Football tickets not guaranteed for parents
Joining Duke Club becomes a requirement
By Mary Frances Czarsty, assistant news editor
Posted on September 7, 2006

Ever since the JMU football steam strode victoriously off the field in Chattanooga, Tenn., Bridgeforth Stadium has been increasingly packed.

Students braved a line that stretched all the way to D-hall for tickets during the first home game of the season, and tickets to this weekend’s game at Appalachian State are sold out. Tickets are in demand and this year’s Family Weekend game is hardly an exception.
Previously, students received a free ticket with a quick flash of their JAC Card and everyone else paid $23 for general admission. This year, some parents were taken by surprise when they called the box office and were directed to the Student Duke Club, where they had to pay an additional $50 to purchase a ticket.

Sally Brady, parent of a JMU student said. “They didn’t let us know ahead of time. It was a surprise and we didn’t think it was fairly done.” The Bradys decided not to buy tickets this year.

Of the 7,000 available tickets, 300 were set aside for the Duke Club before they went on sale to the general public. These tickets were reserved for parents only, according to Scott Koskoski, the Duke Club Director.

“The ticket office and the Duke Club worked together to make sure parents would have the opportunity to buy tickets,” he said. “If we didn’t set them aside, they would be taken by outsiders.”

However, the tickets required an additional $50 donation when purchased from the Duke Club. The $50 is the membership fee to the Duke Club.

“Only members of the Duke Club were able to purchase tickets,” Koskoski said, “so many families opted to join the club, but a lot were already members.”

“This is the first year we have done anything like this, because tickets are in such high demand right now,” Koskoski said.

The Duke Club still had tickets available on Tuesday, but there were only about 20 remaining.

Non-student tickets went on sale March 1, and were sold out by Aug. 22 according to Mike Carpenter, director of ticketing. There are still about 1,200 student tickets available that will go on sale two weeks before the game. Many students already have their ticket.

“About 1,200 additional student tickets were already reserved when their parents called, so families could sit together,” he said.

Junior J.C. Cartwright, who works for the athletic ticket office, has never seen tickets sell so rapidly.
“This is the fastest I’ve seen tickets sell out, even after the year we were just coming off the championship,” he said.

While the money from the football tickets is not going toward a particular project, every dollar the Duke Club acquires from membership fees serves two major functions: offsetting the general operating costs of the athletic department and funding student-athletic scholarships.

“At the end of the academic year, we have a $4.2 million check to write to the university for those scholarships,” Koskoski said.

The Duke Club is the official fund-raising arm of JMU athletics, so the money parents and others donate will help defray this cost.

Some students are still skeptical about the additional cost.

“I just think it’s slightly ridiculous to pay $50 extra for a ticket,” said junior Jessica Coffin. “It’s a little sketchy for the Duke Club to be able to charge that.”

Still, Koskoski said, the most important thing is getting parents to attend. “If we didn’t reserve them, those 300 tickets would go to about 50 or 60 people who would order five or six tickets each,” he said. “We want the parents to attend with the students.”