The best things in life — the old saying goes — are free.
It’s been a while since anyone called the Northwestern football or men’s basketball team the “best” in any sense of the word, but students will be able to get tickets for all of their home games at no cost starting this fall.
In a July 13 release, the NU athletics department outlined its procedures for implementing a new policy that will charge all full-time undergraduate students a $25 fee added to tuition in order to provide free tickets for students. An Associated Student Government bill proposing the fee was passed in December, and the Board of Trustees ratified the decision in February.
The fee, which does not apply to graduate students, will appear on undergraduate students’ tuition bills starting Fall Quarter. The NU football team opens its home schedule Sept. 11 against Arizona State.
Under the procedures outlined by the release, student tickets will go on sale 90 minutes before the start of football and basketball games. Students must present a valid WildCARD to enter, and seating in the student sections is first-come, first-serve. If general admission tickets are sold out 15 minutes before game time, student section tickets will be sold to the general public until seats sell out.
The Ryan Field student sections seat about 5,000 fans, while the Welsh-Ryan Arena sections hold about 1,200. Christopher Boyer, the associate director of athletics external affairs, said although he does not remember any games in either stadium selling out last year, it was not so long ago that 5,000 student tickets were sold to NU students.
Boyer said “there is always the possibility for demand to outweigh supply” for student tickets, but added that decisions to distribute tickets beyond the seating caps will be made at a future date, and possibly on a game-by-game basis.
“The key for us (right now) is setting forth guidelines and trying to make it as fair and equitable as possible,” Boyer said.
Sports Reporter Jim Martinho is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
The Summer Northwestern’s Miki Johnson contributed to this report.
