ticket line forum Oct. 8

The Cornell Student Assembly, which has now gained the authority from the Athletic Ticket Office to basicly lay down the rules of the line/ticket distribution procedure for next year is having an open forum for all hockey fans:

this Wednesday
October 8th, 2003
the Straight's Memorial Room
4:30pm

bring your ideas to make this a better system!

cant make it?
please send ideas, comments and concerns to Jay Jendrewski '05 (JBJ7)

Interesting...it's worth investigating. I'll try to be there if I can.

I would've expected to have seen more responses to this thread by now, what with the 200+ posts on the hockey line thread a month ago or so. Everyone who waxed analytic on that thread, they could REALLY use your input at this forum, or else we can just expect the same deal next year.

Jay Jandrewski told me that the Athletic Department gave them free reign to come up with the rules for next year. Whether that's 100% true or not is anyone's guess, but let's put it this way: voicing your opinion in tomorrow's forum gives you a MUCH better chance of being heard by the AD than by making posts on eLynah. So, I hope that a ton of the people who regularly post here can make it tomorrow.



Just in the slight chance that it gives any additional info, I'll post Jay's latest e-mail:

Help determine the format for next year's Hockey ticket sales!

Come voice your opinions at the Forum on Hockey Line and Ticket Reform.

Who?
Open to all students
Sponsored by the Student Assembly Committee on Athletics

What?
Forum on Hockey Line and Ticket Reform

When?
Wednesday, October 8th, 4:30 p.m.

Where?
Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall

Why?
Because students deserve a voice

If you cannot attend, but would like to express your thoughts...
Contact Jason Jendrewski (jbj7)
Chair, SA Committee on Athletics

I just wrote up a thorough letter to Jason that I hope gets some attention. I'd also like to hear your opinions on my thoughts.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Jason:

I'm glad to hear that the line procedure is being revised. I've been involved with every hockey line since it's recreation, and, despite traveling to Buffalo, Albany, and the North Country last year... and Lake Placid and Worcester the year before, this year's procedure ruled me as 'not passionate' enough to receive tickets (by virtue of attempting to follow the 4:45 rule).

I cannot attend the meeting this Wednesay, so I've decided to compose an email. I'm sorry it's so long, but I can virtually guarantee you its worth reading. I've thought of this a lot and I'm convinced that the current line system is fundamentally good - more passionate fans SHOULD get better tickets - but there are two major flaws in it that NEED to be corrected. Luckily, they easily can be corrected with a little bit of guts from your committee and Athletics.

1) Cutting:
We have to admit that cutting is a major issue and totally unacceptable. Unfortunately it appears numerous Cornell students aren't mature enough to accept their spot, or rationalize their behavior with bad logic. A couple examples from this year... ONE person held a spot in the unofficial line for THIRTY of his frat brothers, according to numerous 'eye witnesses'. Also, a friend of mine got there Friday morning/early afternoon, and counted the people when they arrived. They said they were about number 250 or so. By the time the line numbers were handed out 4-5 hrs later, they had received line numbers in the upper 400s. It it totally ridiculous for them to have experiened a virtually 100% cutting ratio.

Okay, so we've established the problem, right? Luckily, there's an easy solution. And I'm not just going to say 'more monitoring of the line'. That would help, but certainly not prevent all cutting, as well as being massively expensive for athletics. Plus, athletics has repeated said that they would have significant staff to prevent cutting, and they complete fail to live up to this promise. To put it frankly, I don't trust them.

The solution, instead, is incredibly simple. Give people line numbers as soon as they arrive, 24 hours a day - or, at least 16 hours a day (maybe not 12 am to 8 am, if anyone shows up in that time). It doesn't matter then if you hold a spot for friends, if they show up later than you, then they get a later line number. No cutting possible, period.

In connection with this, the policy should start line checks as soon as people arrive. As a side note, perhaps, before 5 pm on Friday, you should be allowed to hold numbers for up to 3 or 4 other friends, reducing any class conflict possibilities.

2) Such early arrivals:
The line system worked fine a couple years ago, when a few dozen of the hardcore fans camped out one night and everyone else showed up the next day. This year 1500 - 2000 people were willing to camp out, straining resources and causing the problems that we saw. Now, I don't think it's Athletic's business to tell students what they can and can't do. But I'd like to give 3 sub-reasons for the increase (beyond the success of the team), which can help prevent the huge overflow and hopefully make things more manageable.

a) mentioning an early time - While I'm sure it wasn't the intention of athletics, I firmly believe that simply by mentioning "Friday at 4:45", the department made that the 'goal' of all fans to meet or exceed. They department has to watch the unintentional message it sends. The release of details should only say "the line will be dispursed Saturday at 11 pm, and anyone with valid line numbers will return to pick up their tickets on Sunday starting at 9 am." NO OTHER TIME SHOULD BE MENTIONED. This will significantly decrease expectations.

b) Time of the year - This is an option consideration, but I firmly believe that the timing of this year's line (which was two weeks earlier than usual), heavily contributed to the problem. Warmer weather, and significantly less school work lead to a much bigger turnout. If the line had had it's usual timing, prelims would be coming up soon, students would be more stressed, and only the true fans would feel it was worth it to do their work early and make it to the line. Putting the line at a low-pressure time of year was extemely counter-productive.

c and Lastly) 'Publicity' - Rumor has it that new President Lehman made an announcement at some freshman orientation that students should be involved in the hockey line. While we all love the idea of new members of the Lynah Faithful, the process should happen slowly, as students discover the amazing environment that is Lynah Rink. It should not be made 'the thing to do' from people who may never have seen a hockey game in their life. Numerous reports that people on the line were planning on scalping their tickets are evidence of the information 'getting into the wrong hands' - so to speak. Likewise, Athletics shouldn't advertise the process in the Sun. They should merely put an article on cornellbigred.com and a flyer at the ticket office. If it's possible, perhaps the Sun's cooperation could be recevied to not write any articles about it in advance.

One final note, implicit in this email is the assumption that the line be allowed to form during classes. I know the AD has been hesistant about this, but, frankly, it is a double standard. Concert tickets go on sale at 9 am on weekdays, and students certainly miss 9, 10, or 11 am classes to wait on line for popular concerts. It's not fair to hold athletics to a higher standard than everyone else, espcially when it has caused such huge problems.

Thank you for taking the time and the interest in this procedure. I would be very interested in hearing any response you or the other members of your committee may have. I would be very willing to discuss ideas with you further if you have any interest and would be willing to help out however I can. I truly believe that the procedure I laid out above would prevent cheating in the process while making it manageable for athletics staff. While I likely will not be a student at Cornell next year, I would love to see the Lynah Faithful be treated with a process that lives up to the great history of the program.

Sincerely,

Fred Trinkoff
fct2@cornell.edu
Cornell M.Eng
B.S. '03

DeltaOne81 '03-
You seem to have fashioned one of the more reasonable arguments that will probably be put forth at said forum, and I wish you the best of luck with it. Without trying to start a debate as to how to measure the passion of a fan that might deem him or her worthy of tickets, I would suggest rethinking part of one line in your letter. In section 2(c) you mention how the President seems to have aided in making this year's process "the thing to do from people who may never have seen a hockey game in their life." One might want to reconsider the last clause directed at "hockey virgins." Administrations in general don't look highly upon elitism, and the standard that could be construed from that sentence might be interpreted as elitist. In what I assume to be an effort of hyperbole on your part, you may end up dissuading readers from considering the rest of your logical argument by alluding to a standard of your own judgement of other fans that entails a less-than-controlled test (number of hockey games viewed by a freshman).

Or maybe I'm the only one who reads into things so much.... Please feel free to ignore everything I just typed



Post Edited (10-07-03 19:36)

Jacob,

If I hadn't sent the letters hours ago, I'd change it . My intention was not to imply that people who had never seen a hockey game have no right in Lynah. As I tried to say, they are certainly welcome. My intention is to point out that people who have never seen a hockey game are not likely to seek out a 48 hour wait for a team they'd never heard of before... unless they're particularly proded to do so... by thing such as a orientation speech that makes it sound like 'the thing to do'.

I cannot make the forum, so that is why I wrote this letter. I hope to hear a response to it from the committee and I'd love to talk to have a chance to discuss with them. We'll see if I get that chance.

-Fred

Did anything worthwhile happen at this forum last nite? Did it even happen?

Dan '01 wrote:

Did anything worthwhile happen at this forum last nite? Did it even happen?

I believe it happened (or they tried to have it happen), since I got chewed out by Ben Rocky '04 for not being able to make it.