Students who faced the disappointment of not winning tickets in the football lottery this past season will have a better opportunity next year.

The Athletics Department will implement an increase in the student football ticket distribution next season. Likewise, an increase in men’s basketball student ticket distribution will go into effect for the 2007 to 2008 season.

Chancellor James Oblinger approved these additional tickets for football and men’s basketball games, according to Dick Christy, assistant athletics director.

“The Chancellor approved 250 more student seats for football. Right now there are 9,000 seats available,” Christy said. “For [basketball] he approved 150 additional [student] tickets. Right now, there are about 3,350 student seats.”

According to Lee Fowler, athletics director, the 9,250 football tickets will include tickets for the Marching Band, Student Wolfpack Club and general student admission.

Fowler said he isn’t sure when the last increase in student football tickets was.

“We can’t really find when the tickets were last increased because the records don’t go back,” he said. “It’s been over 10 years at least.”

According to Christy, student basketball tickets last increased when the games were moved to the RBC Center in 1999 and again in 2002.

However, Fowler said there will not be an increase in student tickets for women’s basketball games.

“Women’s basketball is not an issue because we have as many seats as students come,” Fowler said. “There are 2,500 seats and free admittance to students so any students can come.”

Christy said an increase in student tickets was a decision based on student feedback.

“We received feedback from student leaders that students would like to see an increase in ticket allotment,” Christy said. “So we evaluated what facilities would allow and made increases for next season.”

It took two years to actually figure out a way to implement the new allotment, according to Fowler.

“We started taking a look at it then and couldn’t do anything about it after the season tickets were sold,” he said. “We will implement it next year before we sell tickets.”

While there are 9,000 seats available to students, Christy said average general student attendance at this season’s football games ranged from 5,000 to 6,000 students, or 6,000 to 7,000 students factoring in Student Wolfpack Club and the band.

There was no decrease in student attendance toward the end of the season, despite the Pack’s falling record, according to Christy.

Christy said the gap between seats versus attendance was because students traditionally requested all available tickets for each big game, but then students did not show to the event.

“That number is hurt a little bit because one of the games was during fall break, and we had a Thanksgiving game,” Christy said. “So games where students were out of town the numbers step down, but three games [Appalachian State University, Boston College and Florida State] cover in the 6,400 range.”

The previous seasons’ student football attendance is consistent with this season’s attendance numbers, according to Christy.

In past seasons, the student seating for football games was on the East Side Lower Level and Upper Level, South End Zone and North End Zone.

The new student seats will be adjacent to the current student seating, according to Christy. However, it has not been officially determined where the additional student seats will be.

Christy said decisions haven’t been made as to where the new basketball seating will be either.

“We don’t have all the logistics worked out,” Christy said. “But we know we can make it happen.”

To allocate for the 250 additional student tickets for football, Christy said there will have to be a decrease outside of student distribution, but the ACC has yet to determine which ticket groups the student seating will reallocate.

“That’s by contract and the ACC mandates that number,” Christy said. “We’re already at the minimum of visitors. It’ll come out of salable inventory or we have to basically reallocate something.”

Christy and Fowler hope students will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to receive tickets through the online lottery.

“Adding to the student allotment will give more students an initial opportunity to win a ticket,” Christy said. “We just have to continue to encourage students to use the tickets that are held.”