looking for ways to get plenty of feedback from students.

“We’re still trying to collect feedback for next year,” Earle said. “We want to meet with Student Government and [SGB president] Brian Kelly to get feedback for student reaction.”

Overall, Earle is pleased with the way things have turned out up to this point.

“We have a waiting list of over 1,000 people,” he said. “Pitt basketball is the hottest ticket in town and that is a tribute to our team. What it’s been able to do has created a frenzy. It’s great to see the city rallying around them.”