October 26, 2001

Commission on Hockey Ticket Distribution Considers Changes

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Keeping their word to reevaluate the state of the men’s hockey ticket sale this year, the newly created commission of athletic directors and students met last Monday to discuss this issue and brainstorm new ideas.

University administrators decided to create the group, which consists of two students and three athletic staff members, after chaos and injury erupted at the Sept. 28 hockey ticket sale outside Bartels Hall.

The first in a series of many meetings discussed student safety, possible alternatives to days and times of the year the sale should be held as well as concern for those who view the event as an unofficial Cornell tradition.

For most involved, the first meeting started them on the right path to finding a solution that will work best for all.

“I think we all left the meeting with a very optimistic aftertaste,” said Frank Araneo, athletics administrator and the committee’s chair. “We identified overall objectives for the sale and brainstormed various options for next year taking into account past experience.”

Araneo’s committee members include Anita Brenner, associate director of athletics, Gene Nighman, director of the hockey ticket office, Student Assembly freshman-at-large representative Joshua Bronstein ’05 and S.A. vice president Mark Greenbaum ’02.

Bronstein and Greenbaum both stress their appreciation for the athletics department welcoming their input into the process that affects many student fans of hockey.

“I was thoroughly impressed with their desire to work with students. The meeting was extremely productive,” Bronstein said.

Araneo, and the other administrators agree, noting that both Bronstein and Greenbaum helped include a new perspective on the situation.

“The discussion was open and constructive; it was a true pleasure having [Greenbaum] and [Bronstein] involved,” he said.

During this constructive meeting, the five discussed many of the pertinent issues surrounding the ticket sale and how they can best be addressed.

“The members [of the committee], myself included, agreed that it is in the best interests of Cornell hockey to have the basic framework of a line because it fills Lynah [Rink] and allows the game to have the most lively, energetic crowd,” Greenbaum said.

Preserving this spirit, however, may come with a new toned down system that will allow those who want to camp out the chance to do so but would create a separate line — possibly the following day — that would be for others who arrived later.

They hope that this minimizes tension during the sometimes long sale process and help on the amount of security present, which Greenbaum notes should be increased.

“The committee agreed that Athletics will need to have more of a presence to monitor the line and throw out anyone who cuts in line or causes trouble,” he added.

This does not mean that a raffle system will be implemented similar to one’s held in recent years. The line will still exist in its current form but the committee notes that an increased awareness of when the tickets will actually be distributed should come in the future.

“We’re trying to avoid student discomfort,” Bronstein said. He notes that students skipping classes was one of the committee’s major problems with this year’s sale.

Naturally, administrators say they don’t want students missing classes for the sale which lead them to present different days of the week the sale could be held however no conclusion was met.

“We identified certain areas where improvement is warranted,” Araneo said.

Nighman is in the process of drafting a proposal that will be reviewed by the committee at a later date. It should outline the more specific changes to the process and bring more finality to the process.

Nighman feels that although the committee is working hard these changes will not occur overnight.

“[Students say] there should be an easy way of doing this. There’s always a snag with doing these [types of things]. It’s very difficult,” he said.

Archived article by Carlos Perkins