The Wait Is Over

With basketball season less than two months away, many fans are beginning to wonder when they'll be able to buy their tickets, and more importantly, what they'll have to go through to buy them. Luckily for these fans, the Department of Athletics unveils the new student ticket lottery plan for the 2007-2008 season today.

Bidding farewell to last year's infamous wristbands, the Department of Athletics has chosen to use a new online weighted lottery system to determine who is eligible to purchase tickets.

The new lottery plan, which applies to both men's and women's tickets, was developed over the summer by a working group of representatives from the department of student activities, the division of athletics and the presidents of USG, Ryan McHardy, and SUBOG, Carlton Jones.

"There's no perfect system," said Neal Eskin, executive associate director of athletics. "But we've tried to make this process as convenient, safe, and fair as possible."

According to the new plan, students will receive an e-mail today inviting them to enter the ticket lottery at uconnhuskies.com. Registration for the lottery will continue until 12:30 p.m. Friday. Over the weekend, a computer program will choose the winners who will be notified by e-mail Monday morning. After receiving notification, students will have to return to uconnhuskies.com to purchase their tickets online. If all tickets are not sold out by Wednesday, a new batch of winners will be chosen.

Students can buy a full season of Gampel Pavilion and/or Hartford Civic Center tickets, which are $5 per game.

In the past, the department has tried a variety of gimmicks to determine who can buy men's tickets. Prior to 2004, tickets were sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. Students traditionally camped out in front of Gampel waiting for the box office to open. The event became a social cornerstone to the UConn experience, with athletes themselves often serving pizza to the waiting fans.

In 2004, the ticket system was still first-come, first-serve, As a result, hundreds of students outside in the rain overnight and some were told there weren't enough tickets when they finally made it to the box office.

For the 2005 season, students were asked to line up at a specific time in Fairfield Way to get wristbands that would then allow them to buy tickets the next morning. However, many students showed up before the designated time and many students that followed the instructions couldn't get tickets.

Last year's plan was a hybrid wristband-lottery system in which students were issued wristbands with a specific color and number. But this plan was marred by students who managed to cheat and acquire multiple wristbands.

Although random, the new system has been weighted to favor seniors. When registering for the lottery, students will have to supply a valid PeopleSoft number, which the department of athletics will use to determine class standing. The weighting will be as follows: seniors (86 or more credits) will be entered into the lottery four times, juniors (54 to 85 credits) will be entered three times, sophomores (24 to 53 credits) twice and freshman (0 to 23 credits) will be entered only once. According to the Department of Athletics, the weighted lottery system was introduced at the request of students.

Responding to concerns that the new lottery system would unfairly favor students with higher class standings, USG president Ryan McHardy said he supported the plan.

"I'm particularly a fan of [the new system]," McHardy said.

McHardy also said he thought the new system would be the most fair.

"Seniors have been here the longest and spent the most [tuition] since they've been here the longest," McHardy said. "Most have spent the $80,000 [in-state tuition] and deserve the most opportunity."

The new system also allows students to buy tickets without having to skip class or miss family, work or religious obligations, which has happened in the past.

The men's season kicks off with its first game against Assumption College on Nov. 1 at Gampel Pavilion, followed by a women's exhibition game on Nov. 2.

Timeline: ‡ For Info Box

Sept. 25 - Email sent to students' UConn email account from BB TIX with a subject line of BB TIX, will include lottery entry instructions and login information

Sept. 25-28 - Online lottery entry period

Sept. 28 - Online lottery entry deadline is 12:30 PM

Oct. 1 - Lottery winners notified by email with buying instructions, Non-winners also notified by email.

Oct. 1-3 - Lottery winners purchase tickets online for men's and women's basketball season tickets.

Oct. 5 - If tickets remain, a new set of lottery winners will be notified by email.

Oct. 10 - If any tickets remain for either Gampel Pavillion or Hartford Civic Center then non-lottery winners can purchase season tickets online on a first-come-first-serve basis until the supply is exhausted.

Contact Timothy Bleasdale at Timothy.Bleasdale@UConn.edu.