Alumni ticket overhaul

Kenny Greer/The Lantern

The Ohio State Alumni Association has made substantial changes to its football ticket application process for the 2008 season and beyond.

A random lottery will be held for paying members of the association to determine who will be selected to receive tickets and for which games. Included in this random lottery are tickets for the OSU-Michigan game.

"Last year we had 10,000 association members denied tickets and another 10,000 moved from a conference game to a non-conference one," said Jay Hansen, director of communications for the association. "With our allotment dropping again this year we decided that is was time to pursue a system that was equitable for all dues-paying members."

The Athletics Ticket Office worked in conjunction with the association on these changes. The Athletics Ticket Office will no longer use an alphabetic system to predetermine which games members can apply for. Also, no priority will be given to any members of the association regardless of donor history or seniority. Previously, association members who had applied for tickets in consecutive years were given priority.

"Recent grads and new members of the association will probably be most impacted," Hansen said. "If the system would have been left the same, those members would have virtually no chance of getting tickets."

While recent graduates benefit from elimination of preferential treatment, they must be active, due-paying members of the association to be eligible for the lottery. Recent graduates with a complimentary year of membership are not eligible unless they convert their free year to a paid membership.

Another change is the elimination of "house holding." Previously, if two association members lived in one household, they would receive only one application. Now, these households will receive two, one for each member. However, joint members - those sharing one membership - will receive only one application.

The association is encouraging all its members to apply for the lottery online at ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Starting in 2009, paper applications will not be accepted.

Furthermore, those who apply online will be notified via e-mail immediately after their lottery results has been determined. Members will not be notified by mail until July.

Go to ohiostatealumni.org/newscenter/football08.php for more info on the Alumni Association's new ticket policies.

Scott Polacek can be reached at polacek.3@osu.edu.