USC: Student Tickets To Away Games
Last week, Ryan Quinn of the Daily Gamecock wrote an article discussing the issues with student tickets at the University of South Carolina. USC students are allotted a significantly lower amount of student tickets to away games than students at other SEC schools are. For each away game, the visiting school is given a maximum number of tickets to purchase for their students, faculty, alumni, and fans.
The University of Georgia reserves ten percent of the tickets they purchase to each away game for their students. In contrast, the University of South Carolina reserved as little as 1.5 percent of tickets for their students to the UGA/USC game this year. The University of Tennessee reserved nearly double the amount of tickets for their students when they visited USC than USC did when they visited Tennessee. This year, the student tickets to USC away games were sold out within hours. Only after season ticket holders have had their chance to purchase tickets to away games are the students who were turned away then allowed to buy tickets to the games.
Although USC bought all the tickets they could for the UGA game, they accepted less than possible for the ECU and Tennessee games. According to Quinn, schools pay face value for the tickets to away games and in turn, sell them for face value to their fans, alumni, etc. However, if the school cannot sell all of the away game tickets they purchase, they end up having to pay the difference to the university they are visiting.
Although Quinn thoroughly discusses the issues behind student tickets to away games at the University of South Carolina, he does not touch on how students themselves actually feel about this issue. Students are clearly affected most by the school’s decision to allot such a small amount of student tickets. Quinn also fails to suggest any changes to the allotment of student away game tickets. Student participation at football games is a necessity so perhaps USC should look into changing the ways they distribute tickets.
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College Sports and the Media 
I personally think that USC should take a step back and reconsider the amount of away game tickets that they distribute to students. I feel that a university’s students are it’s most important fans, and therefore definitely deserve to receive tickets to not just home games, but away games, as well. Away games are especially important considering you are already facing a team that has home field advantage–the visiting team needs as many fans present as possible. The fact that USC gives out so few tickets to away games makes them appear to not appreciate the fans that they have.
I agree with the first comment. The University of South Carolina needs to reevaluate the number of away tickets that they distribute to their students because after all they are indeed the most important fans at road games. However, after attending the USC vs. UGA game, it is hard to believe that 1.5% of student tickets were reserved for USC students because there seemed to be gamecocks EVERYWHERE. Regardless, I am curious to see how long it takes the university to increase the percentage of student tickets that they reserve in the future.