Aug. 11, 2003

How much interest is there in University of Notre Dame home football games for 2003?

There’s enough that the Notre Dame ticket office recently mailed refunds worth more than a record $5.1 million to lottery losers in the University’s ticket distribution for contributing alumni.

That $5.1 million figure compares with refunds totaling $2.1 million only a year ago and tops the previous high of $3.8 million in refunds from 2001. Overall, 23,000 refund checks were mailed the week of July 14 – and that number is 33 percent higher than last year.

Notre Dame alumni making an annual contribution of $100 or more to the University are eligible to apply for two tickets to as many home and away football games as they choose. There’s a pool of around 33,000 tickets per game available for each home contest for contributing alumni. Any time the number of applications exceeds the supply, a lottery is held – and lotteries were required for all six 2003 home games and all road games except the Nov. 29 game at Stanford (additional tickets were available for that contest, ensuring that all applications were filled). Demand was highest for the Oct. 18 home game vs. USC (54,244 tickets requested) and the Nov. 1 game vs. Florida State (51,051), making those the fourth- and fifth-highest demanded home games in the history of Notre Dame Stadium.

Highest demand for road games came for games Sept. 13 at Michigan (15,891 tickets requested) and Oct. 25 at Boston College (15,019). Notre Dame receives only 5,000 tickets as the visitor in those contests. Overall, demand for home game tickets was up about six percent compared to 2002.

———————————————————–

The University of Notre Dame recognizes that alumni, faculty/staff members and season ticket holders may not be able to use all of the football tickets that they have been assigned for a particular game. In addition, the University recognizes that every weekend there are alumni, faculty/staff members and others that are in search of football tickets on a particular home football weekend.

As a result of the new scalping policies implemented by the University, the Alumni Association has teamed with the Athletic Department in offering the Alumni Ticket Exchange Program (ATE). The Alumni Ticket Exchange is the only authorized area on campus, besides the Stadium Ticket Office, where tickets can be exchanged or resold.

WHERE: The Alumni Ticket Exchange will be located at the Gate 3 Box Office of the Joyce Center (adjacent to the Alumni Hospitality Area and the Notre Dame Experience).

WHEN: The Alumni Ticket Exchange will be open on each of the six home football Saturdays according to the following schedule:

8:00 a.m. ATE opens — Individuals can return tickets on a consignment basis* to be resold to others in search of tickets

8:00 – 10:00 a.m. Alumni ticket sale begins (Any tickets returned will be sold to alumni only, on a first-come, first-served basis, during this time)

10:00 a.m. – TBD General Public ticket sale begins (If any returned tickets remain they will be made available to the general public beginning at 10:00 a.m.)

Staff of the Notre Dame Alumni Association will manage the Alumni Ticket Exchange. Therefore, the ATE windows will close one-half-hour prior to the scheduled kick-off time so that Alumni Association employees attend the football game with their families and friends.

* Tickets turned in to the Alumni Ticket Exchange will be resold at face value based on the respective demand. If your tickets are resold a check will be processed within five business days after the date of the specific game. If your tickets are not sold, the tickets will be returned to you the week following the specific game.