Vanderbilt University has enacted new student ticket and entry processes for this weekend’s football game between No. 25 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Texas. Vanderbilt Athletics emailed students at 6:31 p.m. CDT announcing the changes.
“Your support and attendance at football games has been phenomenal. We’ve seen you show up in unprecedented numbers, and you’ve made a difference each game,” Vanderbilt Athletics said. “We know the student section in FirstBank Stadium will reach capacity on Saturday. You’ve packed the section twice already this season, and we look forward to seeing you Saturday, too.”
The change comes after an unprecedented season for Vanderbilt Football that’s seen the student section reach capacity during games against both Virginia Tech and Alabama.
The email also announced that the university will hold additional tickets in other sections of the stadium and the “standing room only” areas of the North End Zone. This change should allow “several hundred more students” to attend the game beyond just those who fit in Sections P and Q of the student section.
Once the student section’s capacity runs out, students will be provided with printed tickets for other seats in the stadium. After these overflow tickets are claimed, students will be directed to the “standing room only” section of the North End Zone terrace.
All tickets that students have used through the first four games will be disabled. Fans will still be provided complimentary tickets, but priority will be offered to students who have attended three (of four) or more home games in 2024.
Senior Raechel Rawicz, who has been to all the home games, thinks positively about the policy.
“I like that the new ticket system prioritizes students who’ve been going to the games already,” Rawicz said in a statement to The Hustler. “I think that will help the stands be full of school spirit and will help keep up the momentum in the student section.”
The policy also offers priority status to students who have shown support throughout the early parts of the season. These students will be able to log into their student accounts and claim first-come, first-serve student section tickets at 12 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, Oct. 23. For those students who have yet to attend more than half of the Commodore’s home games, they must wait until Friday, Oct. 25 at 10 a.m. CDT.
Senior Mahaan Uttam is skeptical about the new policy.
“As someone who is a casual Vanderbilt fan, I find it flagrant that they [Vanderbilt Athletics] are limiting it to people who have been to three plus games,” said Uttam. “I would love to watch another spectacle like ‘Bama, and this policy is limiting me from doing that.”
Lauren Hunecke, another member of the Class of 2025, feels similarly.
“As a senior who is finally experiencing the excitement of a successful football team, it is concerning that I might not even be able to attend some of these historic games due to the lack of guaranteed student tickets. Our team deserves all of the support we can give them as they continue to shock the SEC,” Hunecke said.
Students who have priority will receive further instruction before Oct. 23 at 9 a.m. CDT on how to claim their tickets.
Students will be permitted entrance through Gate 3 of FirstBank Stadium, and the gates will open at 1:00 p.m. CDT on Saturday, Oct. 26. As has been the case since Week Two against Alcorn State, students will receive identifiers upon entry to allow them to enter and exit the student section at will, even when capacity has been reached. This identifier this week — unlike past games, when it has been a stamp or permanent X — will be a wristband.
First-year Nathaniel Jones doesn’t “really like the process at all.”
“I went to four of the games, but I went to two of them with my parents — the Virginia Tech and Alcorn games — so I went under their tickets. [However,] I spent [most] of those games in the student section. When it comes to the ticketing process for this Wednesday, I won’t have the priority ticketing, and I will be left to ticketing Friday,” Jones said in a message to The Hustler.
Zach Joseph and Tristan Rutman contributed to the reporting.
