ASMSU officials don’t think putting colored wristbands on 13,600 students before MSU home football games is necessary.
So the undergraduate student government’s Student Assembly voted at the Sept. 27 meeting to voice complaints to the MSU athletic department and Spartan Stadium staff about the updated student section entrance policy. The bill stated that Nigel Scarlett, the assembly’s vice chairperson for external affairs, would tackle the issue no later than Monday.
The university started the color-coded wristband requirement to make seating at football games less congested.
By Monday evening, no ASMSU officials had begun making negotiations with the athletic department.
Scarlett said he had been trying to contact the proper authorities on the issue since last week but was not successful until Tuesday. He would not specify who he talked to, but said they are concerned with the students’ complaints.
He said he has not attended the past two Student Assembly meetings because he was “unable to be there.”
Michael Webber, an ASMSU representative, introduced the bill to look into student section changes after a personal experience while trying to enter Spartan Stadium before the third home football game against Pittsburgh.
Webber said he and five of his friends stood in line at 11:15 a.m. for the noon game. More than an hour later, after getting their color-coded wristbands, they proceeded to their indicated section. While trying to get up the ramp to sit down, Webber said event staff accused him of taking someone else’s band, because he said it was poorly placed on his wrist by the ticket takers.
Webber said he explained what happened and the group made it to their designated section before event staff told them the area was full. They were then pointed to another area, three sections away from the large block of student ticket holders, Webber said. He said they were not allowed to move to other seats or stand up during the game, as it blocked nonstudent season ticket holders behind them.
Paul Schager, assistant athletic director for marketing, said he knows there are complaints, but there also are thousands of people who are satisfied with the system.
“The athletic department meets before the season as well as prior to every home game,” Schager said. “Everyone is on hand, and we try to make improvements each week.”
Schager said there is never going to be a flawless system where every person is happy. He said they accommodated everyone who wanted season tickets, turning no one away.
“We have tremendous interest for football tickets,” he said.
“We need that, we want that and we will try and make improvements that will benefit (students) in the long run.”
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