Last week my colleague from Opinion, Jesse Berman, wrote this article advocating for a radical overhaul of the student ticketing system for football in which student tickets are no longer free.
While I commend Berman for his desire to fix the major embarrassment that is the weekly migration of students before the final whistle, I feel charging for tickets would only thin out the student section more. The real solution lies in changing the current perception of Virginia football games as a place for students to just socialize.
Berman said it himself: “It is almost an unspoken rule among students that we attend football games more for the social scene rather than the athletics which oftentimes results in a mass exodus of students from Scott Stadium before the final whistles are blown.”
Frankly, this tradition is pathetic and it is an embarrassment. Fans who can’t be bothered to sit through the entirety of a 3.5-hour football game in which their classmates are competing should strongly reconsider how much of a fan they really are.
More importantly, the students who buy into just the social culture of Virginia football would most likely stop coming altogether if faced with paying for a ticket. So perhaps by shifting the common culture around football to be both social and participatory — both a place to hangout with friends but also to watch and analyze the game — students will be more inclined to stay until the end of the fourth quarter.
The shift in culture begins and ends with winning. A successful football team puts butts in seats. Students at the University of Alabama don’t stay at games because they shelled out $10, they stay because the Crimson Tide are a perennial powerhouse and because the culture surrounding collegiate football in the state of Alabama breeds passion. Don’t believe me? Watch ESPN Films’ Roll Tide/War Eagle or tune into the Paul Finebaum Show.
“I don’t believe students would be willing to pay for a team that hasn’t made a bowl since 2011 or hasn’t beaten Virginia Tech in 11 years,” the President of Fill the Hill, Ellen Cook said.
Fill the Hill is a CIO that works to increase student turnout at Virginia football games. During these games, students congregate on an inclined patch of lawn on the side of the stadium called the Hill.
“We need to teach students that going to football games is a must … The student body needs to support these players that give so much to the University,” Cook said.
Cook is correct. Ultimately, fans should not need an incentive to attend football games nor should they stay only because they are penalized for bailing midway through the third quarter.
Berman also missed the mark on his assessment of ticketing at John Paul Jones Arena. As a member of the Class of 2017, Berman does not realize that the lottery system used for men’s basketball did not always ensure a full house at JPJ, as he was not around for the leaner times.
In 2012-13, my first year, the men’s basketball team went a respectable 23-12 (11-7 ACC). The average attendance that season was 9,158. Next year, Virginia opened the season ranked, finished 30-7 (16-2 ACC), reached the Sweet 16 and averaged 10,870 fans. Last year, the 30-4 (16-2) Cavaliers averaged 14,602 fans per game.
No changes were made to student ticketing procedures over those three years, yet the relatively barren stadium in which Virginia lost to Delaware on November 13, 2012 was filled to the brim throughout the 2014-15 season. What changed? The fortunes of the Cavaliers.
Winning fosters the culture that is lacking right now. We would not have this conversation if the ‘Hoos were as successful on the gridiron as they are on the hardwood. But until that day comes — if it ever does — we as students and fans of the program must strive to cultivate a new norm, one where students need to attend football games because of their passion for the sport and for their team.
“I don’t want to have to tell students to go to football games; they should want to,” Cook said. “That is our main goal at Fill the Hill.”
Matt Wurzburger is a Senior Associate Editor for the Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at m.wurzburger@cavalierdaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @wurzburgerm
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