Archie Griffin, CEO & President
OSU Alumni Association |
The past few months have been rigorous ones at the Alumni Association. We’ve traveled the state and country for many club and society spring events, hosted the first-ever all-generations African American Alumni Reunion, and welcomed many legislators to our fourth annual Scarlet and Gray Congressional Breakfast and Scholarship Fundraiser in Washington, DC.
Needless to say, these activities have kept our staff on their toes. These are important events that serve various aspects of our membership and we take pride in them. They are essential to making us a well-rounded organization.
Although these events are significant, none of them generated the reaction that the changes to the Alumni Association’s football ticket process did. As many of you already know, we made a transition from our old system to a football ticket lottery that treats all members equitably. Some took the changes in stride, but others had a problem with the new approach.
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But the fact of the matter is that we are dealing with changing times and more specifically a changing football ticket allocation. Ten years ago, it was never a question whether or not Association members would get to go to games. Today, that is not the case. We’ve had many members denied tickets to games and others who were told they were getting one game then switched to another late in the summer.
Last year, roughly 20,000 alumni were affected by either game switches or game denials. With our allotment decreasing by another 18,000 tickets this year, we could expect to see that 20,000 number almost double. Frankly, there are not enough tickets for those who want them. We mailed 92,000 ticket applications this year. We’d need 184,000 tickets to accommodate all of those people if everyone applied. We have 71,000 tickets in our allotment.
Looking at those numbers I’m sure you can see our conundrum. Some members have argued passionately that those tickets should go to people with the most seniority in the Alumni Association. I can understand that line of logic, particularly from people who have been loyal to the previous system for many years. At the same time, we can’t cut a growing portion of members entirely out of the equation every year, while another portion enjoys that benefit.
Another concern people have raised is what they perceive as a lack of proper notification about the games. In the past, you applied for a specific game in May. Under the new system, you won’t find out what game you are getting until late June or early July.
This is not ideal, but it is necessary. And frankly, we are more comfortable giving you a game that you are definitely going to get than one that would likely change at the last minute.
Lastly, we are encouraged by the number of people who have applied online. Next year, all Association applications will be handled online, which presents a challenge to both you and us. The Association and its clubs and societies will need to play an active role in helping those who have difficulty with the online registration process.
Although we do not expect the members of our constituent groups to be computer experts, we do expect them to cultivate relationships with alumni in their areas. We’ll need those relationship-building skills to help make sure that anyone who wants to apply for the lottery next year is not kept from doing so because they don’t have computers or understand them.
This will be a major effort, but I view it as a wonderful opportunity to reach out to alumni near us, maybe in some cases to alumni we haven’t previously engaged. There is no doubt this will be a challenging project, but with your help I know we will get it done. We’ll keep you posted in the coming months on how you can help your fellow Buckeyes register.
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