Filling the Stadium

The Game is finally here. The one we've been waiting for. The one we frantically formed ticket blocks for weeks ago.

We Harvardians are all set. We've got our tickets, our seating blocks, our booze and our "Yale sucks!" gear. All we have to do now is make it across the river to the Stadium, and wait for the first cork to pop.

But what about the Yalies? How did they get their tickets? Where will they be sitting? In which direction should we scream our good-natured obscenities?

Never fear: here are the answers to those all-important questions.

The Yale ticket office sold tickets in sections 2 and 3 to their student season ticket holders--one seat at half-price ($10) and one at full ($20)--five days before it opened up sales to the entire student body and general public.

"Student season ticket holders get slightly better seats in the reserve sections 2 and 3," Yale Ticket Office Manager Austin C. Sass said. "The rest of the student body gets section 1 and the collonade."

Although Yale's non-season ticket holders were only allowed one ticket per person (at full price), they were able to collect ID cards and form unlimited blocks.

"The allotment has been running very smoothly," Sass said. "We avoided lines by letting students gather ID's."

Though the Elis obtained their tickets with relative ease, some griped about the seats they received from the Crimson.

"We get some complaints," Sass said. "Yale gives a lot better seats to Harvard than Harvard does Yale. The oldest class ends up sitting in the 11th section. There's nothing we can do about it--everyone wants to sit on the 50-yard line."

"But most students have a great time anyway, so they don't care where they sit," Sass added.

Yale received approximately 12,000 tickets from Harvard--but quickly sent back 1000, according to Sass, "because they wouldn't sell."

Ivy on TV

"The game being on t.v. hurts sales," Sass said. "Why spend $20 to sit out and freeze? People would rather sit home with wine and cheese and watch the game."

Yale's ticket office started working on selling Harvard-Yale tickets in June. It mailed applications to alumni, to be sent back by mid-October. The ticket staff then sorted applications by class, and started allocating and mailing out bids.

"People have big party groups of 30 people from their graduating class--that's what makes the game fun," Sass said. "This is the one game where alums plan on seeing each other every year."

Yale stopped selling tickets November 14, and returned its extra tickets to Harvard so that the Crimson's ticket office would have a chance to sell them.