From camping out to logging in, the basketball ticket distribution system has transformed dramatically over the years.
This year brings yet another change: Students can now vote online for the ticket policy they want.
The most effective policy through the years has been the two-ticket policy that was scrapped after 2008-09 season
And our recommendation is to vote for it and reinstate it.
Last year’s widely criticized policy of one ticket per student caused the Carolina Athletic Association to rethink how the basketball ticket lottery will be organized this season.
There is an online survey on the CAA website where students can cast their vote for what kind of ticket policy they would like. The four options offered to students on the survey include three previously implemented policies, as well as a new one.
Last year’s policy, where each student gets one ticket and enters the game at an assigned phase, is one of these options.
But the difficulty of finding people to sit with is discouraging, and many unused tickets were not turned back for other students to use.
The fact that the CAA is soliciting student input implies the policy was a failure. We don’t recommend continuing it.
The CAA is also considering two policies where a student can get two tickets through the lottery. But one includes reserved seats and there are no phases.
This policy discourages groups of students from going together to games, and therefore is ineffective.
The new group policy can remedy this, but it may be too much effort on the student’s part to assemble a group and then join the lottery, especially since students can form groups on their own with general admission seating.
This leads us to our recommendation: The two-ticket policy with phases, students can easily form groups without the intervention of the lottery.
