With the excitement of a new school year also comes the thrill and anticipation of Notre Dame football. This year, the Notre Dame Ticket Office unveiled a new ticketing process for students at the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s, and Holy Cross.
“Student Football Tickets Going Mobile” read an email that students recieved from the Notre Dame Ticketing Office during the first week of classes. The email stated that this year’s season tickets would be delivered electronically for use as a mobile ticket on students’ smartphones. Gone are the days of the infamous ticket booklets, which had been used for many years as the standard ticketing system.
In the new ticketing process, students must download their PDF-file ticket (see above) on their phone and present it to ushers at both the main gate and section entrance. No more will students have to wait in long lines to pick up their tickets or worry about losing them during the season. Despite these advantages that the e-ticket seems to bring, many students question whether the benefits of this game day e-ticket are outweighed by the various drawbacks.
“One of the biggest and most concerning factors to me involves the battery life on my phone,” a Notre Dame junior remarked. “In past years, my phone usually died by game time, but now I have to be extra careful with the battery life this year so that I can get into the game.”
“Because of Notre Dame’s less-than-steller phone service near the stadium on game days, I spend a lot of time on my phone trying to figure out where my friends or family are,” one Notre Dame sophomore commented. “Because of this, my phone’s battery dies really quickly. Now that I have to rely on my phone for my football ticket, I am extremely nervous to use my phone as regularily as I need to.”
There is always the option of printing out your mobile ticket; however, many students express concerns that you can lose them with ease or risk weather-related damage to the flimsy ticket.
That being said, I personally love the implimentation of the mobile e-ticket for gamedays. It’s quick, easy, and convienent. In spite of this, I do find that having to rely heavily on your phone is a major drawback. My solution: charging stations. If Notre Dame would put charging stations for smartphones around the outside of the stadium, there would be fewer complications. (There are some inside the stadium, but they aren’t near the student section and, of course, you have to get in to use them!) That way, if your phone does die, you can be sure that you will get in the game with no problems and zero worries.
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Images: 1, 2 (provided by author)