Penn State revealed Tuesday the details of the university's new paperless football ticket exchange program.
The account management program, called "My Penn State Student Ticket Manager," will allow students to buy and sell individual game tickets at a price between $30 and $60, as determined by the student. Students can also transfer tickets to friends and reserve blocks of tickets for groups of 10 or more who want to sit together.
The student purchasing a ticket must pay a 15 percent processing fee based on the price of the ticket, and all transactions will be anonymous, take place online and require a valid credit card.
Students will be allowed to sell or transfer up to six tickets, which Penn State announced in April will be stored on student ID cards. Though there are eight home games, Associate Athletic Director for Marketing Greg Myford said he feels it's fair that students are able to sell or transfer only six tickets.
"Even if someone can only go to two games for some reason, they still have the freedom to distribute their remaining tickets," he said. "Allowing everyone to sell all the games was not a move in the right direction."
Students with a ticket may bring one non-student guest with them if the guest ticket is purchased through the exchange process and validated through the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office for $29. The guest ticket will be stored on the Penn State student's ID card, along with his or her own ticket.
The anticipated ticket exchange process was announced through a release on gopsusports.com Tuesday and students will be able to manage their tickets online through the Ticket Manager service, set to go live Aug. 25.
At that point, students can engage in whatever ticket exchange-related activity they need to do, Myford said.
As the launch date nears, a mass e-mail will be sent out to student season ticket holders to remind them about the service.
Myford also said the new ticket system has eliminated the segment of the student body only interested in buying tickets to profit from scalping.
"Will there still be under the table activity? I imagine so," he said. "However, we're in the business of controlling what we can control."
Dan Saxton, a public relations representative for Paternoville, said he was excited about the new system and expressed few concerns with its implementation.
"They just seem really on the ball with how everything is going to work," Saxton (senior-architectural engineering) said. "It's a fair and manageable system."
Though Saxton said some students may try to "transfer" tickets and then accept payment under the table, he said the new and convenient system will all but eliminate that problem.
"If you're asking $200 for a ticket, and 10 other students have posted a ticket online for $55, it's not going to sell," he said. "It doesn't really leave room for students looking to make money."
Though being able to swipe one's ID to get into the stadium will expedite the entrance process, Myford said students should still be prepared for lines.
"We want the process to be as seamless and as low maintenance as possible for students," he said. "But if we have 21,000 students trying to get into the game in 20 minutes' time, there's still going to be a backjam."
Whether the system is well received or not, Myford said he is not worried about it working, as similar services have worked successfully at a variety of professional sports and entertainment venues. He said the deadlines set in place will also keep students from procrastinating their transactions and overloading the system.
"That's the advantage of working with a proven company like Ticketmaster," he said. "They understand the business inside and out."
Though he still has some anxiety, Myford is optimistic about students' reaction.
"We're real excited about it," he said. "And we hope the student body is excited about it too."
