The Monmouth University basketball team has upped its game recently, which is great new for Hawks fans and members of the university community. But accompanying the recent success has been an increased interest in game attendance, leading Monmouth to rethink its athletic ticketing policy.
Per a report from The Asbury Park Press, Monmouth has been averaging 3,450 fans over its latest string of home games and has seen the emergence of a secondary market for game tickets online. It’s an unfamiliar flood of interest from general fans, but in particular from students, as the student section is now regularly reaching capacity. To better manage the influx of fans, Monmouth officials are streamlining ticketing processes with the introduction of game vouchers.
A student-ticket distribution policy has now been implemented that sees current students pick up a voucher from the campus box office up to seven days prior to a game, rather than the previous method of simply presenting a student ID for entry. Monmouth has also introduced a deadline to claim the vouchers of 5 p.m. on the day prior to games, with a maximum of 1,000 vouchers available to students.
Monmouth’s director of marketing and development presented the plan to the university’s student government association last month and received positive feedback before pressing forward with the initiative.
The reason for the new ticketing policy is simple, there were more students wanting to go to basketball games than the university had seats for. Monmouth doesn’t charge its students to attend the games and has no plans to start. Prior to the team’s recent successes, admission via the student ID had sufficed and there were seats to spare, but reaching capacity — however good a problem it may be — is becoming an issue.
The university is monitoring ticket sales for future games and making attendance decisions accordingly. The university insists that it wants as many students as possible to attend the games, but in the event that not all 1,000 student vouchers are claimed for a given game, Monmouth will sell the remaining seats to the general public.
Monmouth has recorded three sellout crowds so far this season. According to StubHub, Monmouth’s five remaining home games all have tickets available for the general public, the most expensive of which are set at $245 for a single seat.
