8A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
▼ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
NEWS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2005
A new way to find that perfect seat
Kim Andrews/KANSAN
Brandon Simmons, associate director for box offices, left, guides Chris Allen, Overland Park senior, and his freshman brother, James Allen, right, through the new men's basketball ticket selection process. The Allen brothers took care of picking out their family's season tickets this year. Both said they were excited for the season to begin.
Officials say system treats all equally
BY RVAN SCHNEIDER
rschneider@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
A new tradition may be starting this year for some men's basketball fans.
The Kansas Athletics Department held its first select-a-seat program for seats at men's basketball games yesterday. The order of seat selection was determined based on donations to the Williams Educational Fund.
Season ticket holders were assigned times to come to Allen Fieldhouse for the event. They were accompanied by athletics department officials to select their seats from diagrams of sections in the fieldhouse.
Ticket holders had already selected several sections in which they would like to sit. That list was then compared to sections with available seats. They also had the opportunity to see the view of the court from their new seats.
"I've actually had positive reaction," Rodney Jones, Williams Fund director, said. "This way there's no surprises when they get tickets in the mail."
Because the times were assigned, many families sent representatives to the fieldhouse to select their seats for the coming season.
Chris and James Allen selected seats for their vacationing parents, Mark and Louise Allen of Overland Park. Mark Allen is the grandson of Kansas basketball coach Forrest C. "Phog" Allen.
Rodney Jones Williams Fund director
keep the same seats they had last season in section H, on the lower level.
"It was a pretty simple process," Chris Allen said. "Our parents had preference, like first, second and third or just whatever was available."
Alicia Rieder, fourth year season-ticket holder, said her family increased its Williams Fund donation in order to improve its seats. She said her seats last season were in section 6, on the top row. Her family's seats this season will be in section 7, in the chair-back section.
"I've actually had positive reaction. This way there's no surprises when they get tickets in the mail."
The Allen family was able to
Rieder said it was possible to lose seats on the bleachers because other fans were constantly shifting during games.
"The advantage to the chairback is that your seat is always there," Rieder, Lawrence resident, said.
Several ticket holders with more than four or five tickets
had difficulty finding seats together in the lower chair-back sections.
Andy and Donna Perry, St. Mary residents, said they were not able to get their first or second selections. They said they had to move up several sections to find six seats together. Several sections only had one or two seats together in the same row. They were, however, able to find
better seats than last season.
"We're very happy," Andy Perry said. "We moved down 12 rows from last year. I'm very pleased."
The process reflected the view of Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins. Jones said.
"It's a system that's put in place to treat people equally," Jones said.
The select-a-seat program was first used by the Athletics Department for football season- ticket holders this season.
end Friday.
Last season, ticket holders were assigned seats by the Athletics Department based on donations to the Williams Fund. Specific sections only were available to ticket holders who met the minimum point requirements.
The selection process will
A minimum donation of $100 is required to become a Williams Fund member. Fans are given points for University of Kansas Alumni Association membership, Chancellor's Club membership and one point for every $100 donation.
Edited by Ty Beaver
Crowds still flock despite gas prices
General manager Denny Stoecklein said fair attendance rose as gas prices did. He said crowds on Saturday and Sunday
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HUTCHINSON — High gas prices kept some people away from the Kansas State Fair, but officials were happy with this year's attendance figures.
— the fair's final days — were large, but it will be several weeks before he has a final tally on the number of tickets sold.
"Overall, we're real thrilled," general manager Denny Stoecklein said. "It's gone great."
The biggest draw was a grandstand performance of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion, which packed in about 9,000 spectators. The two-hour show reaches more than 4 million listeners weekly on 558 public radio stations, as well as American networks in Europe and the Far East.
Many people who attended the live broadcast were firsttime fairgoers or had not been to a grandstand show before, Stoecklein said.
STATE FAIR
Although there was still country on the menu this year, the flavor of choice was rock: alternative, classic, even Christian.
Fair officials were briefly caught off guard by country singer Trace Adkins' emergency appendectomy, which forced him to cancel Sunday night's performance. After learning of the situation Saturday morning, organizers were able to line up "Nashville Star" runner-up Buddy Jewell to fill in.
"To pull off something like that on a day's notice on a weekend — we were pretty pleased," Stoecklein said.
ww
Se
Perki
Big
playe
after
a sch
five
Kans
victo
Loui
P fens Satu his on t