A measure to prevent students from rushing into the PNC Arena backfired Saturday at 2 p.m., as students sprinted from Gate B of Carter-Finley Stadium to the PNC Arena to vie for the best courtside seats. 

The University limits spectators from entering the PNC Arena up until five hours before sporting events, and students stampeded to the entrance for first-come-first-served seats in the student section. The rush outraged fans who had waited longer or felt unsafe running in the icy parking lot.

The Student Ticket Advisory Committee instated the policy to ensure that students would not miss classes during the weekdays or camp out to get better seats. However, the line that was designed to be more fair started nearly a quarter of a mile away from the PNC Arena entrance, providing a tempting scenario for cunning fans. 

Many students feel that the policy facilitated unnecessary danger and injustice. Rachel Cox, a freshman in electrical engineering, had a broken leg the morning of the game and lost her place in the relocated line. Amid what Cox called a “free for all,” she asked a member of the security staff to escort her to the PNC Arena to ensure her place in line. After the security staff refused her request, she insisted that due to her injury she would certainly lose her place in line that she had been waiting for.

“[The only response I got was], ‘Sorry, sweetie, it is what it is,’” Cox said. 

Dylan Kramer, a sophomore in First Year College, said that he and his friend Myles Marion, a sophomore in architecture, felt compelled to sneak into the PNC Arena to secure their positions in line. Dylan, who had been waiting in line in at the gate of the arena since 10:30 a.m., had a back injury that would have impaired his ability to keep up with the stampede.

“I think it is unfair because the loyal fans who had been waiting for hours were at a disadvantage when compared to the kids that could run fast,” Marion said. 

Kramer and Marion were not alone in their rule breaking, Marion said. 

“There were hundreds of people that snuck in. They charged in from all over the place,” Marion said. “I felt like I was participating in the running of the bulls.”

Despite the commotion, there are no reports of anyone sustaining any injuries in the rush. However, there was undoubtedly a potential for this to occur. Brendan Leonard, a sophomore in political science, who witnessed a number of students slip and fall, said the decision to have a free-for-all style race to the PNC was a dangerous one, especially in light of inclement weather conditions from the night before.

“With the icy conditions present, it was a hazard that could be easily avoided by walking the students in an orderly line,” Leonard said.

The cause of the mix up was a misinterpretation of orders given from the administration to the security staff of the arena. The administration did not want students who wanted to attend College GameDay to be forced behind other students who didn’t wait in the line for the game. The security evacuated the parking lots and locked all entrances, instead of having students return to their vehicles after GameDay. This caused students to line up at Gate B of the Carter-Finley Stadium, an area where the security staff was not able to stop students from running to the arena. 

Associate Athletics Director for External Operations Dick Christy said what occurred Saturday was a rare mistake. According to Christy, “standard protocol for high demand basketball games has been to station PNC security staff in the student parking lots to help safely transition students from the parking areas to the lines at the East Entrance of PNC arena.” This procedure was demonstrated in the past at UNC-CH games and at this year’s Duke game.