The men’s basketball team starts its season tonight against Army at the Liacouras Center for the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off. Those attending the 7 p.m. tip-off might want to head down to the arena a little earlier than usual because of a potential problem with season tickets.
According to Scott Walcoff, assistant athletic director for marketing, promotions and tickets, “90 percent of season tickets had been sent out via FedEx by Nov. 9. As soon as we got them printed, we wanted to get them out to season ticket holders as soon as possible.”
A longtime season ticket holder received a call last Friday and was told that there had been a problem concerning the printing of tickets. He said he was told he could pick up his tickets any time after the office opens at 10 a.m. today.
“This has become a recurring theme over the past few years,” the season ticket holder said.
The Liacouras Center’s contract with Ticketmaster, a national ticket broker, expired early this month. In place was a new deal with New Era Tickets, a Philadelphia-based entertainment firm owned by Comcast Spectacor. Walcoff said that deal began after the old deal expired.
“We knew it was going to be a problem [switching from Ticketmaster],” Walcoff said. “Unfortunately, all of the computers were not set up until the seventh or eighth of November, therefore we could not print all of the tickets. We did, however, send out postcards to our season ticket holders in early- to mid-October informing them that there was going to be a delay.”
The ticket holder acknowledged receiving the postcard, which he said promised the tickets would be ready by last Friday.
Walcoff acknowledged that there have been a few complaints, but said the majority of people simply wanted to know how to obtain their tickets. Walcoff added that the box office will be well-equipped to handle any type of volume problems that may occur.
Tickets can be purchased through the Liacouras Center Web site at www.liacourascenter.com or by calling 1-888-OWLS-TIX. Tickets for the contest against current No. 1 Duke will go on sale Dec. 1.
The tickets are being sold separately because Ticketmaster still holds the rights to the game, which will be played at the Wachovia Center.
Kevin Maloney can be reached at kevmaloney33@yahoo.com
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