The 2008 football season will mark the last year Penn State uses paper tickets to admit students to games, athletic department officials said Monday.
Beginning next year, a new system will require students to swipe their ID+ cards at Beaver Stadium's Gate A to be admitted on game day.
"As students enter the game they will swipe their card, and it will tell the person working the gate whether the student is a valid ticket holder," Associate Athletic Director of Marketing and Communication Greg Myford said.
At Saturday's game against Coastal Carolina University, the athletic department tested the new system by requiring students to turn in their tickets and swipe their ID card as they entered the game.
Myford said the card-swiping system this year is merely to record which ticket holders are original ticket purchasers, adding that the system will be in place at every home game this season. Students holding tickets given to them by others will not be punished this year.
Next year, if a student swipes an ID card that is not theirs, the card could be confiscated and the student will be turned away at the gate, he said.
However, students without season tickets will still be able to buy tickets from other students through an online system that will transfer tickets onto purchasers' ID cards.
Each student will have an account on the ticket Web site, Myford said. Whether or not students could sell tickets at more than face value hasn't been determined, though students will not be able to sell a full season-ticket package in the system, he said.
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"It will be restricted to student-to-students," Myford added. "Non-students would not be able to buy a ticket."
Student reactions generally favored the new ticket-free system.
"I think it's a great idea, because it stops people from losing their ticket," Jackie Akbarian (junior-marketing) said. "Online stuff is usually more reliable than paper. If you lose your ticket, you're kind of screwed."
Paternoville Coordination Committee President Tom Boroch said he likes the idea of the new ticket system.
"It gets rid of all the scalping issues that we've had in the past. When some people come to Paternoville, they were like, 'I spent $200 on this ticket,' and you have to feel for them. That's quite a bit of money you're putting to a three-and-a-half-hour football game," he said.
As a safety measure, the athletic department also installed serpentine walkways outside Gate A at Saturday's game. Myford said students had been injured in the past rushing to the gates on game day and the serpentine walkways would reduce the crush.
However, some students complained of long lines outside Gate A; several said they missed part of the game because they were waiting in line.
"That line rivaled Disney World for how long I was sitting there," Kevin Turk (sophomore-professional golf management and business) said. "I like [the new system], but it still slows everything down so much."
Myford said students should arrive earlier for games, adding the new system is still being worked out.
"The closer you come to kick off, just walking up to the gates and assuming you're going to get straight through would be naïve," he said.
