Mr. Jacobs,
I would first like to thank you for all you have done for Auburn, not only in the realm of athletics but for the school’s overall environment as well. For more than 25 years you have been on a mission to help make Auburn the best university in this country and I, along with countless others, believe that you have contributed greatly to the successes of this school. Thank you for helping to give Auburn students solid ground to stand on when we say “I believe in Auburn, and Love it!”.
In my past three years here I have never had a problem with the way the athletic office has run their program. I have never had issues with ordering tickets, calling to ask questions or dealing with the staff running the ticket office. It has actually been a quite pleasurable experience compared to the horror stories I hear about other schools having to buy their tickets week by week. I commend you and your staff for giving out tickets in an organized and efficient way. But Mr. Jacobs the way tickets were distributed for the SEC Championship game, without question rivaled the horror stories I have heard from other schools. I have never seen such a poorly organized and thought-out method for dispensing tickets.
I do not write you this out of anger that I did not get a ticket, I will find one before December 4th and will be sitting in the Georgia Dome cheering louder than I have in my entire life. I write you this because I find it quite unfair that seniors did not get priority for tickets, like the way as we have always done it for ordering regular season tickets. I do not think I would have gotten one if we had done it that way because I am just barely a senior in hours, but it would have at least been a fair method. Freshmen have not yet had time to let the spirit of Auburn marinade in their soul – it’s true. Freshmen may love Auburn football dearly, but they have not experienced what it is like to possess the same unconditional love for a losing Auburn football team like many of us have in the past. That aside, I feel that the method for the distribution of tickets could have been handled much differently.
On a totally separate issue, I know that Auburn received 15,900 tickets for the championship. I have heard from various sources (including from someone who works in the ticketing office) that there were only 1,400 – 1,600 tickets given to students. Might I ask why only 8.8% of the seats given to Auburn were reserved for the student body? Eight point eight percent?! I understand that faculty and alumni should be given to opportunity to buy tickets but really Mr. Jacobs? When our defense is trying to stop a crucial game changing third down conversion they will be looking to the student section for that little push of confidence. And what will they see? Only 1,400 students from Auburn’s actual student body. There may be plenty of alumni and faculty shaking their shakers passionately and cheering, but it will never rival the force that our student body’s impact can have upon this team. Coach Chizik has said it himself; our presence can change the game. We’re here trying to be all-in Mr. Jacobs, just as we have been all-in from the moment we kicked off against Arkansas St. on September 4th. But we’re finding it difficult to do when only 8.8% of us were given the opportunity attend the game.
Now, I apologize that you were at the receiving end of my rant if this was not your decision, but I am assuming you had some sort of hand in it considering that if it was not your decision, it was the decision of someone who answers to you. I truly hope that you take into consideration everything I have said and make changes to the way tickets will be distributed for the bowl game. If I have been misstated the facts about anything I have just said please feel free to contact me and enlighten me, so I can in turn enlighten the outraged student body.
Once again, thank you for everything you have done at Auburn. I am so proud to say that I am a woman of Auburn, and to call this lovely little village on the plains my home.
War Eagle!
Courtney Land
No comments:
Post a Comment