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Want a Dave Matthews ticket? Try your luck at the lottery

Date 2/25/1999 12:00 AM | Topic: News



When you play the lottery at Luther, you may end up with a ticket to the Dave Matthews' concert

. That is, if your gambling luck has paid off.

The intense support and popularity of Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds' acoustic performance forced the Luther College box office to devise a new system of ticket distribution: a lottery.

According to Bradley Phillips, box office manager, SAC Concerts volunteers and box office employees spent numerous hours questioning students and faculty about the best way to distribute tickets to students. The result was the lottery system, much like the one used for Messiah and Juletide.

"It [the lottery] was, we felt, the fairest way to go, " said Trish Neubauer, SAC coordinator.

The lottery entailed the creation of a ticket request form. Student with the co-curricular activities fee (CAF) filled out the forms and turned them into the box office beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. Any form received after 3:00 p.m. was placed in the collection box for the following day.

On Feb. 9, 1,684 ticket requests were turned in, resulting in 55 denials. By the end of Feb. 10, 250 students were denied a ticket.

According to Phillips, there were three basic reasons the lottery system was used.

"First, for safety and health reasons, we did not want students camping outside of the CFL. Second, we did not want to see students skipping classes just to get a ticket for the concert. And third, we also felt it would be less stressful."

He said the overall results of the lottery system were positive. However, the box office received a half dozen calls from Decorah citizens disappointed that Luther students had first choice for tickets.

"Despite a few disappointed people, most understood that this was a Luther sponsored activity for Luther College students," said Phillips. The box office made no promises to outside inquirers about receiving tickets.

To the lucky ones who received tickets, there remains the issue of scalping. There has been extensive talk about checking identification cards on the night of the concert to prohibit scalping. According to Drew DeWitt ('99), SAC Concerts co-chair, there is still no definite decision. However, Phillips said it would not be a good idea to check identification cards.

"There are problems in scalping and also in trying to prohibit scalping. For example, a student who receives a ticket but does not want to, or cannot, attend the concert will sell his or her ticket for a hundred dollars anyway. Then it is our problem," said Phillips. "Kids will sell their tickets no matter what the precautions."

Phillips continued to say that it is also an ethical issue. Once a student has possession of a ticket, which he/she paid for, the student has the right to do what he/she wants with it. Still, there has been no final decision on whether students will be expected to match their ticket with an identification card.

For those students who received a ticket but found out they will not be attending the concert, SAC Concerts co-chairs Trevin Goin ('99) and DeWitt urge them to return their tickets to the box office.

"There are a lot of kids with CAF cards who paid for this privilege at the beginning of the school year but did not get a ticket through the lottery," said Neubauer. "Why not give them your ticket, instead of selling it."

"The hardest part about the lottery is seeing people not get tickets that want to see the show," stated Goin.

Forty tickets have been set aside as stand-by tickets. They will be available the night of the concert beginning at 7 p.m.

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Rachel Nicholas
Chips Staff Writer

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