Faculty, staff eligible for two free tickets

The Athletics Department is spinning its wheels to ensure 9,953 fans
pile into the seats of Kelly/Shorts Stadium for Saturday’s football
game against Ball State.

Two free tickets are being offered to each CMU faculty and staff
member as part of a thanks to the community for supporting the team.

“We have had outstanding support from the community,” said Nick
Williams, assistant athletics director of marketing.

Students also will participate, as two students will receive free
rent for the 2005-06 school year and two round-trip airfare tickets to
Las Vegas will be raffled.

The Chippewas must average 15,000 fans this season in order to avoid
NCAA probation and to retain Division I-A status. There must be 9,953
fans for Saturday’s home finale to reach that average.

Williams said the giveaways should help draw enough students to put
Central above the mark.

“The possibility of free rent is a big deal, that’s thousands of
dollars saved. When I was a student, I would have loved to have free
rent for a year,” he said. “The giveaway is being done to draw a large
crowd, but it’s also a little thank you to the students from the
Athletic Department.”

Each student will receive a raffle ticket upon entering the stadium.
The student’s ticket that matches the numbers announced will win.

Division Junior John Robinson said the giveaway is a great idea.

“Being able to watch Division I football for free is a good enough
reason to attend,” he said. “Adding in the possibility of winning free
rent or a trip to Vegas should make everyone want to attended the game.”

The winners of the rent giveaway will receive a free nine-month
lease at one of the Quality Apartment complexes. The free rent giveaway
is courtesy of Quality Apartment’s Nancy McGuirk, a former CMU student.

“Hopefully it would be a good promotional idea and attendance will
reach the mark,” McGuirk said. “Back when I was a student everyone
attended the football games — it would be nice to see that tradition
again.”

The winner of the trip to Las Vegas will receive two round- trip
airfare vouchers to Las Vegas courtesy of Allegiant Airlines and are
redeemable at Lansing Capital City Airport.

Williams expects to give away between 800 and 1,000 tickets to
faculty at the game. He did not know how much the tickets would cost
the university.

“The cost depends on the way you look at it,” he said. “If you just
look at the cost of printing and distributing the tickets, the cost is
minimal. If we would actually sell those seats, than the cost would be
greater.”

Mary Gillingham, foreign languages, literatures and cultures
professor, questions the Athletics Department’s motivation in giving
the tickets away.

“I have not gotten any free tickets to the football games since I
have been here,” Gillingham said.

Williams said this is not a last-ditch effort to meet the NCAA’s
attendance mandate.

“This is something that has been in our marketing plan since the
beginning of the year,” Williams said.

The NCAA changed its policy about what could be counted in
attendance this year. Before the change, tickets that were given away
for promotions could not be counted toward attendance. The rule now
states attendance is the number of people that walk through the gates —
not paid attendance.