The Carolina Athletic Association has pieced together a men’s basketball ticket policy with effective measures to continue the rebound from the dismal attendance of 2009-10.
But come tip-off time this season, the CAA may find it has erred too far on the side of caution in using general admission to all but one non-conference game to assure continued attendance growth.
On the heels of a 34 percent reduction in student seating — and with a highly talented team with higher expectations this season — the free-for-all general admission to certain games could provoke an overwhelming crowd at the beginning of the season. It heads in the direction of the days when students had to camp out for a seat inside the Dean Dome.
The few games this policy will apply to should be used as an opportunity to see whether this policy disadvantages upperclassmen, who often live far from South Campus.
If there’s too much competition to get into non-conference games, the policy could discourage students from attending these games — the opposite reaction the CAA is hoping for.
The CAA did students a service, however, in moving lottery registration closer to the games.
This move should give students a better idea of their availability, and incentives to “turn-it-back” such as apparel and Phase One tickets will help maximize ticket use.
In the event that students are turned away, the CAA needs to be ready to make a change. Tracking or polling students who come to non-conference games is one way to ensure every student has a fair chance at getting in and shouldn’t take much effort beyond swiping a One Card or writing down a PID number.
The CAA has the right intentions, and students should be receptive to every opportunity the policy has to offer. Under this policy, students should prove they can fill the seats — and have the 34 percent of seats they lost last year returned.
