A few changes are coming to the MSU football game day experience for students this fall.
One of the first changes will be a pilot program involving ticket transfers. MSU students will be able to transfer tickets to non-MSU students for any non-premium game. The only premium game in the 2015 season is the matchup with Oregon.
“We’re doing a pilot program with open transfer of student admissions to other individuals for their brothers, sisters, friends, etc.,” associate athletics director Paul Schager said. “Basically it’s an opportunity for non-MSU students to sit with MSU students in the student section. This is a result of students requesting this from engagement that we’ve had with them.”
In an effort to make closer connections between MSU students and the football program, the MSU Athletic Department will be offering more engagement opportunities. An example of these opportunities debuted in the Spring Game when some students were able to run on the field in the way that the team does.
A major complaint from students attending football games is the length of the admissions lines, which causes a lengthy wait to get into Spartan Stadium.
To help with this concern the MSU Athletic Department will be increasing the number of gates dedicated for student entry to improve efficiency. This should move students through faster so there is less wait time in getting to their seating area.
There will also be a new handicapped accessible platform in the student section to ensure all students are fully accommodated.
“We’ve added a handicap(ped) accessible seating area in the student section this year. This will accommodate students that in the past have been isolated and had to sit far removed from other students,” Schager said.
The addition of the handicapped accessible platform eliminates some seats, but lower bowl seating has been added so the total capacity for students remains unchanged. There will still be upper and lower bowl student seating.
There will also be an effort to improve communication between the students and the MSU Athletic Department prior to games.
“We’ll try to do more communication, more outreach (and) more student engagement on game day to inform them how long the lines are. (We’ll) show photos of the lines (and) the sections that are filling up through social media,” Schager said.
This will provide students with a time frame of when they should arrive to the stadium to obtain their desired seating location.
Overall, it seems as if the MSU Athletic Department has addressed some of the major concerns brought up by students in the past concerning football games.
