Despite indicating last fall that student football tickets would be stored on ID cards this season, Penn State has yet to formally commit to the system because of concerns about the logistics of using it on game days.
"We're not going to do it simply for the reason that we've said we would, if there still may be the possibility that we'll stumble on a couple of hiccups," said Associate Athletic Director Greg Myford.
The primary concerns with the system center on what to do when errors occur, Myford said. Athletics officials want to make sure the lines of thousands of students filing into Beaver Stadium can continue to move even if there is a problem with a student's ID, he said.
Myford said university officials are still optimistic about the system, and he expects a decision about it to be made within the next several weeks.
"We are very much moving down the path of doing it," Myford said. "I don't want to paint this as an insurmountable problem by any stretch."
The ID-based system was used for basketball student tickets this spring, and Myford said it was successful.
However, Beaver Stadium presents unique challenges that weren't present at the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC), said George Beatty, president of Nittany Nation, the student group that supports the men's basketball team.
At the BJC, if there is a problem with a student ID, students can go to the nearby ticket office to get it resolved, and friends can go in and save a seat, Beatty said. At Beaver Stadium, with hundreds of students in the line, that's not an option, he said.
"If you don't get in right at that time with football, then you're sunk," he said.
Myford said one solution might be to create a "customer relations area" near Gate A where issues can be resolved without stopping the flow of the line.
"We just want to make sure that it can be done safely and as efficiently as possible," he said.
Athletics officials also have not yet decided what to do about students who wish to "upgrade" student tickets to allow a friend or relative who is not a student to sit in the student section, Myford said.
If athletics officials decide against using the ID-based system, the paper-based system used in previous years will be used again, he said.
Chris Grassi, webmaster for the Paternoville Coordination Committee, said the committee was aware of the potential problems with the system and had discussed them at the group's meetings.
"I'm confident that these issues will be worked out," he said.
