Basketball lottery to give one student ticket, not two

Students will now receive only one basketball ticket through the ticket lottery system instead of two, a change announced by the Carolina Athletic Association on Thursday.

The change will go into effect for the 2009-10 men’s basketball season. All other aspects of the ticket distribution policy will remain the same.

The CAA is responsible for distributing approximately 6,000 student tickets for every basketball game.

Although the same number of tickets will be distributed this year, twice as many students will receive e-mails notifying them that they received tickets.

“We really want students to understand that this alteration of the system really is in their best interest,” Annie Ellis, CAA spokeswoman, wrote in the press release.

CAA President John Russell said the change was prompted by the large number of student tickets that went unused last year.

“Many times when two students planned to go to the game together, both won lottery tickets. Only one pair of tickets would be used,” Russell said in a press release. “We’re hoping to eliminate that situation.”

A committee made up of Russell, Student Body President Jasmin Jones, Graduate and Professional Student Federation President Keith Lee and representatives from the athletics department decided to make the change.

Jones said the group reviews the ticket distribution policy every year and wanted to respond to complaints that student seating was not being maximized.

But some students expressed concern that they will not be able to attend games with friends.

“It makes it harder to plan to go to different games with your friends, especially when your friends have a different phase ticket,” said junior Marlana Radcliffe. “Since the system is random anyways, it seems pointless not to do pairs.”

Jones said the committee discussed this concern when revising the policy, and ultimately decided that unused tickets presented a greater problem.

“We do understand the issue of wanting to bring friends. But the most important thing is that more students can now attend games,” she said.

The CAA has also initiated a “Turn It Back” policy for football games that they plan to continue into basketball season. The program allows students to return unwanted student lottery tickets to the CAA via e-mail so others can use the tickets.

“Students are busy, and don’t necessarily go to every game even if they receive tickets through the lottery,” Russell said.

The program was tested before the Sept. 19 football game against East Carolina University.

More than 300 student tickets were returned to the CAA, which redistributed them all to students who wanted to attend the game, Russell said.

Tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the CAA office starting at 5:15 p.m. on the day before the game.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.