TOUGH TICKET$

IU sophomore Matt Barr has some big requests for IU basketball. Very simply, he'd like new facilities, top recruits, a successful, respected coach and a winning team. \nAnything else? Well, he'd like cheaper, closer seats. Maybe a student section, too. Is that too much to ask?\nWhat Barr and other students are finding out is, at least this year, the answer to that question is yes. As IU students gear up to order their 2006-07 basketball tickets -- final ticket requests are due Oct. 6 -- they're forced to deal with raised ticket prices and the loss of 500 student seats.\n"When I opened up my e-mail, I was like, 'Man -- that's an eyebrow raiser,'" Barr said of the higher prices. "At the same time, I understand the reasons they had to raise prices, and if we get (basketball recruits) Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose because of it, I'm cool."\nBecause of the athletic department's tight fiscal situation, season ticket prices have been raised from $11 per game to $15 per game. This year, an entire \nseason's tickets will cost students $210, which includes a $15 service fee. \nAlso, students lost 500 seats in Assembly Hall -- seats now reserved for alumni and donors. \nThe price hike and seat losses come from the athletic department's need to make up the debt caused by the loss of various departed coaches who are still receiving contract payments from the University, including former IU basketball coach Mike Davis. \nIU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan's new athletics budget -- passed Nov. 4, 2005 -- eliminated the department's deficit for the first time in eight years.\nThe budget avoided a mandatory student athletics fee but left the athletics program to figure out funding on its own. \nBecause of this arrangement, non-season ticket holders will not be affected by the new ticket price increase.\nSophomore Brittney Elkins is reconsidering purchasing season tickets, thanks to the new prices.\n"I bought tickets last year, but the prices kind of make me reconsider buying tickets for this year," she said. "I love IU basketball -- it's a huge deal in northern Indiana, where I'm from -- but I might not be able to make my friends from home jealous this year. The prices are pretty high." \nSophomore Brian McGinnis said he felt the University was getting into a habit of treating its students more like customers than University attendees.\n"I pay way too much to go here," McGinnis said. "I mean, with this, drinking tickets, parking tickets, it just sort of feels like this school is a big business. It just wants to make money no matter what."\nSome students seem more forgiving toward the situation. Senior Michael Stern said he hopes that the situation could eventually improve but that he realized the tough situation the athletics department faces.\n"I am OK with them setting the price where supply meets demand," he said. "I understand that the intention is to make money, and I would imagine that giving seats to donors and raising prices will help them do that. At the same time, I hope that the University remembers to develop some sort of solution for its students."\nSome students said they hoped the athletics department would overhaul the current ticketing system entirely. Some mentioned Illinois' system, which rewards students with seats in the "Orange Crush" student section if they assist charity fundraising efforts. Stern proposed an academic lottery system, in which students could be evaluated by their academic performance and awarded seats accordingly.\nIU Student Association Vice President Andrew Lauck said he understood students' concerns and said IUSA was working toward a better long-term ticketing solution for students. \n"Obviously, there's no reason we'd like to see prices go up and seats go down," Lauck said. "At the same time, we have to understand the position the athletics department was in. You can bet they're just as upset about the situation as anyone, too, but when there's no money, there's no money.\n"Our goal is to make sure something like this doesn't happen to students again," he said. \nLauck also said IUSA is currently researching a potential overhaul of the ticketing situation. One possible option, Lauck said, was to use a merit-based system, similar to Wisconsin's. Students would be credited with their attendance at all IU sporting events and then rewarded for that attendance with prime basketball and football tickets. \nEven with the loss of 500 seats, IU students will still have more than 7,000 seats in Assembly Hall, the most in the Big Ten. In comparison, Purdue only sold about 3,500 student season tickets last year. Michigan State sold 3,000.\n"It's important to reassure students that we still have a huge amount of student seating," Lauck said. \nWhile some students hoped IU could form a coherent student section like Michigan State's "Izzone," Student Athletics Board President Ryan Neiter said that current hopes for a student section weren't practical. \n"The way Assembly Hall is set up, it's difficult to see how things could be rearranged without moving alumni," Neiter said. "Those are the people paying the big bucks to watch IU basketball.\n"In the next five years, I think you'll see some drastic changes," he said. "It can't all happen at one time, but if students are patient, things will change." \nBarr said he and his friends will still buy tickets, but that he hoped the price increases would eventually translate into a dominant basketball program. \n"I hope this leads to us being able to upgrade our facilities," he said. "If those donors are shelling out for new stuff, then fine, I can deal with it." \nOptimistic, Barr said he was still excited for the upcoming season -- price increase or not. \n"If I have to pay an extra $50 dollars to move on from Mike Davis, I'm fine with that," he said.