Students will receive more football tickets if negotiations between the ASUO Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee and the University of Oregon Athletic Department hold up.
The impending agreement between ACFC and the university athletic department will add 300 football tickets to the student lottery. The agreement will be discussed and possibly finalized at an upcoming budget meeting on Friday, Jan. 15, ASUO Finance Director Shawn Stevenson said.
Stevenson said that negotiations between ACFC and the athletics department has generally been hostile in the past from both sides. He said that students have been overly aggressive with their tactics and that athletics has always pushed for more money. However, negotiations this year went smoothly.
“This year, it was constructive negotiations. Both sides have been working to understand each other and do the best for the student body,” Stevenson said.
Last year, negotiations were heated when the athletic department threatened to cut student tickets if it did not receive a 3 percent budget increase. ACFC was unwilling to increase its budget without receiving more tickets.
As a result, 300 of the 5,448 tickets were withdrawn from the student lottery and sold as Pac-12 student season ticket packages.
However, the new agreement will return the 300 tickets that were lost from the student lottery while keeping the season ticket option.
ACFC member Ben Brown said that the athletic department’s revenue growth last year allowed for an increase in student tickets without a need to increase ACFC’s current budget of $1.69 million.
According to Eric Roedl, the executive senior associate athletic director, the football program generates 70 percent of all athletic revenue and is integral for supporting all other athletic programs. This allows the athletic department to keep costs down for students in their fees.
“We get a lot of pressure in our program to be financially self-supporting. We’re not costing our school and peers as much as other schools are,” Roedl said.
Despite the increase in football tickets, Brown said that basketball tickets will remain the same due to a lack of demand from students.
Students currently receive 1,854 tickets for basketball, but those seats are rarely filled with the exception of games against big-name schools like Arizona and USC.
ACFC considered negotiating to decrease the amount paid for basketball tickets due to the lack of demand, but it did not want to risk losing any tickets, Stevenson said.
Although there will not be an increase in basketball tickets, Brown is still satisfied with the way negotiations have played out compared to past years.
“Athletics has historically been the hardest part for contracts, but this year it has been the easiest. They leveled with students and we really appreciate that,” Brown said.
Roedl said that the athletic department wants to try to reward students for their support as they are an important part of the game day experience.
“We value the role of students at athletic events. We want to try to meet the needs of students,” Roedl said.