BY KURT MARTONE, NEWS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
After no student attendance during home basketball games last season, St. Bonaventure University is taking a new approach to ticketing. The university is transitioning to paperless tickets for all fans attending Bonnies basketball games this season.
This transition includes a new way for students to get tickets. Rather than swiping their ID cards as students enter the stadium before a game, tickets must now be reserved through the Bonnies Connect app.
“We looked at it from a variety of different angles and this was the one that made the most sense,” said Seth Johnson, the assistant athletic director for marketing, licensing and fan engagement.
This is the fourth school year the university has utilized the Bonnies Connect app. Students now must pick what section they want to sit in, out of three options: the sideline or the two end zone bleachers. Overflow seating will be available in the reds, if needed, in sections two and 13.
Including overflow sections, 850 seats are reserved for students each game.
Johnson said that the old swipe-for-entry system was outdated.
“We were one of the only schools that were still doing that kind of system, so this puts us up to snuff with everyone else,” said Johnson.
Students can claim their general admission tickets 48 hours before tip-off. Students will need to go to the Bonnies Connect app and claim a general admission ticket to the section of their choice. There will still be no assigned seats.
“This was a way for us to be able to control the number of people that we have in the building at any given time. For bigger games, we would have a large student section, but for other games we would not have as many,” Johnson said. “So, you never really had a good gauge on how many people we actually had in the building at any point in time. This allows us to know, every single game, exactly how many people are going to be in the building, so we can keep everyone safe.”
The university is also using this new ticketing method to potentially contact trace individuals, should that need arise.
Just because a student claims a ticket, does not mean that the person attends the game. To know who shows up, the university will have multiple checkpoints that must be scanned through the app’s qr code reader. There will be one checkpoint stationed when students enter the Reilly Center, and then a set of three checkpoints down three different aisles, so the university will be able to know what route students came through to get to their seating section.
“There is nothing that is chaining them to their seat. There are a lot of people who go and see their friends and everything else so it is kind of the same thing,” said Johnson. “But it is the best thing that we have at the moment and that is why we still have the mask policy in place.”
The mask policy has been in place since last month when the university required everyone to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, as a result of the HERO Act.
Administrators will be able to send updates and notable information through the app, as well as reminders when tickets are available.
“The ability to communicate with people quickly and effectively is key, and this also allows us to do that with more students now,” Johnson said.
Students will use this system for the first time when the Bonnies men’s basketball team faces Alfred University in an exhibition game at home on November 4.
martonkd18@bonavneture.edu
