your suggestions

[calgARI \'07]

In addition, maybe it is time more seats were added to Lynah.  I've heard there are already tentative plans to renovate Lynah.  More seats would certainly help though.  One ticket per person instead of two would be better too.

[French Rage]

Mike, I agree.  There's something comforting about the Dancing Guy in the same spot all year.

[Keith K \'93]

Not a bad idea John.  I like the fact that it requires continous effort on the part of fans (well, a little bit at least).  You missed one pro for the school.  Unclaimed vouchers can mean additional revenue if they get resold.

Of course, the school wouldn't go for your idea because it would involve distributing tickets every week.  This would become a major headache since each fan would have to choose a section/seat.

The plan doesn't address one of my fan complaints - people arriving late and missing the opening faceoff (let alone warmups).  GA or GA by section would help that situation.

[marty]

Things could be worse.  In Troy there seems to be little need for a line!


Wait gets shorter, by days, in RPI hockey line
Troy -- Sport still popular, but few are willing to spend as long camped out waiting for tickets  
 
By ALAN WECHSLER, Staff writer  (Albany Times Union)
First published: Sunday, September 14, 2003
 
The brothers of Tau Epsilon Phi wanted to make sure they could get good season tickets for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute hockey season. So they decided to be first in line.
Fourteen days early.

Years ago, this was a common sight at RPI. Days before tickets went on sale for the Engineers, the line would stretch all the way around the Student Union.

Today, while hockey is still a popular sport on campus, waiting in line is not. Most students simply show up the night before or, even more common, the morning that tickets go on sale for students.

TEP is the exception. Members of the 30-man fraternity take turns sitting in front of the Student Union, maintaining a 24-hour presence since last week. They will continue until 9 a.m. Tuesday, when the college starts selling blocks of discounted tickets for students (the general public can buy them at the Houston Field House box office).

"It's not totally about buying tickets," said Allan Libby, a senior who has spent most of his free time in the past week here. "It's more about keeping the tradition alive and showing school spirit."

Indeed, Libby plans to buy six season tickets for fellow students -- the limit one person can buy -- but none for himself.

"I'm just sitting out here because it's a lot of fun," he said.

Hockey Line is a vestige of a different time, a time when college sports were an integral part of most students' lives. Today, the various media vying for a young person's attention seem endless. With lightning-fast Internet connections, two ESPN channels and the MSG network on cable TV, and enough high-quality video games to conduct a virtual Olympics in a dorm room, there's a lot of competition against live sports. And that doesn't even take into account the part-time jobs, late-night partying and -- when there's time -- studying.

"The numbers have been dwindling over the last 15 years," said Ken Ralph, RPI athletic director. "You can see it with all the sports teams in the region."

Indeed, other schools have been contending with this problem for years. At the University at Albany, where football matches often lack crowds, the school has tried giving out T-shirts and visors, pizza, even lotteries that could win a student a free semester's tuition or first choice at next year's dorm room.

Last year's RPI hockey games drew an average of 3,100 fans, a number that's down slightly from previous years, Ralph said. The Houston Field House has 5,280 seats.

One afternoon this week, Libby and fraternity brother Brandon Lyon stretched out on plastic lawn chairs. Behind them was a rubber couch -- purchased years ago from a mental hospital -- and a stack of foam futons. In front of them was a wood-paneled television and a stack of more than 100 video game cartridges for such antiques as the original Nintendo and the Atari 2600.

Even recent TEP alumni take part. Mark Pesce, who graduated last year, showed up on Thursday afternoon to join the gang.

The line dates to a time before the rink was renovated in 1983. Before that, many rink seats were blocked by support beams, and there was a strong incentive to get there early in order to avoid sitting behind an iron girder.

Even after the beams were removed, the tradition continued, bolstered by RPI's 1985-86 season, when the Engineers won the national championship. That year, one student set a record for waiting in line -- 177 days, according to students and staff -- a feat that started well before final exams and lasted all summer long.



Post Edited (09-16-03 05:44)

[melissa]

thanks guys! there are a lot of great ideas and valid concerns you address here! would anyone be against me including their whole proposed idea? i'm assuming not since you posted it here ... but i don't want to step on any toes ...

if you have anything else please feel free to post. i'll be working on the letter tonite (and probably tomorrow as well due to lack of free time). i will post the final copy when i'm done. if, after reading it, anyone else would like to put their name on the bottom then they'll be welcome to do so (the more people behind it the better!). have a great day all!

melissa

[Adam \'01]

Hey Melissa....I might suggest hitting them where it hurts (in the pocket book).  Maybe point out that pissed off students become alums who don't give a cent back to the old alma mater.  It's important to speak in the language of the Atheletic Department....and that language, from past experience, appears to be Economics.

[ugarte]

Not a good idea, Adam.  The idea is to give them ideas to improve the distribution, not threaten like petulant children.  They can make their own fundraising decisions and I am sure they are aware of the ramifications of a bad undergraduate experience.

[Chris Moberg]

I was a part of the student hockey line 1976-1979.  Cutting was an  issue then, but there was little tolerance of it.  I am not saying that nobody successfully cut in, but nothing like the numbers mentioned in this thread.

Why was this such a problem this year?  Have attitudes to cutting changed that much?

Chris

[Will]

Chris Moberg wrote:

I was a part of the student hockey line 1976-1979.  Cutting was an  issue then, but there was little tolerance of it.  I am not saying that nobody successfully cut in, but nothing like the numbers mentioned in this thread.

Why was this such a problem this year?  Have attitudes to cutting changed that much?

Chris

Blame freshmen and facetimers and certain writers for the Sun.  That's what I'm doing.

[Adam \'01]

big red apple, I've learned to never assume anything.  It's important to spell things out to people; especially in these sorts of letters.  What good are suggestions without tying inaction to ramifications?  A department which is blind enough to promote the same lame and toothless line system every year is not necessarily of the sound judgement to fully understand the (especially longterm) economic impacts of their decisions.

I'm not saying that this has to be done in a childish way at all.  To the contrary, such a charge will add weight to a letter which otherwise might be all too easily ignored by the recipients.

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

Back when I were a lad...

There were separate days for seniors, juniors and sophomores, and freshman.  A certain amount of tickets were allocated for each.  That way, freshman who weren't mature enough to follow the rules, didn't get the best seats (at that time section C).

One other twist was that in most fraternities, the sophs would stay in line on senior day.  The seniors would show up in the morning, and buy a ticket for themselves as well as the underclassman who stayed in line.  This was an accepted practice.

The line itself was pretty amicable (actually it was a pretty neat party) and for the most part policed itself.  There was no mad dash to the ticket office once the windows were opened.  We spent 24 hours in line, so you got to know the people who were around you.  Everybody was aware who was one or two people in front of them and one or two in back.  Cutting just wasn't allowed.  That said, I do remember one group showed up with a baseball bat - just in case.

JH

[nyc94]

Why the Sun?

[Will]

Bill '94 wrote:

Why the Sun?

Link: http://www.cornelldailysun.com/articles/9073/

The authors of this article effectively admit to cutting in line, shamelessly I might add.

[ssd\'05]

suggestion:  sell tickets during fall break.  the most hardcore fans will come back a few days early, or not leave at all over the break.  it usually falls a few weeks before the season starts, so i think it could work.

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

What a couple of assholes!  If that's what the line is like these days, you guys are in serious trouble.

JH