Online tickets may be on horizon

When next year’s basketball season rolls around, students could be printing tickets to the big game from their laptops.

And while their ability to get tickets still might hinge on a lottery, they could forget about baby-blue bracelets or getting Krispy Kreme doughnuts before daybreak on a frosty Saturday morning.

Officials from the Department of Athletics and student government are considering a variety of reforms to the basketball ticket distribution process. Putting at least part of the system online and eliminating weekend bracelet checks seems to be a popular idea.

Clint Gwaltney, assistant athletic director for the Smith Center and ticket operations, said he is researching various options for online ticket distribution that could be in place as soon as next season.

In the best-case scenario, he said, students “will be able to print tickets out at home on a regular laser printer.” The process would involve Student Central, though officials have yet to hammer out specific plans.

That’s good news for Domenick Grasso, chairman of Student Congress’ Rules and Judiciary Committee, who forwarded a number of proposed changes to student government’s student ticket review board in early March.

The online distribution plan Grasso suggested is similar to Gwaltney’s but would allow students to claim tickets in person during normal ticket office hours.

He said the process would help level an uneven playing field.

“The Saturday morning distribution limits people — they may not be in town, or have jobs, or be graduate students who don’t live in Chapel Hill,” Grasso said.

As a Congress member earlier this year, Grasso took the Carolina Athletic Association to the Student Supreme Court, alleging that the student organization doled out more tickets for its members to each game than is allowed in the Student Code.

And, like most UNC students, he’s also got a plan to get rid of the “wine-and-cheese” stereotypes often associated with the Smith Center.

Grasso’s plan would create general admission student sections, including one on the lower level of UNC’s basketball arena. That would enable students to sit with their friends more easily, he said.

Grasso said such a proposal would make the current policy, in which students get two tickets so friends can sit together, obsolete.

He said limiting students to one ticket would also draw a broader spectrum of students to basketball games.

Gwaltney declined to discuss the possibility.

Student Body President Seth Dearmin said that while he is open to discussion, he doesn’t see a need to change the process.

“I have absolutely no problems with (ticket distribution),” he said.

Though he did share Grasso’s view that a lower-level student section would be a positive step, Dearmin said making the trek to the Smith Center early Saturday morning is a sign of dedication that should be rewarded.

“The people out there are the people who really want to be there the most,” he said.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.