I think it goes without saying that the hockey/basketball ticket distribution system at UW Madison is severely flawed. Students should not have to make arrangements for a 24 hour, “non-camping,” watch over the course of four days to ensure a seat in the first two tiers.

I propose an entirely internet-based seating system so that students don’t have to sacrifice their attendance to obtain decent seats.

Students will receive an email just as they do with the current system, and make a purchase to guarantee that they will receive tickets. When they make this purchase, they will receive a unique identifier and password that will allow them to access the private seating management page. From there, ticket-holders can create a group that could contain up to three other ticket holders by designating one member as the group leader who will input other unique identifiers to add friends to the group.

Once the date for group-setting has passed, some sort of algorithm that takes into account previous ticket ownership (either of just that sport, or altogether), grade level, size of group, and how quickly each member paid his or her ticket fee will rank each group into pools of priority.

This system is designed to reward loyal fans and seniors with good seats while still considering prompt payment as well. The highest ranked pool will be able to choose from the middle section, the second pool from the two adjacent sections, and so on. The stipulation is that each individual group is ranked inside of the pool and they must select their tickets in a five minute time frame or be moved to the back of the next ranked pool. After this shift, each member will be sent a warning email. If they fail to select seats again, they will be removed from the system entirely.

This process will take roughly three to four days, provided the system schedules ticket selection times every five minutes from 7:00 AM - 12:00AM. I estimate an average of three people per group, so with 2,100 student tickets available, the math works out to ~3.5 days, and forgetful/apathetic groups will end up wasting more time.

I understand that there is some fun to be had in waiting outside without a blanket, tent, pillow, or any sort of camping gear, but then again, I value my time. If anyone has any feedback I would greatly appreciate it. I submitted an idea similar to this in my feedback form back during the Fall semester, but I thought I’d go public. Shout at me.

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