Men's Hockey Season’s Tickets Process to Change This Year

While Lynah Rink is still in the midst of renovation and the men’s hockey team has yet to begin official practices, the Lynah Faithful will have to wait no longer to learn how to obtain season’s tickets.

The Athletics Department has unveiled a new plan for distributing season’s tickets to Cornell students for the 2006-07 season, according to an Aug. 28 press release. The newest version of “The Line” will eliminate the spontaneous rush to start the line at a secret location and gives seniors a statistically greater chance of receiving season’s tickets.

“The main emphasis was to try to make the process safe [and] fair for avid hockey fans to succeed. We wanted people who are really interesting in being at all the games and keeping the Lynah atmosphere what it’s been [to have a chance],” said Alan Katz, associate director of athletics for business and finance. “We wanted to use technology to keep it up to date, and we wanted to keep some of the old traditions.”

Using technology will be the first step for students seeking tickets, as preregistration for a line number will occur online at www.cornellbigred.com [1] from Sept. 18-26. Students will then pick up a line number at the Athletics Ticket Office in Bartels Hall between Sept. 19-27. Each registered Cornell student will be eligible for one line number, and Katz suggested that students wishing to sit together visit the Ticket Office together to receive consecutive line numbers.

On Sept. 30, three drawings will take place at halftime of the home football game against Albany. The three numbers will designate the starting point for the pool of 200 graduate/professional students, 1,250 undergraduate students and the 150 members of the senior class, respectively, who will receive line numbers. Seniors not included in the pool of 150 will be included in the general undergraduate pool for line numbers. Students do not need to attend the football game in order to receive a line number, as the ranges of numbers eligible will be posted on the website that evening. Also, academic class standing will be determined by the Office of the University Registrar.

“We wanted all the students to have a chance to be involved in the process,” Katz said. “There’s no incentive to race to the ticket office at any part of this process. … All students have an equal chance to [get tickets], where I guess in the past there’s been no guarantees that you would even have a chance to get a line number.”

The traditional overnight line will take place Oct. 14-15 — Homecoming Weekend — in the Ramin Room in Bartels Hall, beginning at 10 p.m. on Oct. 14.

All students with selected line numbers will be required to wait in line overnight to select seats and purchase tickets on Oct. 15.

The primary concern during the planning process was addressing student safety, which was an issue last year when students stampeded the door to Lynah Rink to get line numbers.

“I think the greatest advantage is that it is a safer process and a more orderly process,” said ticket manager Gene Nighman. “I had a lot of Lynah Faithful fans come to me last year and say the process was really bad. … There’s always going to be people that frown on it no matter what the process, because the demand is greater than the supply. If someone’s going to be left out, let’s make it a safe process.”

Nighman and Katz worked with Anita Brenner, associate director of athletics, and various student groups on campus in order to formulate this year’s plan. Procedures used at other universities, such as Penn State, were also taken into account. Nighman emphasized that feedback he received last year overwhelmingly recommended the incorporation of technology into the process. The administration also consulted with the Office of Student and Academic Services to ensure that the ticketing process would have minimal interference with the academic commitments of students.

The cost of student tickets increased for the 2006-07 season, reflecting the loss of byline funding from the Student Assembly and the need for the Athletics Department to recoup funds spent on the renovation of Lynah Rink.