Student Life offers free tickets

The University of South Dakota Student Services Office will offer 100 free tickets to all students for the Nov. 21 women’s basketball game against Drake University at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

The regular student price at the door of the Pentagon will be $5, but the 100 tickets are being made available to all students.

Assistant Director of Student Life Lindsay Sparks said notification for the tickets will go out later this week and Student Services is trying to encourage as many students as possible to attend the game.

“It helps by creating a home-game feel at a neutral site like the Pentagon,” Sparks said. “We have an awesome student section and we want them to be able to go and support the team.”

Coyote Crazies Vice President Rachelle Norberg said by providing opportunities like these tickets, Student Services is running along perfectly with the university initiative to boost fan support for all of USD athletics and the Coyote Crazies’ mission statement of getting students more engaged throughout campus.

“Right now, it’s easier to make students focus on athletics, and providing subsidized tickets to games outside of Vermillion or getting a fan bus together is a big part of the opportunity to get all students engaged and for them to invest in the university,” Norberg said.

With both the men’s and women’s teams beginning their seasons this past weekend, Sparks said Student Services will continue to work throughout the winter months to boost fan attendance at games.

This proposal for the ticket subsidizing was brought to the Student Government Association last week, and when asked who would be interested in going, most senators and outside students raised their hands, provided a number of free tickets were available.

Senior SGA senator Trent Karlson said he already tries to make it to plenty of sporting events, but the price of the game tickets would sway whether or not he makes the trip to Sioux Falls.

Karlson also said making moves like providing free tickets to games outside of Vermillion produces the right buzz around campus.

“Just look at any college student — they don’t usually have too much cash lying around,” Karlson said. “Offering that discounted price or free tickets gives everyone huge incentive to go.”

SGA President Erik Muckey said there are a number of ways for the Coyote Crazies and Student Services to fund the price of tickets, including co-programming funding.

Co-programming funding is a fund through the Student Life office that student organizations can apply for to use toward guest speakers or special events, provided the event is inclusive to all students.

Muckey said the SGA used co-programming funding last year to fund a pizza party for a women’s basketball game around Easter, with the goal to encourage students to stay for the game before leaving for break.

Muckey said the pizza party was a “huge success” and sees these ticket opportunities as chances to have the same sort of success.

“We’d like to make it as cheap as possible for as many students as possible,” Muckey said. “It’s all geared toward the same goals: getting students into the stands and building up the fan base for this year and moving forward.”