In Record Numbers, Students Nab Tickets to The Game

With the Harvard-Yale Game less than three weeks away and with tickets no longer guaranteed to all students, more than two-thirds of undergraduates have collected their free tickets to the Game.

Over 4,500 tickets had been distributed by late afternoon yesterday—more than in previous years—according to ticket office workers.

This is the first year that tickets to the Game, to be held Nov. 23, are free to undergraduates, and student response has been enthusiastic.

Ticket distribution for the 119th Game has been moving briskly as undergraduates try out the new distribution system, said Michael D. Correa, athletic ticket manager.

“They came in waves,” he said. “I’ve been pretty happy with the way traffic flowed through the office...The lines were pretty manageable, and we were able to get a lot of tickets out in advance.”

The ticket office was flexible about letting students bring in friends’ ID cards, said Correa, and workers saw collections of 30 to 40 IDs.

“[Ticket distribution] was a lot easier,” said T. Sean McKean ’05, a resident of Pforzheimer House, where a designated person for each class picked up tickets for everyone. “It saved a whole bunch of time.”

The free tickets have even encouraged a few students to arrange for tickets despite sneaking into past Games.

“In past years, they kind of stopped checking tickets halfway through the game,” said Ian D. Walker ’03, who has attended the last Game held at Harvard without purchasing a ticket.

This year, he headed across the river to pick up his complimentary game ticket.

Though the designated pick-up days have already passed, late-comers still have time to pick up their tickets.

Tickets are available at the Murr Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until student section tickets run out.

In addition, tickets for non-undergraduates are still available for $29.

At the 2000 Harvard-Yale game in Cambridge, students—who purchased their own tickets for $12—could bring one guest for $12 and additional guests for $25 each.

Upperclass students will be seated on the sides in Harvard Stadium in sections 34-37. Section 37 had been designated for first-years, but was already filled to capacity by an overflow of upperclass students. First-years will instead be seated in end zone sections 17 and 19.

“It’s going to be pretty tight,” said Correa, who anticipates that ushers and security guards will try to contain undergraduates in the student sections as much as possible.