More than four months before the Oregon football season is scheduled to begin, two sides are already vying for field position at Autzen Stadium.
The matchup pits Oregon’s Athletic Department against the ASUO’s Athletic Department Finance Committee. While it may not be a fourth-and-goal situation, there is an end zone — stadium Section 9. The A.D. is driving hard to get there, and the ADFC has dug its heels deep into the turf.
Section 9 is the closest student section midfield, located on Autzen’s north side. Students had first dibs to Section 9 for the last 13 years, including last season when the A.D. opened it up for general admission after students were given first crack at it.
The A.D. kicked off the issue by requesting that the ADFC sign a contract that would give Section 9 to the general public. The ADFC, which uses its portion of student incidental fees to negotiate seating contracts at both football and men’s basketball games, rejected the proposal last Tuesday.
It’s a classic standoff.
On the defensive end of the field, the ADFC doesn’t want to give up what students have had for years.
And they have the right to be worried. In a society where money is sadly the most influential factor in decision making, the Athletic Department’s move to take away preseason seats from students could provide ground for more slippage in the future. If the A.D. can change the rules now and cite economic reasons for doing so, why won’t they do the same someday down the road?
Getting more green — not meaning more school spirit — is why the A.D. wants to reclaim Section 9.
But, like the ADFC, the A.D. has valid reasoning. There are 6,098 seats in Sections 5 through 9, the traditional student sections. Student incidental fees pay for these seats in the regular season, but they’re given to the students for free in the preseason.
Keep in mind that the A.D.’s proposal would only affect preseason games.
Most students aren’t even back from summer vacation when the preseason begins early in September, and the numbers prove it. Of 6,098 student seats, only about 2,500 are filled in the preseason.
The A.D. says that opening Section 9 would encourage more of the general public to buy tickets.
The lack of students at preseason games, coupled with the attractiveness of Section-9 seating, seems like good enough reasoning to me.
So why shouldn’t the A.D. give Section 9 to the general public?
There is the fear that one change could lead to another — that if the A.D. wins this standoff and does make more money, that it may pursue such seat limitations in the regular season as well.
However, that’s a completely different ball game. Students actually pay for their regular season tickets. The student section is the loudest section of the stadium. If it weren’t for the students, there wouldn’t even be a football team.
I hope the A.D. is smart enough to not even think about taking away regular season tickets. If it ever tries, it will find its standing with the students and the community in a world of hurt.
Yet this is about the preseason. Who cares if students don’t have Section 9? Hardly anyone goes to those games anyway. Yes, students are the loudest, most supportive fans during the regular season. Students can’t complain about where they are going to sit, cost free, if they don’t even fill half of their allotted space.
The right to watch football from Section 9 at Autzen Stadium is not guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States, nor does the Athletic Department have any obligation to carry on that tradition.
Students get their regular-season seating because they’re the A.D.’s No. 1 customer. They consistently fill their seats at every meaningful game. They buy the sports apparel and indirectly market the A.D.’s cause. When an Oregon football game is televised, it’s the loud, rowdy students they show, portraying Autzen as one helluva place to watch football.
But a studentless seat in the student section is an empty seat, and that’s not intelligent business. Oregon athletics will benefit more from Section 9 by selling to the public than it would by giving it to students who aren’t there.