Rapper Fabolous’ show Friday is now free for students, faculty and staff.

Scheduled by Program Board, On the Fly Productions and Minority Student Services, the concert will end Hip-Hop Week at 7:30 p.m. in Rose Arena. Tickets originally were set at
$14 to $22 for students, faculty and staff.

But Monday, the groups said they would make the event free for everyone except the public ($14 to $22).

Program Board President David Breed said the decision was made because of slumping ticket sales.

“I think the idea behind it was ticket prices were a little bit high, and that was deterring students from buying tickets,” Breed, a Muskegon junior, said. “We didn’t want
attendance to hinder the show, so we decided to make it a free show. We have the budget to afford to do that. That was a collaborative effort between us and On The Fly
Productions. We all agreed that was probably the best way to go.”

Other reasons

Program Board Concert Chairwoman Kirsten Trombly said another thing that factored in was the economy.

“We had a lot of people saying it was too expensive with the economic times we were in now, and we can completely understand that,” Trombly, a Metamora junior, said.

Coordinator of Student Activities Damon Brown said ticket prices and sales had a little bit to do with it, but said other things, such as Central Michigan University’s victory over
Michigan State University and the fact the home football game is the day after also were major factors.

“Everything factored into the decision. At the end of the day, we thought it was the best decision for the students,” Brown said.

Eric Steiner of On The Fly Productions said the groups are expecting a large crowd for Fabolous.

“A lot of people are going to be in town for CMU’s (first home) game,” the Niles sophomore said. “So we are expecting a big turnout.”

Brown said he was not sure about the ticket sales, but said he knew after the first week of sales a couple hundred were sold.

Refunds for bought tickets can be redeemed by bringing the tickets to the CMU Box Office on the lower level of the Bovee University Center by 5 p.m. Friday.

Brown said payment to Fabolous, set to make $25,000 for the concert, will be taken care of mostly by Program Board and On The Fly with some help from MSS.

-Staff Reporter Megan Vance contributed to this report.

E-mail the author: Brad Canze