Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Virginia Tech is cracking down on students who misuse tickets to football games. This past week, an estimated 30 students had their privileges revoked.
The university’s policy allows students to gain seats through a lottery system, and ticket services discovered the individuals’ had sold or attempted to sell their tickets for more than face value. The game in question was the Notre Dame contest.
In those cases, it was strike three for the students.
Mark Owczarski, assistant vice president for University Relations, said the school wants as many students to attend games as possible, thus the lottery system.
“Students are able to enter a lottery to purchase (at a student rate) tickets that are available. There are fewer tickets available than demand, hence the lottery. If you’re fortunate to win the lottery, and get a ticket, we ask that you use it. If you discover you can’t, we ask you return it (if the lottery is still active) or give it to another student (give, not sell). If you somehow try to sell it or otherwise duplicate it, and you do this three times, you lose the privilege to receive student lottery tickets in the future,” he said.
The Tech spokesperson did not have the total number that have been affected this entire season, but for context, they found (though the scanning of student tickets fraudulently used, that about 30 students violated the ticket policy (third strike) for the Notre Dame game.
Owczarski recommended fans purchase tickets only from certified or reputable sources, like the VT box office.
“Never trust tickets sold from not reputable sources,” he said.
Virginia Tech and Blacksburg continue to monitor on-street sales and purchases, and they also recommend using caution when purchasing tickets online.
In a statement from the VT police, they encourage ticket seekers to visit StubHub.com, the official ticketing partner of VT Athletics.
If you do purchase tickets from a non-official ticketing vendor, Virginia Tech Police has designated the visitor parking spaces outside the Public Safety Building at 330 Sterrett Drive as a transaction-zone for purchasing tickets for home games.
Many local law enforcement agencies also have designated online transaction areas in their parking lots. While the police department cannot be responsible for the transaction, the proximity to law enforcement may deter fraudulent activity. If this is not an option, document seller information and verify it when you meet face to face. Select a public location for any meeting to discourage theft or robbery. Do not go alone.
VT police say examine your tickets closely for irregularities and take extra steps to verify tickets.
But there are things to remember: counterfeit tickets may have lighter paper, irregular ink, borders, or spacing or misspellings.
Original owners may have invoices to show that they actually purchased the tickets. Request to see the invoice.
If you purchase a ticket at the venue from an unknown source, see if they will accompany you to the gate so you can gain entry through security while the seller is still in sight.
Purchasers could also take a photo of the ticket seller for added validation. If the seller refuses to allow their picture to be taken, consider not purchasing the tickets.
