The Student Association and Otto’s Army are continuing to work on a proposal for a $100 student athletic fee, which would replace the way students currently purchase season tickets for football and men’s basketball.

The groups are working in tandem to increase student attendance at sporting events and revamp and expand the student section at football and men’s basketball games. Additionally, they are hoping to make the men’s basketball student section easier to access for students with disabilities.

Currently, students must pay $219 to the Carrier Dome Box Office for a combination of football and men’s basketball season tickets. The proposed $100 athletic fee would be automatic for students, but they would have the option to opt out.

The two organizations are also looking to create a point system to incentivize student attendance at other sports. Students would amass points for going to games and could trade points for different prizes, said Otto’s Army President Natalie Wiesnet.

 

SA President Aysha Seedat said there are three SA assembly representatives and two Otto’s Army members who will be doing research and drafting joint proposals for each idea.

Former SA President Boris Gresely originally proposed the student athletic fee in February. But that proposal was pulled while SU searched for a new director of athletics after Daryl Gross resigned in March. SU hired Mark Coyle to take Gross’ place in June, and Seedat has since taken steps toward again proposing the fee.

Wiesnet said SU is one of the only schools that competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference that requires students to buy tickets separately.

“We’re trying to emulate other schools and get us up to the level of the big powerhouse ACC and SEC schools,” Wiesnet said. “It’s kind of a no-brainer at this point.”

At some schools with student athletic fees, the fee is hidden and not listed along with other fees, according to the Washington Post. Thus, students don’t always realize they are paying the fee.

But if a student athletic fee were to be implemented at SU, Seedat said she would want it to be a straightforward expense. Students would have the choice to opt out of the fee and get a refund, she said.

“I’m just envisioning (opting out of the student athletic fee) as a tick in a box,” Seedat said. “I personally would hate to see so many students paying for it but don’t realize they’re paying for it and then they’re not going to the games.”

Since the fee would be automatic and cheaper than it currently is to buy tickets, Seedat expects it would increase student attendance. She said when she met with Chancellor Kent Syverud last month, he said Coyle was especially concerned with the attendance at football games.

 

“(The fee) is going to bring students to those games, so it solves that problem and it’s something students would definitely benefit from,” she said.

And since the athletic fee could, in theory, increase student attendance, Student Life Chair Keelan Erhard said SA is also looking to increase the student section’s capacity at football and men’s basketball games, which would involve potentially moving it to another part of the Carrier Dome.

SA and Otto’s Army are also hoping to make the student section at men’s basketball games more accessible for students in wheelchairs. At football games, there is a platform near the student section for people in wheelchairs, but there is not one at men’s basketball games, Wiesnet said.

Wiesnet added that there are not enough entrances at the Carrier Dome for those in wheelchairs. SA Vice President Jane Hong will be meeting with a representative at the Office of Disability Services soon to discuss those issues and create a proposal to solve them, which she and Wiesnet will then discuss with Pete Sala, SU’s chief facilities officer.

Additionally, Otto’s Army and SA are working on a proposal for a “spirit program.” Students would get points for attending home games of less-attended sports — such as field hockey or women’s soccer — which they could then turn in for different prizes.

Wiesnet said the Otto’s Army Executive Board is working with the SU Athletics marketing department to develop a mobile application, which students would use to check into sporting events and track their points. The app is currently being built and Wiesnet said they are hoping to introduce it within the next year.

“We’ve been trying to get attendance up at the smaller, Olympic sports,” Wiesnet said. “But it’s hard to get kids to go if you don’t give them some sort of incentive to go.”

Published on October 11, 2015 at 10:38 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu