PRINTHey buddy, you're in my seat
Student seating at Memorial Stadium has changed to general admission, for better and for worse
Chris Dunn
Fans wait outside Gate 3E at Memorial Stadium before the Nebraska game. Lines have increased because students must now present student IDs at the gates.
October 22, 2009 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Students arrive hours early and push their ways through crowded parking lots. They wait at the black steel gates of Memorial Stadium for 10 ... 20 minutes, but the line hasn’t budged. Fans chug the last ounces of their beers and chant M-I-Z … Z-O-U. Students finally inch forward to the attendants, but another 10 minutes pass before they receive wristbands. Elbowing their ways inside, they struggle to find seats amidst the mayhem all because of the changes to student seating.
Who’s responsible?
Because of increased demand for student tickets during the 2008 football season, some students had to sit on the rock M instead of in the stands. Students complained, so the athletics department and a student advisory group for Intercollegiate Athletics teamed up in February to fix the problem, says Jim Kelley, former Missouri Students Association president.
Kelley says the student advisory group compared policies of other Division I schools such as the University of Florida, Lousiana State University and West Virginia University. Chad Moller, director of media relations for Mizzou athletics says they discovered that general student admission was more the norm than the exception. Seemingly, Mizzou was the oddball school.
What are the changes?
The Mizzou athletics department gave the new policies a green light for the 2009 season. The changes for the student season ticket-holders included:
• Students must bring an MU ID and ticket to the game.
• Students receive wristbands at stadium gates for entrance.
• Groups and Tiger’s Lair enter at Gate 5E.
• Student general admission enters through gates 3E and 4E.
• Group seats are only held until 15 minutes prior to kickoff before being forfeited to general admission ticket holders.
- Score! Who won it, 2002 to 2008
- Game Day Guide
- The visor
- The tailgating zoo
- The Price of Playing
- Know your enemy
- Letting 'em out of their cages and corrals
- Stat Showdown
- Game Day Whereabouts
- Remember the Tigers
- Studying the stereotype
- Censorship Uncensored
- And the winner is...
- Endzone ensembles
- I'm with the band
- Supporting Cast
- Prep and pride off the field
- An Obituary for the beloved Reactor
- The Lost, the Found and the Confiscated
- Columbia's Hangover
- Play by play
- Mo' Money
- Makin' Bank
- Tiger Watch Party
- Uniformology
What went wrong?
Tim Noce, MSA director of student communication, says the group seating needs to be adjusted. “Group seating ticket holders have ... left really big holes in the seats by not showing up,” he says. Empty spots look bad on TV.
After the Bowling Green game, Moller says the athletics department received some negative feedback. “Some things pop up no matter how well you plan for them,” he says. Students began spilling over into alumni sections, so for the second game against Furman, 40 more ushers were hired to direct the traffic both outside and inside the stadium, Moller says.
Despite these efforts to streamline the system, not everyone is a fan. Sophomore Megan Sanders doesn’t think there’s much improvement from the previous assigned seating system. “It used to be a hassle going with friends to get tickets,” she says. “Now the hassle is getting to the stadium early enough to get a good spot.”
Lora Krizanich, whose daughter is
co-captain of the color guard, says she and her husband missed the pre-game band show during the Furman game. “We thought it was ridiculous that students had to receive wristbands,” Krizanich says.
What’s gone right?
Stadium usher Leon Stevenson III says that though students had previously succeeded in passing back tickets to sneak people into their sections, the new system has cut down on that significantly. “Ushers have been good at saying, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t sit there,’” Stevenson says.
Sophomore Tom Capp says he enjoys the flexibility that the changes allow because he still has time to tailgate and doesn’t have to worry about taking someone’s seat. “We got here 45 minutes early, and we were in the front row,” he says.
And the biggest advantage of the changes, according to Moller? “The people who want to sit in the best seats are typically the most boisterous fans.”
What will improve with time?
Noce has faith that the kinks will be worked out by the end of the season. He notes the added benefit of the new system in curbing reckless tailgating; now the people who want the best seats can get them — if they’re ready to cut the pre-gaming short to wait in line. “If you are the No. 1 fan, essentially, you will get the No. 1 seat,” he says.
Kelley says any new system is bound to have some setbacks, but the sole concern is the students. “When it’s done right and run right, it’s a beneficial system.”
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