Early arrivers to get extra loyalty points

In an effort to reward students who show up early for Terrapin men's basketball games, the Athletics Department has changed its student ticketing policy, granting students an extra loyalty point if they arrive at Comcast Center between 90 and 60 minutes prior to gametime.

The extra points will give an edge in priority for early arriving students who want to attend high-demand conference games against opponents such as Duke and North Carolina. The new system, which will go into effect Tuesday when the Terps host Indiana (Pa.) in their exhibition opener, drew sharp reactions from students.

Some said the policy will only further encourage scan-and-leavers — students who leave Comcast Center immediately after having their ticket scanned before games against less attractive opponents.

"I can see it making scanning and leaving worse," said junior landscape architecture major Marty Handelman, who said he normally shows up at least 30 minutes before doors open for men's basketball games. "I feel like there's a lot of flawed logic."

Senior Associate Athletics Director Brian Ullmann said the new policy is meant to reward those who show up an hour or more before gametime for their extra support.

"Obviously, our stance is that we don't want people to scan and leave," Ulmann said. "We hope that there's not students who take advantage of it. But we really want to reward the fans, and it's much harder to penalize those who scan and leave. There's no good, easy answer to that. ... We just want our students there, watching the whole game and having fun."

Ullmann said there will be no more designated entry times for games through winter break. The department will evaluate the system before spring semester and decide whether to continue it during the ACC season.

The loyalty point system is used to determine priority for ticketing. Students in the top 25 percent in points of those who request tickets to a game are guaranteed tickets, while the remaining requests are put into a lottery system where students' chances are weighed by point totals.

Sophomore civil engineering major Andy Pender said the new system could actually help curb the problem of scan-and-leavers, since fans who show up an hour before tipoff are typically too invested in the team to leave early.

"There's a bunch of people who just show up right on time, get in and leave," Pender said.
Others were wary of the change for other reasons.

"I already commit a lot of time for going to men's basketball games, and I go and it's intense and I have a great time," said sophomore English and journalism major Sam Nassau. "But I don't know if I really want to commit an extra hour just to sit around and do nothing. I feel like it's too demanding."

Ullmann said the department will reconsider if the new policy isn't working, but the goal of getting students to the games earlier will remain.

"We want as many fans and students inside Comcast Center as early as possible to help," Ullmann said. "I think the team really gets a bump from seeing a full student section when they're out there warming up."

akraut@umdbk.com