Badger fans across campus expressed both anger and confusion with the UW-Madison Athletic Department Wednesday after discovering season football tickets had sold out before knowing they had even gone on sale.
According to Justin Doherty, assistant director of athletic communications, some returning ticket holders did not receive e-mails notifying them tickets for the 2007 season were available.
""We're trying to look into the reasons right now and figure out what happened,"" Doherty said. ""We would have to see exactly what the circumstances were before [acting on the complaints].""
The 10,500 ticket packages, which cost $143 each, went on sale at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and sold out by Tuesday afternoon.
Doherty stressed that the athletic department advertised the April 21 date in a variety of ways, including in campus newspapers, on uwbadgers.com and by chalking messages on sidewalks across campus. Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema also met with campus fraternities and sororities to inform them of the date.
""That's a pretty comprehensive and all-encompassing advertisement in a number of different ways,"" Doherty said. ""And the fact that 10,500 tickets sold in three and a half days tells me that a substantial number of people knew about it.""
However, returning UW-Madison senior Joe Olson, who did not receive an e-mail and missed buying football tickets for the first time, said a notification by e-mail is essential to inform all football fans.
""If you don't read The Badger Herald, if you don't walk around campus and look at the sidewalk chalk and if you aren't in the Greek system, that takes out about 80 percent of the reminders,"" Olson said.
Olson, who has consistently bought football, basketball and hockey season tickets since his freshman year, established the Facebook group ""UW Football Student Season Tickets,"" demanding the athletic office correct the mistake and encourage students who did not receive an e-mail to contact the ticket office. The group had more than 100 members as of press time.
""What I was told was that the e-mails were all sent out and I should've received one—they don't know why I didn't,"" Olson said. ""They're blaming it on a spam filter, but I checked all my junk mail and everything like that—it just didn't happen.""
Kaitlyn Buck, who will be a UW-Madison junior next year and did not receive an e-mail, said the ticket office should fix the problem by giving priority to upperclassmen.
""It should be the ticket office's first priority to make sure all the Badger fans would [receive an e-mail],"" she said. ""I think us juniors should get tickets over the incoming freshmen.""
In response to her complaint, the athletic office sent Buck an e-mail detailing its different advertising methods and apologizing for the inconvenience.
""Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do at this time because tickets are sold out,"" the e-mail said. ""We did try to get the information out there and let as many people know as possible.""
Doherty said the investigation into the matter will probably not conclude until early next week and only then will the athletic office decide whether to make any adjustments.
