Updates improve basketball ticket system

UT men’s and women’s basketball programs are going to a new ticketing system.

As with football tickets, the new system will utilize the Big Orange Tix Web site with some differences, but basketball tickets will still be free and general admission.

SGA Presdient Laura Nishida said that many students have wanted to see a basketball ticketing system for some time.

“People said they really would like to see it (basketball ticketing) because a reason a lot of students don’t attend basketball games is because long lines intimidate them,” Nishida said. “They see long lines, and they think, ‘I’m not going to get a seat.’”

Despite the lines, Nishida said general admission seating was available for everyone who showed up at the games last year.

Associate Dean of Students J.J. Brown said student reaction to Big Orange Tix during the football season has been positive.

“Initially, the thought was to try and tie it into multiple sports, and certainly basketball is that next transition,” Brown said.

While reserving a ticket before the day of the game will allow students to attend class or work up until the time the game starts, fans will not be assigned a seat through the system and can show up early for better seats.

“With basketball, they will not be incorporating the (loyalty) point system,” Nishida said. “The tickets are going to remain general admission, so those avid basketball fans can still go early and get those great seats.”

The loyalty point system implemented for football tickets allots points to students who regularly attend home games, according to BigOrangeTix.com.

“There’s no lottery,” Nishida said. “It’s first come, first serve.”

Because there are more basketball games per season than football, students will be able to reserve tickets for each period, usually three to five games, during one log-in.

Another revision to Big Orange Tix to accommodate basketball fans is making ticket records available on each student’s VolCard.

“Students are not going to have to print off tickets,” Nishida said. “Because it’s general admission, you just have to come with your student I.D., and we’ll scan the barcode on the VolCard.”

Students will also not be required to claim a ticket after seats have been assigned.

“There’s only a demand period,” Nishida said. “The second you log in and demand ‘I want a ticket,’ it loads it on your VolCard. There’s not a follow-up step to claim your ticket. We didn’t want to punish the student who signed up but couldn’t claim on time.”

Nishida suggested that students who don’t want to miss opportunities to reserve tickets can select the e-mail reminder function on BigOrangeTix.com.

Brown said tickets are now available for the men’s exhibition game against Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday, Nov. 4, the women’s exhibition game against Carson-Newman on Thursday, Nov. 5, and the first games of the season.