Tickets for NU Day at Wrigley sold out within an hour of going on sale Monday morning, moving faster than a Carlos Zambrano heater.
Undergraduate students, who were allowed to buy one $15 ticket per WildCARD starting at 10:30 a.m., snatched up the 1,480 tickets sold online through the Norris Box Office, said Northwestern Class Alliance President Marly Tristano.
This is the first year tickets for the annual Chicago Cubs game were sold online, and Tristano said Monday was the fastest sellout in the estimated eight years of the event.Tristano said no more tickets will be released.
“It’s a whole new territory,” the Weinberg junior said. “Unfortunately we’ve always had those long lines that frustrated students and frustrated us.”
Last year’s sales left some students empty-handed after they had waited in long lines in person at the Norris Box Office. Many student organizations have moved their ticket sales online, including sales for the A&O Ball on Friday.
Christine Cory, a McCormick junior, said she was able to get tickets last year after waiting in line with a friend. This year wasn’t quite as successful for her, as she said she tried to buy a ticket at about 11 a.m.
The self-described Oakland Athletics fan said the website didn’t recognized her account as being authorized to buy tickets. They were sold out by 2 p.m., which is when she said she called to attempt to correct the issue.
“It’s cheap tickets to get into a Cubs game,” Corey said. “If someone has an extra they can’t use for some reason, I definitely want to go.”
A member of Delta Zeta, Corey said she had sent out an e-mail to the sorority’s listserv in case anyone had extra tickets.
The ticket allotment for the game is the same as the past couple years, Tristano said. She said the tickets are bought at a group discount from the Cubs, but they only allow sales of a certain amount of group tickets.
A selected group of students will go head-to-head to throw out the game’s first pitch in a contest to be held May 5 at Buffalo Wild Wings, 1741 Maple Ave. in Evanston, said Sophie Meyers, director of campus communities for NCA. The deadline to sign up for the first-pitch contest was last Wednesday, and Meyers said NCA will likely select two finalists per class.
The criteria for the contest will likely be a mix of Cubs trivia and reasons why contestants think they are a good candidate, said Meyers, a Weinberg junior. She said competitors will be judged by support from the audience, which she said is a way to “get a lot of students together.”
Tristano said they also chose a graduate student in the Bienen School of Music to sing the national anthem prior to the May 11 game.
The Cubs will take on the Florida Marlins with the game scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m.
During last year’s NU Day at Wrigley, the Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 6-2 on the back of then-Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley’s two-run home run.[email protected]
