Ticketing Issues Cause Ruckus Between Fanbases
The Coyotes football team sold out the DakotaDome for the second time this season for their game against North Dakota State in the FCS Playoffs.
The first time the Coyotes sold out was in the team’s home game against in-state rival South Dakota State.
Voice of USD football John Thayer believes that the sellout is a testament to the team and the fanbase.
“I think that the success and anytime you have success you are going to continue to build your brand and your fanbase,” Thayer said. “So this is a position that South Dakota has never been in, to host a quarterfinal, obviously you want to fill the building with their fans.”
The Coyotes ticket office, however, ran into issues before they were able to sell the game out. The password for home tickets was discovered by a Bison faithful, and they purchased many tickets before the athletics ticketing office at USD realized.
“When the other team plans a takeover in a drivable distance, you want to put a stop to that,” Thayer said.
When the Coyotes realized the situation, they took all the tickets back and created a new password to give out to home fans. This time the password worked without issues.
“USD wanted to give their fans the chance to buy as many tickets as possible,” Thayer said. “I think it was more USD looking out for its own fans.”
Many fans of both teams went to Facebook and other media platforms to complain about the situation.
Jordan John commented on Facebook saying that NDSU fans are “digging their own grave with this process.”
The NDSU Bison Football Fans page posted, saying that the “USD JOKE OF A TICKET OFFICE CLAIMS: ‘all available tickets sold out’” on Tuesday.
Per NCAA rules, the Coyotes still gave the away team Bison 500 tickets to the game.
Thayer wants people to show out to the game because the fans can influence the game in many ways.
“I think anytime that you have home field advantage, student athletes thrive from that, and you see it in all sports,” Thayer said. “When you go on the road and there are other fans that ruin your communication. When you are home, you wanna create a home field environment and hopefully that leads to success.”
The Coyotes are in a position they have never been in before by making the quarterfinals for the first time. This makes the stakes even higher for the team.
“There is nothing like being at a sporting event that is high stakes, such as the quarterfinals getting ready to go to the semi finals” Thayer said. “We haven’t seen this success in a season in a long time, so I think it’s people wanting to be apart of history.”
No matter what happens in the game, how many tickets are sold and to whom, the Coyotes have already made history.
Photo Credit: Tavin Carncross | The Volante
