Pat Kraft is walking a fine line.
Maybe I care about Penn State’s athletic director’s job performance too much. Maybe I’m overthinking all of this.
Spoiler: I probably am but that’s why I’m writing about it. Kraft’s athletic department’s latest decision certainly is, well, a decision.
Penn State announced that its student ticket process will no longer be an early morning wake-up call but instead a lottery of random luck. And honestly, it’s another decision by Kraft and co. that’s made me question the direction of his athletic department – at least as it relates to fan experience.
So I guess, welcome to the Pat Kraft experience. Unfortunately for people like me and you, sorry if you don’t like it but I’m not sure we matter.
There have been some decisions of late that have rubbed me and a lot of you the wrong way.
Last football season, there was the fan survey about the future of Beaver Stadium. Here you and I were, proud Penn Stater using what extra money you have to buy season tickets, getting a crack to shape the future of Beaver Stadium.
Except the survey was essentially all about luxury and premium seating. Nothing about the average fan experience, nothing about normal Penn State fan. Just asking me if I’d like to have a bathroom in my suite or not.
Then, we got our ticket bills. And our prices went up by $100 – at least for the majority of fans – in the shape of an increased donation to the Nittany Lion Club. Was there any communication it was coming? Any communication it was happening at all?
No. It was just right there in your bill.
A little heads up probably wouldn’t have made me as annoyed by it. It certainly wouldn’t have cost Penn State anything to send that heads up either. But I’m still fired up about it. Layer in that it won’t just cost season ticket holders more money but it will likely cause the price of secondary market tickets to go up and again another move that makes you scratch your head. Why are we making it harder to attend football games?
Hold on, we’re at the halfway point of my current list of complaints.
Next came Blue-White weekend. Well, it’s not here yet but at least came the news that Blue-White parking is not longer first-come, first-serve. Instead it’s assigned parking based on where you are during the season for season ticket holders and far-from-the-stadium parking for those arriving the day of. So not only is it harder to tailgate with your friends who don’t have season tickets but we’ve also made it less accessible for those who are dependent on the weather to come because you have to either buy parking in advance or be forced to park in the outer-reaches of the cow fields. Plus, there’s now a secondary market for Blue-White parking passes. That feels wrong for a glorified practice.
And finally, that brings us to Tuesday. Was Penn State’s student ticket process the best or easiest? No, in fact it was more stressful than any test I took in the four years it took me to get a degree in college. The early wake-up calls in the midst of summer were not ideal. But this plan – a random chance lottery? Yeah, no thank you, not a fan even if I don’t have a dog in the fight.
I’d rather have to log on to Ticketmaster at 4 a.m. on dial-up internet on an eMachine than use this system.
The lottery system doesn’t reward students who actually attended games – not just football games – last season. It also doesn’t give priority to University Park students, allowing for any student to just join the lottery. While non-University Park students should get a crack, what’s preventing any student – regardless of branch – to join the lottery, win and then resell the ticket for a profit?
There should be merit to this process. That’s what the early wake-up call served as. There’s also no indication that there will be a cap on the price tag of resale. That will only cause students who actually want to go to the games but didn’t win the lottery to dig deeper into their pockets. (Kraft really enjoys making a secondary market.)
And if any of that is actually a part of the lottery or ticket process – or even future plans – Penn State did a terrible job of explaining and expressing that. So much so, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more unified Penn State comment section like I have on the Instagram post about this.
Now that I’ve got all of my complaints off my chest, that’s why I say Kraft is walking a fine line. I like that he’s visible. I like that he’s passionate about Penn State student athletes’ success. I like that I think about Kraft because it shows he cares enough to make me care about him.
He’s made some decisions I’ve applauded already that will help Penn State perform better on the field, court, grass or ice. He seems to get some of the issues facing college athletics, too.
But some of these fan decisions, man, they make it hard for me to like him. And they’re his decisions. This is his athletic department — or at least the way it operates — reflects back on him.
The decisions do, however, make it more and more evident our voice doesn’t matter.
I don’t know if I understand the value in alienating the core of the fanbase the way some of these moves have, particularly when attendance and the idea of a “#107KStrong Family” is a marketing ploy jammed in my face left and right. Penn State rightfully prides itself on attendance but it’s starting make decisions that can exclude the bulk of those who make up that attendance.
I don’t like it. I don’t know if there’s anything I can do about it. I don’t know if there’s anything you can do about it. (Assuming you’re not a Penn State mega-donor.)
It’s annoying. It’s frustrating.
It’s also – again – a part of the big money machine that is college athletics.
It just doesn’t mean I — or you — can’t complain about it though.
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