re: Why aren't student tickets free as they once were?

Inflation. $0 in the 70's is now $12.

The way to fix the problem with student attendance is to (largely) deregualte student attendance. It has become very regulated over the years, largely because demand once outstripped supply for student tix.

Solutions:

1. No announcement necessary and no official policy, but subject the students to no more scrutiny than "adult sections" on bringing "stuff" into the game. Those who wish to drink are less likely to leave if they can sneak in enough hooch to get their young, thirsty selves through the game.

2. Make it cheaper to attend. E.g., first come, first served with an ID swipe (and if they must, make the ID swipe result in a charge on the account). This will encourage students to go even if they don't have tix in advance or even the extra jingle to pay for a ticket at the time. Some will be turned away but that only makes it a bigger deal to get in. (I suppose you could stick with whatever group seating they have for frats/law school/etc. if that still exists).

3. Make nonstudent guest tix easy to get, reasonably priced, and usable by bearer. Yes, this creates a secondary market for big games but I say the main goal is a packed, preferably raucous student section.

All of these have some potentially negative externalities, but they would help put and keep young fannies in the seats so they can continue serenading us old folks with the dulcet tones of "Suck that Tiger ..."

There's a couple of reasons this can't work. Most importantly, demand for general public seating. There are more people willing to pay thousands for season tickets than there used to be. If student tickets were payed for by student fees, then every student would have to be guaranteed a ticket. That's leaving a lot of money on the table if you're LSU.

It's not about money, it's about controlling the number of people in the stadium.

In the 1983 Washington game, so many students showed up that there was no room on the aisles for anybody to move. It led to a record crowd of 83,000+, but the fire marshal got nervous and required LSU to do something to limit the number of students. As a result, a new system of tickets and date tickets was created, and you could no longer just walk up with your student ID.

The same thing happened in Basketball a few years later. I served on a committee that mapped out a similar plan for the PMAC to deal with the large crowds Shaq and CJ were pulling. I graduated as it was implemented, but at least I got to meet Dale Brown.

Neither plan ever affected me because I was in the band for both sports. But my roommate always had to get the tickets before the season started.

Hope this helps.

GEAUX TIGERS

The Student Tickets were Never Free, they were a part of your Student Fees at registration.

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a complete hassle to give your ticket to somebody else because student IDs are supposed to match the ticket.

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Completely wrong. They send out emails every week saying they don't give two shits whose ticket it is, as long as you use your own ID.

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You can pay to upgrade the ticket if you wish to sell it to a non-student, but they limit the number of these for each game.

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Kinda wrong. They're only doing upgrades for OOC games this season. That's right, Auburn and Florida have seen smaller crowds while they are no longer allowing ticket upgrades. They don't give a frick.

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they never were free. your mommy and daddy paid for them via the "student activity" fee

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Do you recall how much? I know my tuition in 74 was $160! I know there was some fee curious what it was!

i was also at LSU in 1974 and i seem to remember that student fees were something in the range of $35- a semester or so....

How many of you remember when the Student Section STARTED on the west side and went into most of the NEZ. Seems like the band sat totally in the NE side.

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because student IDs are supposed to match the ticket.

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that isn't true

they don't even check them at the same time