UNC basketball ticket sign-ups altered

The days of signing up for an entire month’s worth of basketball tickets are over.

Instead of signing up during the last 10 days of a month for the following month’s games, students will sign up for each game individually next year under the new ticket policy.

Students will have a 72-hour window, beginning 10 days before each game, to sign up.

“I think it will put more responsibility on the students to register during that 72 hours,” said Caitlin Goforth, president of the Carolina Athletic Association.

But some students say they think the new sign-up times will inconvenience them and increase the likelihood of forgetting to sign up for tickets.

“I think it’s going to make it harder because I’m going to have too much stuff to do and will just forget,” said freshman public policy major Jabari Price.

But senior Parker Smith said he thinks the new system will make things easier to know whether you can attend games before registering.

“I know sometimes I would sign up, but something else would come up that I hadn’t anticipated.”

To help remind students about the individual sign-ups, the CAA will create a listserv that students can opt into for reminders.

Goforth noted that in years past, when reminder emails were sent out, some students complained that their chances of receiving tickets were being ruined. But she said she thinks reminders are fair.

“I don’t think someone’s passion for Carolina basketball makes them more deserving of receiving a ticket over a general student,” Goforth said. “That’s what (Carolina) Fever is for; you can earn your tickets that way.”

When the CAA finalized the plan, they considered other options including a merit and punishment system and reverting to a one-ticket policy similar to the one used during the 2009-10 season.

They also took student feedback, but officials in the ticketing office said they received virtually no complaints from current students about the number of seats or the way tickets were distributed.

“We did consider the other alternatives,” said Kyle Fitzgerald, CAA ticketing chairman. “Not changing it is a positive because we can work on tweaking smaller things.”

Goforth said the CAA is revamping the ticket emails to make them clearer for students. They are also working on branding the standby and turn-it-back lines to increase student participation.

Incentives to get students to use the stand-by line are still in the works but will likely include giveaways of gift cards, T-shirts and maybe even phase 1 entry into the game, Goforth said.

Associate Athletic Director Clint Gwaltney said he’s always welcomed suggestions, and the changes are an attempt to make minor improvements.

“No matter what the system is, it’s not going to be perfect for everybody,” he said, “But each year we try to get it as close as we can.”

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