Was a lottery based system when I was there (although I didn't have tickets because of how much I worked). It would suck for the games where there's more demand than seats (I think they oversell the student section?). If you didn't get a seat for Kansas because you just drew the short straw when you are there every week, that'd stink. At least now, you get there early enough, you know you're getting a seat.
Tent outside Hilton catches fire....
- Thread starter ISUcyclones11
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Was a lottery based system when I was there (although I didn't have tickets because of how much I worked). It would suck for the games where there's more demand than seats (I think they oversell the student section?). If you didn't get a seat for Kansas because you just drew the short straw when you are there every week, that'd stink. At least now, you get there early enough, you know you're getting a seat.
I think they could certainly find an indoor spot where people could line up (though that might make the line unmanageably longer). I'm sure someone could come up with a better alternative to a little shanty town built in freezing cold weather.
I don't disagree. But, if I'm the university, I am concerned about safety and possible legal action if someone were injured as a result of a policy that essentially encourages building a shanty town outside of Hilton. Need to balance safety with fairness. Sheeman is possible. But that building is used for LOTS of things. Might be difficult to allocate that much space for that period of time.
This aside, Tent City is good for the program. It brings positive PR and adds to the "culture" of being fanatical for ISU MBB. You only see this at good programs, not programs with good teams. If anything the University should get involved to help "expand" this which would also allow them to control some of the safety things.
While I think it is awesome that people camp out to get into ISU basketball games. I do think it is pretty stupid at the same time. Why not just make a rule that a line can't form until the day of the game. Kids don't need to be outside in the elements for week waiting to get into a basketball game.
At ther very minimum I would expect some new policies to be put in place on what you can have when you camp out but I would not be surprised if it's more than that. Any type of item that could be a fire hazard such as heaters and generators are likely going to be banned. The university is really fortunate no one got hurt and the fire was contained and put out quickly because being it happened on university property and they allowed the situation that led to it so there likely would have been some liability issues to deal with if something bad had happened.
I know the students will hate this idea but the most practical thing to do would go to a lottery or merit type of system to claim assigned seating for at least the KU game. Today's students have the luxury of first come first serve for every game but it was not always like this. Not sure which year exactly it went to that but I know at least through 2000 you only got 4 lower level games based off of what number your season ticket claim was and the rest you had to do general admisission upper level seating. In the fall you went to the ticket office on the days that your number range was allowed to and pick out a 4 game package for your lower level seats. If Iowa was playing at ISU that year you had to choose between a package with either KU or Iowa because they were the most popular games and were never in the same package. I don't think going back to that old system is the solution but for at least the KU game having some kind of assigned seating system makes sense. If you really wanted to reward those who showed up to every game then have a merit system based off the ticket scans from previous games, those who attended the most games would get a higher number to pick out assigned seats. Make this an online thing too which would avoid camping out at the ticket ticket office to claim it too. You could say anyone with a number from 1-200 can pick out tickets at 8am then 200-400 at 9am, etc. Back when they did the 4 game packs you had to show up to claim, if you wanted to get tickets in a group then you had to wait to do it when the highest number in your group could go so once again if you have a group that attends every game and you went on a merit system you would still be able to get good seats since you should all have a good number.
Just some thoughts, I think it's probably a forgone conclusion after the tent fire that something will change. No one is questioning the student's spirit and dedication but at some point safety and the university's liability comes into play and find a reasonable way to protect everyone's interests.
I know the students will hate this idea but the most practical thing to do would go to a lottery or merit type of system to claim assigned seating for at least the KU game. Today's students have the luxury of first come first serve for every game but it was not always like this. Not sure which year exactly it went to that but I know at least through 2000 you only got 4 lower level games based off of what number your season ticket claim was and the rest you had to do general admisission upper level seating. In the fall you went to the ticket office on the days that your number range was allowed to and pick out a 4 game package for your lower level seats. If Iowa was playing at ISU that year you had to choose between a package with either KU or Iowa because they were the most popular games and were never in the same package. I don't think going back to that old system is the solution but for at least the KU game having some kind of assigned seating system makes sense. If you really wanted to reward those who showed up to every game then have a merit system based off the ticket scans from previous games, those who attended the most games would get a higher number to pick out assigned seats. Make this an online thing too which would avoid camping out at the ticket ticket office to claim it too. You could say anyone with a number from 1-200 can pick out tickets at 8am then 200-400 at 9am, etc. Back when they did the 4 game packs you had to show up to claim, if you wanted to get tickets in a group then you had to wait to do it when the highest number in your group could go so once again if you have a group that attends every game and you went on a merit system you would still be able to get good seats since you should all have a good number.
Just some thoughts, I think it's probably a forgone conclusion after the tent fire that something will change. No one is questioning the student's spirit and dedication but at some point safety and the university's liability comes into play and find a reasonable way to protect everyone's interests.
People will wait in a line..to get in the line in this scenario. The university isn't going to staff officers to disperse people from waiting in line. I think what will come out of this is assigned seating based on the # of mens and womens games you go to. Obviously seniors who have gone to all mens and womens games will get the best seats. It keeps people from waiting in line in the elements, no rush to get the best seats when the doors open, and encourages people to go to the womens games. Drawback is you probably won't be next to the people who you want to sit with unless you go to the same amount of games. It isn't perfect but I wouldn't be surprised to see ISU switch to this.
Good idea. Or right next door at Scheman. Seems like a reasonable solution even though it will require Scheman to be open 24 hours I'd assume and also likely require a University monitor.
I'm glad to hear no people were hurt.
Or make rules like Krzyzewskiville.
Yes, yes, yes. Hopefully, they pay attention to schools that manage it well . . . and not just make some knee-jerk reaction policies.
If you forbid them to be on campus, they will line up in the street. You aren't going to stop these students.
A few regulations about safety are fine, but I sure hope they don't outlaw it or regulate it out of existence.
Perhaps they should give out numbers to people who get in line. And then randomly go through the line to see who is still there. If the number is missing, then whoever has that number goes to the back of the line and gets a new number (and the first number is removed). When ready to let people in, they simply check numbers as they send them to the ticket checkers. This would also eliminate the 15-20 people who jump in line with their "friends" who waited in line for days.
It could be done with raffle type tickets that have two sets of the same numbers.
That's a heck of a system. I like how the no heaters is almost an afterthought at the end. Although, maybe that shows it's just one of the more obvious rules there. We at least need to do that much here.
Are they still scanning ID's for student tickets? If so, it wouldn't be difficult to track attendance on a student-by-student basis over the course of 4 years, and simply award "place-in-line" numbers from highest to lowest 4-year attendance. So the die-hards that have been going to every ISU game for several years get the best seats. I'd even give students credit for 1.25 games for any game they attend during a holiday - stay in Ames, go to games over break, and get a leg up on all the other students who go home. You could even text/email the place-in-line number to the students the day before the game so they only have to show up a couple hours early to form the line. But this might make it harder for groups to sit together.
