Two UW-Madison students had their football season tickets revoked at the season-opener Sept. 2 game. Thirty-seven additional students received letters of warning signed by Athletic Director Barry Alvarez regarding inappropriate behavior during the game.
Last spring, the UW-Madison Athletic Board adopted a new policy that makes students liable to lose their tickets for unruly game behavior, defined primarily as excessive drunkenness, public urination, resisting arrest and throwing hard objects.
The twist, and the only one like it in the Big 10 Conference, is that if UW-Madison students sell their ticket, the buyer, as well as the original ticket holder, are punishable for inappropriate behavior. We feel this policy is unsuitable and, if continued, will do nothing to reduce rowdy behavior at Camp Randall.
The policy to punish students who sell tickets to problematic fans fails to address the true circumstances of ticket selling. Finding a ""well-behaved"" buyer is often out of the question—most sellers are not acquainted with the other patron who purchases their ticket.
This board also feels the policy unnecessarily punishes season ticket holders because it does not prevent buyers with unruly records from reoffending with a ticket bought from a different student. If the offender's name is not tied to one set of tickets, they may continue to attend Badger games with the only punishment being potential drinking or unruly behavior fines. These fines are a small price to pay for someone who enjoys causing a ruckus at games.
We also believe the policy surrounding student ticket revocation is unclear. The revocations seem to occur on a case-to-case basis.
How drunk is too drunk? How rowdy is too rowdy? What behaviors warrant season ticket revocation and which warrants a letter of warning? With unfriendly traditions and lewd cheers being the staple of the Camp Randall experience, students do not know where officials will draw the line.
By setting ambiguous standards, officials are begging for individuals to test the system and see how far they can go without punishment.
To implement a successful policy, we feel the athletic department should mail a wavier explaining the policy when students receive their season tickets in late summer. This way, students will know what will be tolerated and what is out of line when it comes to fan behavior.
Officials should also establish a clear ticket-selling policy. If the non-season ticket holders cause the problem, officials should either only punish them or ban ticket sales after distribution.
This board does not encourage such an extreme policy. Rather, we call for a system that successfully prevents inappropriate gameday behavior, yet protects season ticket holders from buyers who abuse gameday rights.
