Ongoing discussions to make college-football ticket distribution more accessible to downtown ASU students have led to the possibility of distribution centers on all campuses.
According to Christian Hernandez, a representative of the athletics ticketing subcommittee for the Sun Devil Athletics Board of Operations, the proposed solution is currently the most popular among the subcommittee.
About 60 downtown student leaders voiced their concerns and proposed solutions in Wednesdays meeting. In attendance were representatives from Undergraduate Student Government, the Residential Housing Association, the Programming and Activities Board, on-campus housing Community Assistants (CAs) and Resident College Student Leaders (RCSLs).
However, the Board of Operations thinks the proposed solution complicates the system.
“Fighting this … is as far as we’ve gotten (in) convincing them that it’s an issue for downtown,” said Hernandez.
The Downtown Phoenix campus is the only ASU campus that does not have its own ticket distribution. According to USGD president Corina Tapscott, USGD is committed to offering students a physical ticket distribution center with equal seating opportunities as Tempe. Tapscott hopes all ticket locations would open at the same time and have open communication.
“Students say it can be time-consuming to head over, head back to finish up their days and then go back for the games,” Tapscott said. “We really just want to allow students to have the exact same chances as other students when it comes to accessing the athletic events.”
Hernandez hopes having a downtown distribution, similar to Tempe’s “Camp Fargo” outside the Wells Fargo Arena, will heighten students’ sense of community. The next issue for the committee will be finding a downtown campus location suitable for a distribution center.
“We have the students who have the spirit and I feel we can find the space,” Hernandez said.
Marissa Hill, an ASU junior who lives on the downtown campus, looks forward to the potential of having a downtown distribution center.
“I think it builds excitement for game time and it’d be a great way to meet new people.”
An alternative option to ticket distribution is “geozoning,” which would allow students to go on an app to acquire their ticket electronically before picking up their physical wristband later in Tempe.
According to Tapscott, the idea was rejected last year by the five ASU campus presidents, who felt there were better options on the table.
Tapscott said many students point to the inconvenience of traveling between campuses for tickets, and that “if we are able to have a physical ticketing booth downtown, attendance is going to increase because of the ease of participation.”
“To get good seats on the south side with your friends, you have to show up early and that’s not viable or pleasant for students downtown,” said Jakob Wastek, a freshman journalism major. “It’s a lot of going back and forth. It’s not ideal.”
But transportation to games raises a different issue. The two most popular methods of traveling to games, the ASU campus shuttle and the light rail, both have their own issues.
If students travel by the free intercampus shuttles, they need to walk about 30 minutes to get to the stadium. Using the light rail costs students two dollars per ride and is not reimbursed by the university.
West and Polytechnic campus students call a shuttle ahead on game days which allows tickets to be set aside while they are en route. This strategy was attempted for downtown but was not as receptive, according to subcomittee members.
No resolutions were passed at Wednesday’s meeting, although discussions to bring ticket distribution downtown are expected to continue.
Contact the reporter at Kara.Carlson@asu.edu
