With all of the publicity that the Advocare Texas Kickoff Classic between the UH Cougars and the University of Oklahoma Sooners is receiving, it’s certain that tickets will be sold out fast.
Even though the Cougars are still in the American Athletic Conference, UH has already begun moving toward Big 12 policies. An example would be the one where only 5,000 tickets are available to students.
Consequently, at Cage Rage, you must physically stand in a line and be present to receive a voucher that will let you purchase a ticket for $20 in the coming week. This is mind-boggling, frustrating and unnecessary when you consider that 85 percent of students are commuters.
This whole ordeal sounds like the plot of “Jingle All the Way,” but without Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad to entertain us.
One would think that the UH Athletics would be able to use the almost $4.5 million it gets from student fees to cover the cost of the tickets.
Since when was it supposed to cost money for students get a ticket to their own football game? A portion of my student fees already goes into funding the athletic department. It should, basically, get me the tickets.
On top of this, the athletics department already asked the Student Fees Advisory Committee for a $45 increase in student in order to construct TDECU Stadium. Now that the stadium is here, where is my money going toward now? Not my ticket for the Advocare Texas Kickoff Classic, that is for sure.
In the previous fiscal year, SFAC chose not to subsidize the athletic department anymore. The committee’s reason for the denial of funds was due to the increase of student fees despite the promise that the athletics department would not do so in their funding from student fees.
The funds that were denied this fiscal year were to be used for transportation and publicity at the Cougars’ 2016 opener. I would reckon that if students are willing to wait in line for a voucher and redeem it for a ticket, they will most likely take the initiative and figure out some ways to get to the game on their own.
Things are going well for the Cougars so far. With the way that the football team is looking, hopefully UH Athletics will gradually be able to shy away from funding and revenue that it does not generate by itself.
If the Cougars can manage to replicate the energy and victories they had last year, ticket sales will no doubt increase as the season goes on. And when the price of one ticket becomes more expensive, the athletic department has a lot to gain.
More attendance means more people buying food, beer and fan merchandise at each game. All of those things go right back to UH Athletics and send them down the road to becoming self-sufficient.
Assistant opinion editor Thomas Dwyer is a broadcast journalism sophomore and can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com
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“Voucher system for football opener fails students” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar