Athletics announced today that a new round of student tickets will be up for grabs for both Homecoming football games, after originally selling out both contests this morning.
Four thousand student side tickets were originally released at 6 a.m. today, selling out by 7:30 a.m. The second batch of tickets will go on sale at the ARC tomorrow at 6 a.m.
Associate Director of Athletics, Business Development and Facilities Jeff Downie said the number of tickets available tomorrow would be in the triple digits, but couldn’t confirm an exact number.
The one-ticket-per-student policy will remain in effect, and students who have already purchased tickets won’t be able to trade their ticket for a preferred game.
Downie said this policy was put in place for the purpose of fairness.
The Gaels will play the Laurier Golden Hawks this Saturday at Richardson Stadium, then face the Guelph Gryphons at home on Oct. 19.
“We have to go with the policy that everybody gets to pick up one game or the other as of today and tomorrow,” Downie said. “[It’s about] trying to get as many students’ exposure to one game or the other.”
With the additional tickets being sold, Athletics expects the number of people attending each game to be over 9,000, though Richardson Stadium’s capacity won’t be exceeded.
Downie made the decision to release extra tickets, noting that it came as a result of high demand from students and the number of people Richardson’s temporary bleachers can hold.
“There’s a manufacturer’s recommended capacity in the bleacher and we were erring on the side of caution on the lower end, just making sure everybody’s got enough space,” he said. “We went back and revisited that and we think we can jam some more folks in there and make some more people happy.
“We certainly had an original plan and now given the demand, we’re modifying that plan,” he added. “We’re trying to be as fair and equitable as we can, and get as many students as we can into the game to enjoy it.”
The clamour for tickets began hours before the second round was set to be released.
Jaril Valenciano, Comm ’14, lined up inside the Queen’s Centre Monday evening, setting up a chair and his tricolour tent roughly 20 feet from the ARC customer service desk.
Valenciano didn’t attend the initial ticket distribution this morning, but said he decided to line up for the second round around 8 p.m.
“Once I saw how much hype there was building around it, I said ‘it’s my fourth year right now, I’ve never seen Homecoming,’” he said. “It’s going to sound really good in 10 years when I tell my kids about my first Homecoming back.”
Armed with his Macbook and a school textbook, Valenciano said he didn’t plan on sleeping before receiving his ticket. He was unsure whether he’d be joined by friends or other company, or if he would draw the ire of Queen’s Centre security.
With another crack at joining Saturday’s sellout crowd, he supported Athletics’ move to distribute a second set of tickets.
“I’m somebody who was really discounting going to the football game, but now I’m going to it because I kind of realized what I’m going to be missing out on,” he said.
Later in the evening, Valenciano and a few counterparts left the Queen’s Centre and set up directly outside. Valenciano said Campus Security informed him that the line would be removed from the Queen’s Centre at 2:30 a.m.
As of 11:40 p.m., the line had reached roughly 30 people and was continuing to grow.
Campus Security declined to comment at this time.
This story was updated at 11:40 p.m.
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