As of 3 p.m. on Monday afternoon, there were already about 30 students entrenched outside the metal shuttered windows of the Autzen ticket counter, waiting in line to get their hands on some of the 55 Oregon basketball student tickets that will be released at 9 a.m. today.
Information on ticket sales for the Ducks’ first round game against Miami (Ohio) in Spokane, Wash. on Friday was first announced via a press release from the Athletic Department at about 11 a.m. this morning.
But Pit Crew president Robert Griesinger was already out at Autzen at 2 a.m. the night before in anticipation of the ticket release.
A little more than 12 hours later, Griesinger called the Emerald from his spot in the Autzen ticket line.
“I’m upset at how the tickets are being distributed,” Griesinger said. “I’m excited that we’re even getting a chance to buy tickets – because for the Las Vegas Bowl, we didn’t have the opportunity to do so, so this is a step in the right direction.
“But being that it’s Dead Week, every person out here should be studying for finals. The way the system’s been set up, I believe it’s contrary to the University’s mission.”
Fellow Pit Crew member Michael Konowitz also had concerns. He suggested that the Athletic Department could have released tickets at 5 p.m. yesterday instead of making students wait in line overnight.
Konowitz said: “I understand that it’s our choice to be out here, but I feel like the Pit Crew supports athletes and basketball so much. If (the Athletic Department) cared about us and wanted us to keep supporting them, especially through Dead Week and finals, why can’t they make it a little bit easier for us to do that and still pass classes?”
But about two hours after Griesinger and Konowitz voiced their complaints, the Athletic Department complied, coming out and setting up power outlets and high-speed Internet.
“That was really huge – that solves a big problem for not being able to study,” Griesinger said.
At 6:30 p.m. Monday night, Griesinger told the Emerald that there were already more than 50 people in line – despite the fact that ticket release time was still more than 12 hours away.
According to men’s basketball sports information director Greg Walker, the Athletic Department decided to hold off on ticket release for 24 hours because it wanted to get the word out and give people a fair chance to hear about the tickets and line up to get them.
“Our thinking behind this was to accommodate all people interested,” Walker said. “The turnaround happened so fast that it really puts us in a crunch, and we’re trying to get some more tickets and to make those available to students.”
Athletic Department Finance Committee chairperson Kyle McKenzie said the committee was working to institute an electronic ticket distribution system next season.
The new system would require students to register for a random ticket drawing using their student ID numbers. McKenzie said the ADFC is still trying to figure out how to incorporate priority for tickets based on seniority, game attendance or Pit Crew membership into the system.
Griesinger said he was also unhappy with the fact that the Athletic Department had ignored him when he’d first approached them about four weeks ago to see if they would work with students to figure out an equitable way to distribute tickets.
He said he’d wanted to figure out a way to release the tickets as part of a package that would include transportation up to Spokane, and hotel costs for anyone who was interested in going to the game.
But he got no response from any of the administrators he talked to until he took his case to Pat Kilkenny, the new athletic director. Kilkenny agreed to finance the cost of a bus that would take students to Spokane and back.
“He’s been awesome,” Griesinger said. “He’s personally made it so that we’re gonna be able to have a bus to get up to Spokane, and he’s taken it upon himself to run things completely.
“I’m stoked that he was able to do that for us, and that he’d go out of his way to help the student body in the brief time since he’s become the athletic director.”
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