One last line for West Virginia tickets

The last 400 student tickets -- lower-level ones, it turns out -- are to be distributed at the Sun Dome at 5 p.m. today, but the line was already about 120 fans deep at noon, when USF officials had said students should start lining up. No companion tickets will be sold, no holding places for friends, nothing but one ticket for each student with ID.

The smart fans have umbrellas and lawn chairs to help them survive the afternoon, laptops and decks of cards to pass time. Some are even digging beach umbrellas into the grass on the Sun Dome's east side. It's one last boost of exposure and excitement for USF, with at least two TV trucks lined up for live reports from the hottest ticket in town.

The cynic in me thinks it's a little cruel to schedule hundreds of kids to line up in direct 90-degree heat for a few hours, especially when they're doing so directly outside a climate-controlled arena with several thousand empty seats, but then again, the tickets are free, after all.

The secondary market for tickets continues to be strong, with pairs of tickets selling on eBay.com in the $160 range this morning, at least double face value. Cheapest on there in the past 24 hours has been $66 for a single student ticket.

Comments

[Cee's Little Brother]

My brother told me that Jim Leavitt is to blame for the 90+ degree heat. Leavitt causes global warming. Now those poor students have to suffer because of it.

[DELdaBULL]

Jim Leavitt has made a deal with the devil. That is why USF will win. Ask Cee and his family.

I do not believe
I have ever seen any
thing as dumb as cee

[Steven Stacy]

that was me, btw

[Tim]

You can bet that there will be no free student tickets next year. Get ready to starting paying for the privilege to watch USF football.

They gave out the tickets early starting at 1:15 due to the heat. They had over 600 students already lined up.

[nickdelray]

I have to admit I crack up 'every' time I read references to Cee.It's better than the movies! Greg,great work always...

[jk]

What's up with those wristbands and why not just distribute tickets based on a lottery system like other schools do? This would eliminate the camping out and waiting in line in the heat.

[g-man]

There's never been a need for a lottery system before this year.

[g-man]

Or for that matter, having to line up for tickets.

[Grouper]

The Sun Dome was hosting the USF Career Fair today from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. That is probably why they couldn't let students wait inside the arena.

[Kyle]

The tickets are not exactly free. Each student pays $25 per semester and $10 per credit hour for the right to attend USF sporting events without an additional charge. Given the typical 3 semester, 30 credit hour year that works out to $375 per year for tickets...and student's cannot choose not to pay for them.

For this reason (if you only counted 20,000 full time students that equals 7.5 mil per year in fees for athletics) there is no way they drop the "free" tickets. USF makes too much money off of the deal.

[Joe]

They could possibly exclude football from the free sporting events and charge (say $10 or $15 per ticket) for football games. Look at all the additional revenue we could be generating to help the program. Florida, Georgia and Auburn all charge students for football tickets (and have no problem selling all of them) so it must be profitable.