In-person ticket pulls have been a part of the student experience at Texas A&M for decades.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The regular season of the 2024 college football year has wrapped up, and changes are already on the horizon for many programs.
For Texas A&M, one of the major changes that was announced on Friday will be a move away from the previous way that ticket pulls for games were conducted.
In a message titled “Prioritizing Student Safety” from Texas A&M University President General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh III, he showed his gratitude to all that attended the first iteration of the Lone Star Showdown in over a decade and those that brought as much excitement to the game.
However, when it came to getting tickets to those wanting to attend the game, issues surrounding the safety of those waiting for tickets and keeping the area around the ticket offices relatively clean became an issue.
“We put students at risk in the ticket pull for the Texas game,” President Welsh said in his message on Friday. “I will not risk letting that happen again.”
Some even began congregating around the Kyle Field ticket offices around the time the Aggies played against New Mexico State–three whole weeks before the Texas game was set to kick off.
However, unlike previous years ticket pull was slated to occur the week prior to Thanksgiving to give staff the holiday off, meaning what would be a three-week wait for tickets was fortunately cut down a little bit.
In-person ticket pulls have been a part of the Texas A&M student experience for decades, and is one of the things that the school has kept unchanged despite Kyle Field being the host of many high-profile games that reward the ultra-faithful seniors and graduate students–whose ticket pulls fall on Monday–the best seats in the student section, typically on the first deck.
In fact, new rules were put in place before the beginning of the season and were implemented after A&M’s season-opening matchup against Notre Dame. Those new rules restricted when campouts would begin for ticket pulls and outlined what sorts of items could be brought and used for the campout.
When it came to the ticket pull for the Texas game, there were many violations that were alleged when it came to the ticket pull line, as well as reported health concerns and fighting amongst those that were in line, according to a report from the Texas A&M student newspaper The Battalion. The Corps of Cadets’ Company E2–Reveille’s handlers–even reportedly had to step in due to some standing on the Reveille graves, located nearby the ticket offices just outside Kyle Field.
By 2:30 p.m. the day ticket pulls began, all student guest tickets had sold out. Three days later, on Thursday, Texas A&M Athletics had reported that all student tickets had been sold.
According to the message, a survey led by the Student Government Association showed that nearly 2/3 of responding sports pass holders (63%) were in favor of having ticket pulls move to an online system.
A group met to begin discussing the framework of the new system earlier this week, with a method for the online system set to be worked on over the next few weeks, according to President Welsh.
Click here to read the full message.