Every Eagles fan has experienced the stress and anticipation that comes along with the ticket lotteries for men's ice hockey and men's basketball. These games are in high demand, and getting tickets entails both entering into a lottery and waiting eagerly for the e-mail that announces whether a ticket package is available.
Frequenters of Conte Forum can also attest that at the less popular games, typically held on weeknights and against less competitive teams, the fans are not so much "Super" as they are nonexistent.
In an effort to remedy the dwindling attendance at low-profile games and some of the more ineffective aspects of the current lottery system, the Boston College athletics department has devised a SuperFan rewards program that will give students points based on their attendance at games. These point levels will then affect students' chances of getting a package the following year.
Jamie Di Loreto, associate athletic director, said the new system was designed to, "track students coming into the games, create a great atmosphere, reward students that come to events, and allow students that come to games to have a greater percentage of chance to get tickets the following year," he said. At the same time it "make[s] sense with the current system."
This year, in an effort to put the point system into play as soon as possible, all students who entered into either the men's hockey or basketball lotteries were awarded either a half or full season for each respective sport. Four points will be awarded for sparsely attended games, while only one will be given for attending a popular weekend game; points earned by half-season ticket-holders will be doubled.
At the end of the season, all accumulated points will be tabulated. Those with the highest number of points will benefit directly from the system and will increase their chances of getting a package for the subsequent season.
Freshmen season ticket-holders who attend less than two-thirds of the games in their packages, and non-season ticket holders will be awarded the smallest number of packages.
