r/CollegeBasketball Florida Gators 1d ago

Students getting kicked out of student section since most of the tickets there were sold to non students

https://x.com/AllKindsWeather/status/1876783353581433050
492 Upvotes

565

u/SecretComposer Kansas Jayhawks 1d ago

"What do you mean students showed up for the game and are trying to sit in the student section? Get them out!"

28

u/Rare-Metal9715 Florida Gators 15h ago

I’m just going to piggyback off your post since a lot of people are getting it wrong

1) IAKOW is a well known shit stirrer among UF fans. What he says is not really trustworthy

2) students get free admission to the student section. The line for this game was long and started before 4am. By the time the student section had filled up the line was still wrapped around the arena. Once it fills up then it’s too bad

3) this isn’t an issue of kicking students out of their section for non students, but an issue with how people were let in. They had one entrance open with one security checkpoint and one working ID scanner. After they realized the process was taking forever fans pushed forward and overloaded security. It was a bit chaotic. People were cutting in line, people were sneaking past. Security then had to go and move people out of there. They also fucked up by giving the students wristbands relative to their place in line. They gave 250 numbered wristbands but the lower bowl seats 150. They didn’t relay to staff that only the first 150 mattered so staff was accidentally letting in students who should’ve never been there in the first place

They did sell tickets to sit in the lower bowl during winter break but it wasn’t the primary reason this happened. It was an indirect reason because it caused confusion. Overall you end up with a situation where you get too many people trying to cram into too small of a section. Security is trying to move the people who have wristbands greater than 150 or who don’t have wristbands. People with greater than 150 bands or no bands think they’re in the right place. You also have people flooding in. Stadium staff compromised and let those students sit in the upper bowl. They didn’t kick them out

My source is the UF student newspaper. If anyone is going to tell the truth about what happened it’s them

It looks bad from a logistical standpoint but stricklin wasn’t being a greedy asshole forcing students out of things they were entitled to in order to gift them to alumni. They were just stupid is all. Not malice, incompetence

2

u/jmaca90 Indiana Hoosiers 15h ago

It’s not like they’re paying for the seats or anything with their tuition…

245

u/r_un_is_run Illinois Fighting Illini 1d ago

How does this work? Did those students not have tickets or were they removing people who had tickets but weren’t students? 

457

u/FasterThanFaast Florida Gators 1d ago

Students get to go for free and are given a general admit ticket for a section of the arena that’s always been for students. The outrage is they sold tickets in that section and kicking students out.

164

u/officer_caboose UConn Huskies 1d ago

That's fucked, was there another section or standing room for the students who got booted or were they forced to leave?

95

u/New_Orange4151 Iowa State Cyclones 1d ago

This happens a lot in the winter. Hilton sells the seats in the student section during break.

64

u/andjuan Florida Gators 1d ago

UF also routinely sells these seats during winter break, which is technically still happening for students. The issue is that we don’t usually have a game of this caliber during the break. Still a terrible look for the UAA and Stricklin, who most fans hate right now.

24

u/ToxicSteve13 Iowa State Cyclones 1d ago

But during those games they are assigned seats I believe

16

u/fcocyclone Iowa State Cyclones 1d ago

I believe this is true.

Students get a smaller section, reserved.

https://cyclones.com/sports/2015/3/2/GEN_201401015.aspx#BREAK

The kansas game will be more available to students it looks like. The spring semester starts so late these days.

3

u/deepayes Houston Cougars 19h ago

We do the same thing during the break.

8

u/GeyWeyner12 Florida Gators 1d ago

Yes, but they were super high up, no one was forced to leave and not many did

3

u/cdbloosh Maryland Terrapins 19h ago

I don’t know the specifics of this situation, but at Maryland, the student section is the bottom 8ish rows around pretty much the entire lower level, and the full “wall” behind one the baskets that goes from the court all the way to the top of the arena.

So this would probably be analogous to selling seats in the former, because it’s winter break and there are less students around, and then making the students all sit on the wall section.

Maryland has done stuff like this before during break, but as far as I know they’re usually 1) selling the less desirable student seats (the ones on the wall) so students still get the close seats, and 2) they’ve never miscalculated the student turnout to the point where there are enough students that this becomes an issue.

2

u/dmlfan928 UMBC Retrievers • Maryland Terrapins 18h ago

My father and I used to always go to a winter break game and sit on the wall. I think they keep the lower 8ish rows for students and the rest of the wall gets sold to the public.

2

u/Rare-Metal9715 Florida Gators 15h ago

It’s not as fucked in context. We usually sell winter break tickets. That practice caused confusion. The semester hasn’t started yet. It’s still winter break. Students thought they were entitled to it and didn’t know that they actually aren’t and haven’t been in a long time. We usually don’t have games like this to start the new year

UF let everyone in through one entrance with one security scanner. Fans pushed forward and overloaded security. They gave out 250 numbered wristbands for the 150 person student section and didn’t relay to staff that the first 150 were all that mattered. So the staff let in 250 people for a 150 person section plus a bunch of unbanned people pushed their way in plus the people who actually bought tickets for the seats in

It was an issue with logistics and planning and not with Stricklin being an asshole at the expense of our students. Selling those seats is something we commonly do during break. UF didn’t kick the students out, they just moved them

I’m all for shitting on Stricklin but it needs to be done in the right way. It’s too easy to assume the worst motivations out of authority. You can twist pretty much anything to be malicious when it goes wrong

16

u/Equivalent_Kiwi_8776 Michigan State Spartans 1d ago

Woah students get to go for FREE!!! What is this I have to pay $10 a game

18

u/PrimalCookie Florida Gators 1d ago

We have to pay for football ($190, a bit over $27 per game) but everything else is free. No lottery system like some schools have either. The only catch is they’re first come first serve - I learned that the hard way for the Auburn game last year

4

u/Equivalent_Kiwi_8776 Michigan State Spartans 21h ago

Wow that’s crazy, we have to buy football for the same price, basketball is points based for attending a game and we can buy each game for $10 also our hockey tickets are $170 for the season….. Izzone points are the worst as someone who transferred in later

6

u/bacchusku2 Kansas Jayhawks 1d ago

Students don’t get in free, they buy an all-sports pass that gets them tickets to all games.

2

u/lucky_boop 20h ago

The pass is also free though (baked into Tuition)

1

u/bacchusku2 Kansas Jayhawks 15h ago

At Florida? Because it sure isn’t at Kansas. Also, you still need to “buy” your ticket to basketball games by going online specific times and adding them to your student ID.

2

u/FasterThanFaast Florida Gators 12h ago

At UF basketball is free you just have to claim your student tickets before each game. We do have to pay for football though but we get discounted student season tickets which were $200 this year.

1

u/bacchusku2 Kansas Jayhawks 11h ago

We always said football was pretty much free because you for sure got the pass for the basketball tickets. The football tickets came with 2 per game, lol.

1

u/lucky_boop 11h ago

The comment you were replying to was surprised about UF basketball being free so I was confused, my b

2

u/Flintoid Eastern Michigan Eagles 20h ago

I thought the whole Izzone thing was a ton of hoops to jump through?

3

u/Equivalent_Kiwi_8776 Michigan State Spartans 20h ago

Yeah it is for sure, have to have points attend the camp out along with other check in events, but on top of that it’s $10 a game which isn’t terrible but when tuition is already crazy just let me into the game lol

2

u/OneandonlyTiran Michigan State Spartans • Michigan W… 17h ago

I prefer the way the Izzone works to just showing up. I’ve been guaranteed a lower bowl seat since the spring of my Freshman year. Basically the hoops are paying for the membership, going to the campout in October to keep the points from last year, and then going to games.  

60

u/Andrewdeadaim Florida Gators 1d ago

Typically it’s general admission, but tonight they sold a bunch of the tickets to anyone leaving only 90 from what I’ve heard

33

u/pumpkinspruce Wisconsin Badgers 1d ago

Is it because the students are still on break?

83

u/Andrewdeadaim Florida Gators 1d ago

That’s the excuse they’ll use, but there were PLENTY of students in line and is the #1 team and we’re top 10 of course students are gonna show up

40

u/pumpkinspruce Wisconsin Badgers 1d ago

So basically they want to make money and screwing over the students is the way to do it.

10

u/mrjimi16 North Carolina Tar Heels 1d ago

They want a full stadium. That is all this is. I guarantee you that there are other student sections in the arena. They just want to make sure that the one that is in shot for half the game is full.

9

u/New-Ad-363 Iowa State Cyclones 1d ago

Sounds like they've sold out.

19

u/famouslastwords Florida Gators 1d ago

The UAA ran a promotion where you could pick 3 games over the holiday for a lower price than buying them individually. One of those games was tonight, against Tennessee. Students don't pay to go to the games at all, their admittance is free, so they sold more tickets than there were seats and the student section seats were assigned to people who bought the promotion.

All in all, another absolute fucking shit show from our inept governing body.

3

u/ManiacalComet40 Missouri Tigers 1d ago

Even with the free student tickets, is there no kind of claims process for students to claim their tickets? Do you just turn kids away every night?

2

u/famouslastwords Florida Gators 1d ago

is there no kind of claims process for students to claim their tickets?

There is, about 24 hours prior to tip off you can register for the game and secure your ticket. If you show up to the arena about 2 hours prior to the game, you can get a wristband to sit in the student section (where these students were kicked out of.)

Do you just turn kids away every night?

We only sell out a couple games every year (Tennessee, Kentucky, FSU if they're good) so this is almost never an issue. UF uses Ticketmaster to do seat assignments, so TM simply doesn't allocate seats to students that could or are sold to the general public.

106

u/No-Hurry2372 Duke Blue Devils 1d ago

Isn’t there an indoor track there? I went to an indoor track meet at UF one time, indoor track isn’t fun. 

Also that’s bullshit. 

72

u/CWG4BF Florida Gators 1d ago

It had an indoor track around the concourse level before the 2016 refurbishment. This photo shows how it used to be.

https://preview.redd.it/yxaze3219obe1.jpeg?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6cd48236cb56bbc9776d9a2c8b41278aa8e0a65

26

u/No-Hurry2372 Duke Blue Devils 1d ago

Yup that’s where I ran. 

14

u/Chief-Bones Clemson Tigers 1d ago

Back in the late 80s little John used to be like that too.

5

u/sqigglygibberish Duke Blue Devils 1d ago

Woah that’s wild - were there a lot of stadiums that did this? I’ve never seen it before but conceptually it makes a ton of sense. Though also surprises me a program like Florida would have it (vs a school with less facility resourcing where the bang for the buck is big)

4

u/imarc Florida Gators 1d ago

I think the multipurpose facilities were all the rage in the 80s when the O'Dome was built.

At the time, both upper and lower bowl seats could slide in. For sports this allowed gymnastics and indoor track. Also they would reconfigure for job fairs, dance marathons, football gameday tailgating and concerts.

The natatorium is also located there as is the gymnastics practice facility.

There isn't any more room to build right where the O'Dome is. If they decided to build any more standalone facilities, something would need to go/move. That's what happened to baseball. They tore it down and built a new stadium on the other end of campus near the Softball and Lacrosse Stadiums so that they could build a new football facility.

4

u/SweetRabbit7543 Butler Bulldogs 1d ago

So we could have a race and the winners get the seats

3

u/imarc Florida Gators 1d ago

I didn't know that we got rid of it.

Do we just not have an indoor track anymore?

8

u/Andrewdeadaim Florida Gators 1d ago

They might put one in for indoor track, never been to one of the meets

12

u/The_Stiggiest_Stig Duke Blue Devils • Florida Gators 1d ago

The O dome has the pool too. Kinda sick tbh

1

u/Guy_LeDouche33 Iowa Hawkeyes • Illinois Fighting Illini 1d ago

No wind and the banking makes indoor fun af

75

u/Vro9ooo Alabama Crimson Tide • Florida Gators 1d ago

The summation of UF’s administrative policy is if something can be done to fuck over students, it will be done

3

u/Ok-Mark417 Kentucky Wildcats 15h ago

Todd Golden took that policy literally

49

u/lonelyshurbird Florida Gators 1d ago

Fuck Stricklin. Such a sniveling penny pincher who I’m not surprised would fuck over students for a quick buck. Students have lined up all day, in the cold, camping outside and he kicked them out and denied them entry. Not the first time he’s done this too, he did this when Auburn gymnastics came and students lined up to see Suni Lee and he denied a lot of students entry and it was cold as well.

44

u/midwesternfloridian Florida Gators • Kansas Jayhawks 1d ago

The worst part of this is we reached out to the athletic department multiple times for over a month, and they refused to give us a clear answer.

So a bunch of students drove back for the game only to be kept out.

It’s just unprofessional.

15

u/Andrewdeadaim Florida Gators 1d ago

It’s like they were trying to keep kicking the backlash can down the road but like, you’ve made it WAY worse

20

u/BigJ32001 UConn Huskies • Penn State Nittany Li… 1d ago

Sort of the opposite of this, we were kicked out of our seats by the UConn marching band at the Fenway Bowl last week. An entire section had to try and find empty seats in a nearly sold-out game, but security wouldn't let us move to the higher sections. There were 7 of us with 3 little kids. I was livid, and the staff did nothing for us. I didn't see the first play until 5 minutes before halftime.

11

u/Massive-Ask-6869 UConn Huskies 1d ago

That’s insane. How did they not plan for where the marching band would sit?

8

u/Langd0n_Alger Florida Gators 1d ago

I mean, it is a marching band, not a sitting band.

21

u/Captainspacedick69 Dayton Flyers 1d ago

For Dayton home games when the students are in winter break, they sell those seats. That’s probably it.

7

u/DangerousPage Wichita State Shockers 1d ago

I was shocked to see this headline was not about us*. WSU has notoriously allowed non-students to sit in the “student” section.

  • It could be if we played basketball worth watching.

1

u/QuarantineCasualty Cincinnati Bearcats • Ohio Bobcats 1d ago

You’ll be back soon enough you have the facilities the community support and the tradition that one bad coach hire isn’t going to ruin you indefinitely. I hope. I miss the WSU cheerleaders doing the shocker on camera during the NCAA tournament.

3

u/jlakbj North Carolina Tar Heels 19h ago

Good thing those rent-a-cops have all their swat gear on to evict those kids or that could have gotten ugly

2

u/chillypete99 Texas Tech Red Raiders 1d ago

Headline: "Florida gets it wrong early but wins big"

2

u/tlaneus Florida Gators 20h ago

Not sure if this is related but about half of the fans were still waiting in line at tipoff as there was some kind of delay with screening or whatnot. One of the gates was closed, I think it was the student section gate.

6

u/Few-Peanut8169 Alabama Crimson Tide 1d ago

Oh that’s beyond skivvy, but I’m not shocked U of F has had awful leadership and admin in charge for a few years

2

u/GurDull3692 St. Bonaventure Bonnies 18h ago

Aren't Florida students on break for another week?

Is it that weird to assume they wouldn't be back from break yet despite the opponent.

No school is going to leave a giant portion of their student section empty for the four weeks they're on break. Sucks, but it's not that surprising.

If this game was on Saturday or Sunday, I bet they would have left the section open to students or at the very least a portion.

3

u/Fit-Signature9001 Florida State Seminoles 16h ago

Is it that weird to assume they wouldn't be back from break yet despite the opponent.

They have 57,000 in-state students, and Gainesville is in a very central geographic location. Unless you live in The Keys (less than 1% of the state population), you’re only four hours away max.

3

u/fu-depaul DePaul Blue Demons 16h ago

you’re only four hours away max.

ha ha...

That is not a reasonable drive for students to come back and attend a game.

2

u/Fit-Signature9001 Florida State Seminoles 15h ago edited 15h ago

I did stuff like that all the time when I was 19.

Even if I'm in the 1% of crazy people, that's still 570 students, six times more than they let into the student section.

2

u/fu-depaul DePaul Blue Demons 15h ago

 Even if I'm in the 1% of crazy people, that's still 570 students, six times more than they let into the student section.

Ha ha… you’re saying that of the students who normally attend games, 1% are crazy enough to make the trip back during break?

If 570 is 1% then you’re saying there are 57,000 students who would normally attend a game.  

How big is the arena?

1

u/GurDull3692 St. Bonaventure Bonnies 16h ago

If they're off campus, no issue with getting into your apartment, but if you're on campus, the dorms wouldn't be open this early.

2

u/Specialist_Gift8915 Auburn Tigers 1d ago

Looking at that tweet, I kinda doubt the AD had those students kicked out. Surely there is someone below the AD that made that decision.

1

u/Not_A_Meme UCLA Bruins 1d ago

What an awful look. Stinks for the the UF students.

7

u/monkeeycmonkeydo 1d ago

I waited from 12PM to 7 in that line and barely got into the nosebleeds as a student. No communication from the school about tickets until some of us got in and saw they had sold 90% of our student section out...

1

u/Ssjts West Virginia Mountaineers 1d ago

Here at WVU - Over winter break they fill the lower student section with chairs and sell those tickets.

1

u/ZeroDarkJoe Purdue Boilermakers • Valparaiso Beacons 1d ago

Are the students still on break and they weren't supposed to have a student section while on break? Still would suck but that's the only way I could wrap my head around it.

1

u/shabamon Ohio Bobcats 18h ago

vs #1 Tennessee is a tough game for this to happen. But selling those sections during winter break is normal. What about this - sell the sections as general admission, the closer sections are more expensive to the public. Students are still free but they must reserve a ticket while supplies last.

1

u/ball-Z St. Bonaventure Bonnies • Atlantic… 17h ago

This reminds me...

A few years ago the students at St. Bonaventure were irate when the admin said that they would only allow 750 students to get (free) tickets to home basketball games. Students would have to claim their ticket the week leading up to the game and they would be first-come first-serve. Before that students could just show up to the game and get in for free.

This was because the student overflow was traditionally assigned random empty seats and there was concern that they wouldn't be any open seats from the general admission to put them in. And the sections they set aside for the student section was for a little less than 750 people (750 with standing room).

For the record, the school had about 1,200 students in total at the school.