Pitt athletics need a new game plan

Today, the University is going to try to sell some of the remaining 500 student basketball… Today, the University is going to try to sell some of the remaining 500 student basketball tickets as season tickets.

Scratch that, they went up for sale Tuesday. Well, “up for sale” in the sense that the William Pitt Union box office was selling them unannounced and without the knowledge of some members of the athletics department. The only folks who got the chance to buy them were the especially curious who strolled past the line and asked what was going on or those with friends quick on the Instant Messenger draw. Anyone with $20 and a valid Pitt ID could snatch them up.

The athletics department, in a fit of embarrassment at the poor showing for Nov. 23’s Saturday night game against Duquesne, has decided to make some of the remaining seats in the student section available as season tickets in an attempt to prevent another night of 400 no-shows.

Surely the athletics department ought to understand that you can’t change the rules in the middle of the season.

The athletics department also plans to oversell the seats. This means that loyal fans who stuck out the lottery line and were lucky enough to get season tickets the first time around aren’t even guaranteed seats.

Wasn’t the debacle of the lottery bad enough? Why should the fans be punished by the department for not showing up now? We’re the consumers here. Don’t we pay the department to entertain us? Imagine if movie companies adopted this policy. After a disappointing opening weekend, should the company stomp its foot and say, “Fine. No more movies for you unless you promise to see them all!”

The department shouldn’t decide, based on one disappointing showing against an opponent that provided no challenge or suspense, that we can’t be trusted to line up for tickets on a major game day.

To add to the fun, consider that season tickets are nontransferable. Basketball games occur on weeknights – when students have classes and homework and all sorts of things interfering with their faithful attendance at games. If Johnny Panther has a big exam the next day, his season ticket for that night will remain unused, even if one of his friends desperately wants to go and isn’t worried about any pesky tests.

If the University wants to fill the student section, it should have listened to the students in the first place. Season tickets need to be transferable among students. Students should be able to buy tickets for a particularly great game on game day. Ticket sales need to be announced and conducted in a sane, rational, non-random way.