Ticket Line Procedures

[Will]

Aren't there a little over 300 seats in each section (except for the corner sections F and K)?  So assuming each line number grabs two seats, #150 would still get into B, albeit as Avash stated, probably in worse parts of B.

I checked the line at about 8:30-8:40 and there seemed to be 30+ people there, most likely even more by now.  I have no idea if they are on the unofficial list or not, though.

[DeltaOne81]

there are at least a couple hundred people there now... when I called to complain, athletics said there was little they could do, but the cops have been trying... grrr, I'm pissed

[DeltaOne81]

Yeah, so, there were probably 2000 people there by 4:45, the line stretched around the entire field behind the fieldhouse. They ran out of line numbers by the time they got to the second corner (the corner near Plant Sciences).

After 4 years of season tickets, I'm trying to redirect my bloody murderous range to something constructive... I am offering to buy spares off of absolutely anybody, up to two per game... you know, you people w/ tickets that aren't actually in town, etc.

-Fred

[ugarte]

So, I guess the official madness has now started and anyone in a position to report here would need WiFi to do so.  I'll just have to be patient . . .

But I have to admit - I really want to hear how this turned out. [Prediction: Badly.]

[Edit: Crazy. Fred put up his report as I was typing my prediction.]



Post Edited (09-12-03 17:47)

[Luke]

Cornell just committed a grave travesty.  I was there an hour before the line was supposed to form and i still didnt get a number.  The response i got was that they let the line form and turned a blind eye to it.  So Cornell just let people not follow the rules f@ck people who listened to the rules and tried to obey everything so that it would run smoothly.  Yet another huge mistake by this awful pathetic state school.  Congratulations cornell, you blew this one worse than a murphy call.

[angry \"A\"]

A stellar job by Cornell athletics this afternoon.  Upon arriving at 4:25 (thinking I shouldn't get there too early so my ID would not be taken away) I discovered about one thousand bright eyed students, mostly freshmen, already wrapping around the fence to the soccer fields.  I guess having season tickets for the last three years, attending all the playoff games, and even cheering on the team in Estero means I wasn't as dedicated a fan as those students who went before 4:45.  

The explanation from the poor guy who had to tell us all to go home was, "that's it, go home, this wasn't an official line anyway."  When I asked about what would happen to the line numbers of students who were holding more than two, he said they weren't sure...some rumors were spreading about a similar line next weekend for any of the 800 line numbers that were confiscated and/or used to purchase only one ticket.

I guess I'll just sit in my room this season listening to radio broadcasts of a game taking place less than a mile away.  I really can't think of a better way to spend my final year at Cornell.

[DeltaOne81]

Amen

[jtwcornell91]

DeltaOne81 '03 wrote:
Yeah, so, there were probably 2000 people there by 4:45, the line stretched around the entire field behind the fieldhouse. They ran out of line numbers by the time they got to the second corner (the corner near Plant Sciences).

Holy crap.  I suspect that by having 4:45 be the earliest time you could get line numbers, they planted in people's mind that the sale in some sense started at 4:45 Friday rather than whenever they actually sell the tickets.  I wonder what the attrition rate for this line will be; some sizeable fraction may actually drop out over the weekend.  (Were all 2000 willing to camp out all that time, or were they not looking past Friday?  Also, you could probably get people to drop out of the line by letting them know Lenny had turned pro.)  Of course, if they have no more line numbers, they can't keep track of the post-line waiting list.

I was going to say the only thing that made sense, if they insisted on "dispersing" lines that formed before 4:45, was to assign everyone there at that time random numbers at the start of the line.  Not having a plan meant assuming a negligible number of people would be there then, which anyone with any sense knew would not be the case.  However, I don't think anyone expected that more people would be there this afternoon than could buy tickets in the end.  In that case, randomizing doesn't work, or it basically becomes a lottery with the added element of having to camp out after the lottery to earn your tickets.

Under these circumstances, it seems like the only solution is to let people line up as early as they want.  RPI students used to camp out for a week back in the old days.  I don't think fiascos like the 1992 stampede are an argument against self-policed lines.  As I recall, part of what led to that was that the University deliberately kept the location of the distribution a secret until the last minute.  It seems like letting people line up over the course of time is a lot less of an invitation to chaos than trying to surprise them or making them wait until the last minute to line up, or telling them you they can't line up and then not enforcing it.

I do sort of wish Cornell had a "live view of the ticket line" on their website.

[ugarte]

John T. Whelan '91 wrote:
As I recall, part of what led to that was that the University deliberately kept the location of the distribution a secret until the last minute.  It seems like letting people line up over the course of time is a lot less of an invitation to chaos than trying to surprise them or making them wait until the last minute to line up, or telling them you they can't line up and then not enforcing it.

That is what I recall also, John.  I was a grad student during Fall '92, so I didn't bother getting on line early. (I was told I would be the eqivalent of a freshman, not a senior.)  IIRC '91 was also a stampede/fiasco, but I was in DC for the fall semester and didn't wait then either.

I also think you have the conclusion exactly right.  In an effort to avoid having people camp out they are finding a new way to get it wrong every year.  While I respect their creativity (could you think of a new superficially-satisfactory-but-ultimately-disastrous way to line up every year?), I am disappointed that they won't do the easiest and most fair thing.

The way you avoid a weeks-long line is to announce the location of number distribution 2 or 3 days before the number distribution itself.  Announce it by having the location posted in Teagle at 6AM or so but DO NOT GIVE THE INFORMATION TO THE DAILY SUN (the staffers always leaked the info, so there would be a line before the papers got delivered).  And keep the location tightly under wraps until the announcement.  Shouldn't be too hard to do. You have two days to set up a table where you are claim the line will be, and all you need is a table to give out the numbers - ticket sales will be done, as always, at Lynah and can be done at a later date.



Post Edited (09-12-03 18:57)

[DeltaOne81]

Personally I think they need to figure out why the hell 3x as many people lined up this year. Yeah, the team was really good, but there's gotta be more to it.

One idea... the line was two weeks earlier this year... school work hasn't really picked up, no prelims... if they did it at the end of September like they usually do, you'd get worse weather and more stressed students. I bet it'd decrease numbers by a factor of 2.

[Cornell Fan]

Exactly.  The people who followed the published rules were essentially punished (for getting there "too late"), while those who flaunted those rules by arriving hours/days in advance were rewarded with a line number.

I didn't understand why they only handed out 800 line numbers.  Now if people don't buy their two tickets or drop/get kicked out of line, there will be a surplus of tickets and no clear/fair way of distributing them among the 2000+ other people who were there at 4:45 waiting (other than holding another ticket line at a future date, god forbid).

I said it before and I'll say it again, IF they are going to establish an "official" start time before which nobody is supposed to line up, the only fair way to distribute line numbers to those who are there at the official start time is by random number assignment.  People showing up after the start time would just form a line starting with the next number above the highest number of the pre-4:45 batch.  And make sure you give numbers to everyone who is there, just warn the people with numbers above 800 (or some other reasonable number) that there is a strong possibility that they will not receive tickets unless a significant number of people drop out.

[Asinine Cornell]

Great job Cornell... Gene, I'll accept your letter of resignation anytime.

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]And make sure you give numbers to everyone who is there, just warn the people with numbers above 800 (or some other reasonable number) that there is a strong possibility that they will not receive tickets unless a significant number of people drop out.[/Q]
Nah, that's no good. You don't want people standing there for a day before finding out they can't get tickets. The only saving grace of today was that I didn't wait more than an hour before officially finding out there was no hope. If people drop out they should do a lotto or simply a single day line...
"Oh, btw, we have 200 extra sets of tickets, on sale tomorrow at 8 am at the ticket office" - preferably where 'tomorrow' is a Saturday.

[Cornell Fan]

Oh yeah, another thing, if you are one of the people who got screwed over big time this year by the procedure, or just don't like what happened, give Gene Nighman and Athletics an earful via phone or email.  I know I will be.

Nighman was quoted in the Sun on 9/10 as saying "... I have a directive from the upper administration not to schedule anything during classes. The official line can't start until 4:45 p.m. on Friday" (emphasis mine).  Oh really?  Then how come there was a 1000+ person line formed at least one hour before 4:45?  How come the "official line" developed directly out of this supposedly illegitimate line?

Another issue was cutting in this unofficial line.  Nighman is also quoted as saying "I'm going to have totally strict security behind Bartels. No one is coming in and out. There's not going to be any cutting in line this year."  That's laughable, considering I saw at most two security officers, who were just standing near the front of the line.  As far as I could see, the entire long side of the fields fence along Tower Road was not policed at all.  During the two and a half hours I waited in line before being told they were out of line numbers, I saw a steady trickle of cutters moving forward from the back of the line, apparently realizing it was the only way they'd get a half-decent number (if any number at all).  If the organizers are going to be understaffed and not enforce their own published rules, they should at least come right out and say it so people aren't so surprised when reality hits.

[Jordan]

Disgraceful, from what I'm reading.

Simply disgraceful.