Where Are Tour Harv
Comments Will Be Welcomed by the D. C. A. C. Looking Toward Better Solution of A Difficult Problem
THE TIME OF YEAR is fast approaching when queries begin to reach the football ticket office about the location of seats at the Harvard game. These queries range from the humorous, or mock-indignant to the genuinely outraged, and while there are many more of them than you would imagine, they still must represent but a fraction of the unvoiced questions that the assignment of football tickets raises in the minds of alumni.
"Please give me a break this year." "It's my wedding anniversary." "I've had lousy seats for the last five years. How about it?" The last one is frequently easy to answer. We keep a record of the ticket allotments for a number of seasons and often can point out to the complainant that he errs in his pessimistic I emembrance of things past. In 1938 he applied for $1.65 seats; in 1937 his application for eight tickets together arrived ten days late; in 1936 he was on the 40-yard line; and in 1935 he didn't apply at all. Many questions are asked, however, that are difficult to answer, and even more difficult to answer satisfactorily.
In 1932, at the request of the Athletic Council, President Hopkins appointed a representative committee to serve under E. K. Hall '92 in drawing up a new plan for the distribution of football tickets to alumni. This committee devised a plan whereby certain groups were accorded preference over the general alumni body. Limits were set on the number of tickets allowed in a preferred location, and no discrimination was made for priority of application as long as the closing date was observed. Some variations have been made in the Hall Committee scheme. The position of reuning classes has recently been advanced, and someone with an eye to the future has added the preferred classification of "Former Graduate Managers," but in general the 1932 plan is still in operation and is outlined briefly for those who will read the circular that accompanies the football application blanks each year. In the late 1920's alumni were apparently happy to get seats behind die goal line at $4.40 each, but in 1932 overcrowding at football games was not a serious problem. By 1934 Harvard sensed a falling off of attendance and tried to stay it with a season-ticket plan. This allowed the general public to purchase definite seat locations for the season—on either side of the field—and increased somewhat Dartmouth's income from the Harvard game. It also shut off from potential alumni purchasers some 2500 good seats on the Dartmouth side of the field.
Under present conditions, with Harvard and Dartmouth both fielding attractive teams, and with generally increased demand for football tickets, the assignment of locations at the Harvard game has become a difficult problem. We follow our allotment plan as faithfully as possible although minor variations are bound to creep in as we try to fit groups of definite size into an inelastic seating chart of the Stadium on Soldier's Field. Sometimes our judgment as to which of several possible locations is the most desirable does not at all agree with the opinion of the purchaser. In any event, no matter what our intentions, the determination by the football ticket office of seat locations causes some cases of unhappiness.
A table, in round figures, is appended to show who sat where at the 1938 Harvard game. For this game our alumni and undergraduate demand for $3.30 tickets totaled 8500. The available Dartmouth seats between the 5-yard lines and in front of the second row of the colonnade—the "good" seats according to popular belieftotaled 4600. Two hundred undergraduate requests for single tickets in the cheering section were answered with colonnade seats. All undergraduate applications for two or more tickets were filled with colonnade or behind-the-goal-line seats. Alumni of non-reuning classes from 1915 to 1938 received no better than five-yard line seats in Sections 1 or 10, or worse. The better seats went to the preferred groups.
This is presented as history rather than defence. Perhaps the time has come for a re-consideration of the allotment scheme, and it may be that some readers of these words will discover and suggest changes or rearrangements that will improve the whole set-up. If so, their comments will be heartily welcomed.
Distribution of Tickets at Harvard Football Game Last TearSection Yard Line Capacity Assignment 6-7 50-28 1575 Student Cheering 1575 5 39"5° 625 Coaches, Ist Squad, Trustees, Admin- istration, Alumni Council, etc. 450 'O4 & older reuning classes 125 1/2 Faculty 50 « 4 28"39 B°° 2nd Squad 100 i/2 Faculty 50 'O9 & later reuning classes 475 'OB & 'lO 100 Band 75 3 17-28 800 Football "D" 200 Other Varsity "D" (partial) 125, Class Sec'y's & Agents 175, Staff & Assoc. Schools 100 '11,'12, &'l3 200. 2 6-17 800 'O3 & older non-reuning classes 300* 'O5, 'O6, 'O7 200 Balance of Varsity "D" 200. Miscellaneous 100
DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS
