Football Tickets Go Cyber
By Brendan Stiles - The Daily Iowan

August 22, 2006

The Iowa athletics ticket office wants to keep up with everyone else in the world of technology.

The office announced via Aug. 17 e-mails to student season-ticket holders that in order to receive passes for games this fall, students will have to print out their e-tickets off www.hawkeyesports.com.

The athletics department's plan to send out passes in this manner to Iowa students was originally scheduled to begin next year, but because of ticket-printing issues, it was forced to move ahead with these plans.

David Sandstrum, Iowa's director of ticket operations, said he was glad the department had to move ahead of schedule.

"We've improved the technology with the renovation to have bar-coded tickets, and this is a benefit for the students that they don't have to come [to Carver-Hawkeye Arena]," he said. "They place their order and just sit back and wait for the tickets to be e-mailed to them."

Although this is the first time the athletics department has tried the method with student football tickets, it isn't brand-new. Last year, Hawkeye fans who bought single-game tickets for men's basketball had the option of printing e-tickets from home.

"This is just a logical progression for us," said Rick Klatt, an Iowa associate athletics director. "We feel more comfortable with the technology. We had success with the single-game men's basketball tickets, and we believe this group of customers, our students, are most likely to find this way easy.

"If we have success, I can see us slowly but surely implementing this to other customer bases in other sports."

Each student's e-ticket will feature the student's name on it, as well as a unique bar code that the athletics department hopes will decrease the number of people attempting to enter Kinnick Stadium with counterfeits. If a student loses a ticket, the department can be called prior to game day, and the ticket can be voided, making it impossible for anyone else to enter with that particular pass.

Officials said calling the morning of a game would likely be too late to get a new ticket, although they hope to increase fans' convenience.

"Our fans are going to be able to print tickets right at home, and what a tremendous convenience that is, as opposed to running to Iowa City or the mail and wondering about a lost ticket in the mail," said Mark Jennings, an Iowa associate athletics director. "When we're dealing with 70,000 seats, we really worry about sending tickets in the mail, because there's always a chance they're going to get lost."

Another burden removed from the ticket office is staying open to accommodate students' schedules.

"The tickets are delivered to them online, so we don't have to worry about staffing our will-call with a lot of people," Sandstrum said. "Now, the students are guaranteed tickets. They don't have to wait, and we don't have to worry about adjusting our hours to try to accommodate 10,000 students ordering tickets."

Jennings added that in the past, lines seemed to reach "a block long."

Students will receive tickets to all seven games in one e-mail once they're logged in, but the athletics department still plans to send virtual reminders out during the weeks of all seven home games.

Anyone with student guest tickets will receive those electronically, as well, and the athletics department will also have a software set up for patrons to exchange materials, as long as the person they exchange with is also a UI student.

Administrators aren't offering an alternative method for students who aren't technologically friendly, but they aren't worried, because students on campus have some type of Internet access. The office also plans to send students e-tickets for both men's and women's basketball and wrestling this year and, ultimately, it would like to be able to send tickets out electronically to everyone that orders them - not just students.

"The students are probably the most adept group in this electronic era," Sandstrum said. "They register for classes online. The classes have websites. You can do homework online. You can't do anything in the university setting without having an e-mail address and having online access.

"We don't have the same access with the public, right now, but as technology moves forward, we are trending toward electronic delivery for all parties."

Original article published by The Daily Iowan and can be viewed here.