Three minutes before tickets for the Otto’s Army trip to the Syracuse University and University of Virginia football game were available, the line of students waiting for tickets barely reached the main lobby of the Schine Student Center.

Most students walking into the box office area sideswiped the line to use the restrooms, and 10 minutes after the box office began giving away the tickets, the line was completely clear bar a few sporadic ticket buyers.

Fifty-one tickets were available Tuesday beginning at 9 a.m. for the game, which will take place at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday. The tickets were available free of charge and on a first-come, first-served basis for SU and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students. One ticket was still available as of 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The Schine Box Office closed at 5 p.m.

Last year, students began lining up at the Carrier Dome around midnight to purchase tickets to the Otto’s Army trip to the SU game against the University of Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium, and about 130 students were at the Carrier Dome Box Office when it opened at 6:45 a.m.

This year, Aidan Tinelli, a sophomore information management and technology major, said he simply went to class, came to Schine and got in line to get his ticket. Tinelli said he was unable to get tickets last year for Otto’s Army’s trip to MetLife Stadium to see the game.

Tinelli said the lack of students in line could be attributed to the rainy weather and added that he didn’t think there were less students because the trip will be to a college, rather than to a professional football stadium, like MetLife.

“It’s obviously going to be at a college,” he said. “It’s going to be cool though.”

Otto’s Army President Natalie Wiesnet said in an email that Otto’s Army chose UVA as the venue for its trip this year because SU does not have a game scheduled to take place at MetLife this season, which it had for the past three seasons. Wiesnet said UVA was the organization’s next best option in regards to ticket prices, distance from Syracuse and rivalry.

“We went to UVA in the past for basketball, but never football,” she added. “So we’re really excited to be able to have this opportunity to experience a new venue and support the Syracuse football program.”

Nick Gold, a freshman sport management major, said there might be less demand for the tickets this year because UVA’s football team isn’t doing so great this season, and that the Orange’s performance might also have something to do with it.

“They were doing okay this year; it may just be because we lost two in a row,” Gold said, referring to SU’s recent consecutive losses to Louisiana State University and the University of South Florida.

Wiesnet said she thinks the success of the team closely influences the demand for tickets to away games.

“If the team is going through a rough patch, more of the casual fans are less inclined to travel to see a team, so you get more of the die-hard fans and people really committed to the team through thick and thin,” she said.

Published on October 13, 2015 at 9:08 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu