Stadium seating seriously sucks for students

Ah, finally the dust has begun to settle and the completion date for the highly anticipated E. Claiborne Robins Stadium is right around the corner. And, plans for the stadium are in sync with the University of Richmond's time-honored football traditions.

The 8,700-seat stadium with a limited capacity and an end-zone student section will help the Richmond student ritual of nonattendance endure.

While one might think that the purpose of bringing the stadium on campus is to bolster student support for our champion football team, the 1,500-seat student section sets rather low expectations for an increase in student attendance.

Since the number of students partaking in pre-game activities will probably also increase because of closer proximity, the solo-cup-to-seat ratio should stay roughly the same.

Despite the steadily increasing student interest during the past few years and the football team's success as conference champions, the focus may remain on frat juice, sundresses, pastel pants and the occasional bowtie. Spiders can shamelessly carry on the tradition of tail-gating and game-time napping while only about half of us can get tickets.

At the last Homecoming game against Villanova, 1,600 students made the trip to the stadium downtown. According to a series of complex mathematical calculations, we can probably expect the student turnout for homecoming this year at our brand new, on-campus, no-more-than-15-minute-walk-from-any-dormitory-or-apartment stadium to be approximately ... greater than 1,500. Woof.

In order to give all students a fair chance to attend games, student development is tossing around the idea of changing the student-ticketing procedure to a lottery system. Student fans who have never missed a game in the past can plan on crossing their fingers and toes all season or scalping tickets out front.

Other proposals for student-ticketing include rock-paper-scissors-shoot (best out of three), or, students may be given the option to reserve tickets in advance by signing over a semester's worth of meal swipes or promising their firstborn child.

Now, let's be honest here: Having an on-campus stadium without enough seats for students would be as absurd as being ranked the 15th best business school in the nation by Businessweek and not supplying the Wall Street Journal (oh, wait a sec).

All joking aside, the limited capacity of the new stadium does put a bit of a damper on the opening of our long-awaited stadium. While students may not fill the designated section every game, it's a little sad to think that it isn't even possible to exceed the student turnout of last year's Homecoming game.

While game day festivities may have been more concentrated on pre- and post-game activities in the past, one of the biggest changes at our school during the last few years has been an increase in student attendance at sporting events, a trend that is sure to continue now that we don't have to leave campus to attend football games. It seems as though student support for Spider Football is being capped just as momentum is beginning to grow.

And, now students will be relegated to end-zone seating. While this change in location will bring students closer to the field, watching a football game from the end zone is kind of like pouring ingredients in a measuring cup without looking at the marking along the side -- it's difficult to judge where the teams are on the field or if they make it past the first down marker.

And, of course, we'll no longer have the privilege of rooting on our team from directly behind our sidelines.

While the University can't supercede the city sanctions that limit stadium capacity, student-ticketing methods are still open for discussion. For rising seniors who are looking forward to attending next season's football games in the new stadium, the lottery ticketing system is a major concern.

Speaking from an entirely biased perspective, I recommend a senior privilege be instituted the first year the new stadium is open. We've had to cramp ourselves into shuttles and haul friends back to campus who have indulged in a little too much of that other kind of game-day spirit(s) for the past three years. We deserve a little one-on-one time with our new stadium before we break it in at its graduation debut next year.

And for the non-fair weather fans who have consistently attended games in the past, to be denied a ticket would be a disservice and also an insult to those who have shown the most support and care the most about Spider Football. And, of course, this would be detrimental to the team itself, which could lose its greatest fans.

In following years, perhaps student-ticketing can be based on a points system in which a higher priority will be given to those who attend more games.

Until then, dedicated Richmond Football fans and nostalgic suckers alike can bask in the last opportunity to enjoy the spacious, sideline seating at the spring football game at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday, the last-ever football game at the ol' UR Stadium.

Contact opinion assistant Kristy Burkhardt at kristy.burkhardt@richmond.edu