Update: After this story was published, USU announced it would provide an additional 1,000 student tickets for the Aggies’ game against the Utes.
Utah State has taken some 1,000 tickets away from its student section — “The Hurd” — at Maverick Stadium and is selling those seats to other fans to get extra money.
Hmm.
The angel on my left shoulder is shouting that this is ridiculous, an absolute outrage, the latest example of college football being all about filthy lucre and not about creating and providing a great college experience for the most important people on and around campus — students; the devil on my right shoulder is laughing and sneering at all that, that its time for those students to grow up, to learn and realize a most important lesson, that money is what makes both the world and college football go ‘round and what makes college football go ‘round makes college sports in general go ‘round and that freeing up those seats and making them available serves the needs and desires of the far more important people to USU athletics than students — the folks with the most money to shell out.
Students are apparently rather upset not only that their student fees were thought to have secured those seats, same as it’s always been, but that the athletics department sheered away that part of their student section without giving student leaders any say on the decision, nor even letting them know in advance that it was happening.
After hearing about the student complaints, school officials have let those students know that subsequently seats will be offered up to students when they are available, but there’s no likelihood that those seats, if indeed available, will be located in their former location as a part of “The Hurd.”
Making matters worse are rumors swirling among students that the same thing could happen at the Spectrum for USU basketball games.
One suspicion here is that with Utah rolling into Logan for Saturday’s rare instate matchup with the Aggies, USU officials didn’t want to allow that kind of draw to come and go without it being taken advantage of in the form of increased cash on the table and in the coffers.
Whether that’s a shortsighted business decision that will boomerang back to hurt Utah State in the long run — when those as-of-now-less-than-deep-pocketed students go on to their chosen professions to make millions and millions of dollars and then, when the school contacts alums to become boosters and donate money to the cause, those once-poverty-stricken students who now are flush with cash, remember when the school took their seats away and stiffed them for a few additional bucks — depends on your point of view.
I will say this much: When “The Hurd” gets fired up, on the occasions when the Aggies in football or basketball have a decent team and are worthy of the students’ substantial passion, those young people can make a difference in what happens on the field or on the floor. I’ve been to games at both of those venues on certain big occasions, and when “The Hurd” is triggered, it is important and impressive. Ask the Aggie players, past and present, about its effect. They’ll tell you.
But Utah State isn’t the only place where the interests and sight lines and subsequent complaints of students have been ignored or “adjusted” in the name of collecting mighty Benjamins. It is the way of college sports.
The romantic notion of bygone times when students wearing raccoon coats, swallowing goldfish, driving old Fords, waving pennants and singing the school fight song were the focus and priority of college football has eroded away.
Watch for more and more corporate involvement in the process, not less. NIL payments are just one aspect of the move toward the professionalization of college games. Soon, corporations and private-equity firms and other financial forces will be as much a part of college sports, especially football, as slabs of meat on the grill and the flow of adult beverages at pregame tailgate parties. That influence will be nearly everywhere.
Exactly where that leaves students, and their best interests, not just at Utah State, but at schools around the country is anyone’s guess.
I agree with the angel on the left, but acknowledge that the devil on the right is the voice that will be the loudest not just now, but particularly in the future.
“The Hurd” might go on being heard by Aggie teams on the field and floor, at least to some degree, cascading down from the stands at Maverick Stadium and at the Spectrum during big games, but it will not be heard by Aggie administrators. Those folks have their ears on the rails of the money train that they hope will keep on bringing them what they covet most: You know what.