In an effort to minimize ticket scalping, the Ohio State Athletic Department will be enforcing a more rigid policy for faculty and staff purchasing season tickets and attending football games.

Beginning this fall, any faculty or staff member purchasing season tickets at the discounted rate will have to show an OSU photo ID in order to be admitted to the stadium.

Another measure being enforced is a $77 upgrade fee for faculty and staff wishing to convert their tickets to public tickets. Faculty and staff also have the option of upgrading individual games to public tickets during the week of the game, Simonson said.

OSU staff who have worked at the university for over three years as of March 31 are eligible to purchase season tickets for seven home football games, Simonson said. Faculty members are given the opportunity to purchase tickets as soon as they are hired by March 31, Simonson said.

Faculty and staff receive tickets through a point system, Simonson said. The number of points is determined by the number of years of service to OSU, their title and their salary. There were some problems with the point system last year, Simonson said.

“The demand last year was so high that once we ran out of tickets, the lower pointed staff had their money returned to them and didn’t get tickets,” said Richelle Simonson, the associate athletic director.

Faculty and staff members are allowed to purchase up to two season tickets. However, if one of the season tickets is for a guest, the faculty or staff member will have to accompany the guest and show their ID at the gate.

Simonson said the new policy will help those faculty and staff members who actually want to attend the games to purchase tickets, rather than buying and re-selling them.

“The hope is that if there are faculty and staff members that are not attending the games, they will not go through the process of buying them,” Simonson said.

Students first were required to show their photo IDs during the 2004 football season, which is now being implemented for faculty and staff. Simonson said that the Athletic Department thought it would be easier to begin the policy with students because they were already required to have photo IDs for many basic functions around the university, she said.

The Athletic Department is also working on a policy that will allow immediate family members of faculty and staff to receive an affiliate ID for $5, said Deborah Larson, a member of the Ticket, Fees and Access Committee. This new policy would allow family members to be admitted to the stadium without the faculty or staff member present, she said.

Simonson said the success of the policy change will not be seen until a year after it is implemented.

“Like any new policy, it’s going to take about a year to see if we need to change the system,” Simonson said.

“If they’re really not buying them for their own use, then they shouldn’t be buying them,” Simonson said.