Expecting an overwhelming demand for tickets to see the men’s basketball team defend its national championship, the MSU Athletic Ticket Office announced they might have to split student season tickets into two packages.
This would not affect students in the Izzone cheering section.
The deadline to apply for student season tickets is Friday, and if more than 3,000 students apply, the season will be split into Green and White packages, said Chris Besanceney, assistant ticket manager.
Approximately 560 seats in the lower bowl of Breslin Student Events Center and 2,440 in the upper deck are available to students not in the Izzone.
Last year more than 3,500 students requested season tickets and Besanceney expects more applications this season.
“We’re taking orders from everyone for a full season (of basketball tickets),” Besanceney said. “On Friday, we’ll see where the orders are at and decide what to do.”
MSU ice hockey has used the split-season ticket method for years, and this wouldn’t be the first time that basketball tickets have been split up, Besanceney said. Following the Spartans’ Big Ten championship in 1990, demand for tickets was high enough to utilize the split-season method.
Regardless of ticket distribution, students will be placed into priority groupings based on seniority and whether they held student tickets last year, Besanceney said.
If the season does get split, the two packages would each contain six regular-season games and one exhibition game at Breslin. Each package would cost $56.
The Green Plan would include games against Northern Michigan, Oakland, North Carolina, Kentucky, Northwestern, Ohio State and Iowa.
The White Plan would include games against the Harlem Globetrotters, Illinois-Chicago, Florida, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana and Michigan. The Championship Plan includes the full slate of 14 home games and costs $112.
“The (Green and White) plans are pretty comparable, pretty fair in terms of the status of the competition,” Besanceney said. “People just want to go to the game and get a chance to see a national championship team.”
Besanceney said it’s possible that 6,000 or more students will apply for tickets this year, meaning the ticket office would conduct a lottery for those students in Group 4, who didn’t have season tickets last year.
Besanceney said another lottery could happen for lower bowl seats if more than 560 Group 1 students apply.
Applications have been mailed to students living in residence halls and are also available in the Oct. 18 edition of the State News.
Completed applications are due to the ticket office in Jenison Field House by Friday at 6 p.m. Students can also call 355-1610 to order tickets over the phone.
