Card, mobile credential, payment and security
A single home football game at Ole Miss can see hundreds of students transferring their tickets. It's a common practice for which the university has provided a secure transfer system. Not all ticket transfers are allowed, however, and for good reason.
According to a report from The Daily Mississippian, some students are skirting the official transfer method and are instead loaning their campus cards to others for stadium access. Ole Miss Athletics has delivered student tickets to student IDs since 2010, but the ability to transfer tickets between valid student IDs is a new feature this year. A new online website enables students to transfer their ticket to another valid student ID, though each ID can only hold one valid ticket per game.
University police have been cracking down on ID ticket sharing, and any Ole Miss students that opt to loan their campus card to another person for stadium entry do so at the risk of card confiscation. Moreover, the ticket buyer, or loanee, will be refused entrance.
The university's ticket operations reports that 8,000 student section season tickets were made available this year, and at Ole Miss' recent game against Arkansas on November 7, police reportedly confiscating some 35 student IDs at the gate.
Recent success of the football team, combined with a general increased demand for tickets, has led to the spike in student ID sharing. Ticket operations at the university report that student tickets for football are sold at a discounted price of $120, as compared to the $385 public price for a season ticket.
“Having student tickets delivered to your student ID is designed to simplify the ticketing process for the student, as you are required to have your university ID on your person at all times when on campus,” says Matt Cook, manager of ticket operations at Ole Miss. “We only allow students to transfer tickets to other students to maintain the integrity of the student section.”
University Police have been confiscating IDs at the gates, and one dead giveaway has been the photo on the ID very obviously not matching the cardholder at the gate. Ole Miss, like many universities, also has a policy prohibiting students from sharing their IDs -- a policy that carries disciplinary action if caught.
University police stress that the safety and security implications associated with the sharing of IDs is the most worrisome aspect of the recent trend, as the credentials also enable access to student flex dollars, residence halls and other areas on campus.
