'Wish we could take care of everybody:' SDSU title game ticket distribution causes confusion, draws criticism

Dec. 23—BROOKINGS — In the span of 72 hours, pure elation soured into frustration for many fans of South Dakota State football.

Last Saturday, Dec. 17,

top-seeded SDSU stomped Montana State, 39-18, in the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals,

punching its ticket to the FCS title game in Frisco, Texas. However, when Jackrabbits fans attempted to secure tickets to make the southward migration, they were met with mixed results.

Several factors played into making this season's FCS title game ticket one of, if not the, hottest championship tickets in the subdivision's history. The game, set to be played Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, pits No. 1 South Dakota State against archrival No. 3 North Dakota State, winners of nine championships in the past 11 seasons. It's also SDSU's second-ever appearance in the title game and the first in a season not impeded by COVID-19 restrictions.

So, understandably, fans from far and wide were clamoring for an opportunity to secure a seat at Frisco's Toyota Stadium, which has a listed capacity of 20,500.

Season ticket holders received a first opportunity to claim tickets on Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 19-20, with any remaining tickets set to go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, Dec. 21. But at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday the official SDSU Athletics social media accounts sent out an update.

"Due to the high volume of requests for the FCS National Championship game from season ticket holders, no tickets will go on sale tomorrow morning to the general public," the post read.

As if that news wasn't discouraging enough to the Jackrabbit faithful, it soon became known that, though approximately 10,000 seats were requested by season ticket holders, the university's allotment totaled just 4,500, according to SDSU Director of Athletics Justin Sell.

That led to the first point of contention between the fans and the ticket office: wording. On a Dec. 19 post to the SDSU Athletics social media accounts, it stated tickets were available for "purchase" when this was not the case. SDSU was taking requests for tickets, which were then to be distributed at the university's discretion.

"There's been a little confusion over a few words — 'purchase' versus 'request' — so we have to clean that up,"

Sell said in an interview with a Brookings radio host.

"All along, our No. 1 intent was to make sure that our season ticket holders had a chance to request seats for the championship, and because demand is so high, you have to have some parameters. Certainly being a season ticket holder, Jackrabbit Club member, priority points, all those things come into play. ... That was the intention, that was what we ended up accomplishing."

Though not an altogether uncommon way to determine who has first dibs at tickets, it was an unsatisfying process for many, including young alumni and current students.

"They gave top priority to big donors and season ticket holders before their own students," said recent SDSU graduate Natalie Jane Frazier, who expressed her frustration through multiple replies on Twitter. "Students that keep the university running should have been the priority."

"As a die-hard fan of Jackrabbit athletics and a student paying thousands to attend SDSU, it's disappointing to see our school decide that people who donate are more important than the fans/students who go to every home/playoff game," added current SDSU student Kelsey Gustaf to the Twitter conversation.

For comparison, NDSU allocated 300 tickets from their allotment to students at a cost of $90 per ticket and a limit of one ticket per student account. The student tickets went on sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday and were sold out within an hour.

Quick math will show that 4,500 seats times two teams is 9,000 seats given to the schools participating in the championship game. That leaves 11,500 seats for the NCAA to distribute as it sees fit.

As is the case most every year, those tickets went on sale to the public early in the season — Sept. 16, to be exact.

"You can go through the venue and there are still tickets available," Sell said.

As Sell was keen to point out, NDSU and its fanbase have likely benefitted from plenty of experience with the process of securing tickets to the title game. With the Bison now making a 10th FCS championship appearance since 2011, NDSU fans have made habit of gobbling up many of those tickets as soon as they go on sale with the hope or assumption the Bison will play their way to Frisco.

"We aren't used to that because the one year we made it (to the championship) was the COVID year and you had reduced attendance (capacity), so we're learning along with it," Sell explained. "And who we're playing matters. It being NDSU, they have obviously done this for years. Their folks buy (tickets) in August."

Even though he was a month early in his estimate, Sell's point is well-made.

Not all of the Twitter interaction surrounding the ticketing process was outrage, with Kelcey Sweeney being one of the SDSU fans attempting to add some balance to the conversation.

"Guys, surely the ticket office needs to improve their processes but the bottom line is there are way more people wanting tickets than there are tickets. Period. You'll see way more Bison there. Experience tells them to buy ahead. Most Jacks didn't know they should do that," Sweeney's post reads.

Sell's final tone on the issue was apologetic. He noted that as recently as five years ago, selling all 4,500 tickets might have been a stretch, but as the SDSU fanbase has grown, so too, has the appetite to see the Jackrabbits reach new levels of success. He understands that a good share of the frustration stems from having an engaged and loyal fanbase, which he lauded as a major positive for SDSU Athletics.

"At the end of the day, I certainly apologize for the confusion. I've got people in the ticket office that are some of the greatest people we have, and they've been working hard to make sure we take care of as many people as we can," Sell said. "I wish we could take care of everybody, but when you get 4,500 seats out of 20,000, there's going to be a challenge."