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SushiChef
03-25-2009, 04:56 PM
As a graduate student I received this email regarding Final Four Tickets at 3:03 PM today:


Subject: Final Four Student Ticket Info - TIME SENSITIVE

As part of the process for students to obtain tickets to the Final Four, the NCAA has created a website specifically for Duke. Each University in the Sweet 16 has been allocated 422 seats and these will be filled on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis. The website is NOW active and will close on Monday, March 30 at
5 PM or once the 422 seats have been ordered. To order a ticket,

·Students MUST sign-in with their Duke email account as the site is protected; you will only be allowed onto the purchase area if you use your Duke email account.

·Each student will be permitted to purchase a maximum of one (1) “ticket book” (valid for both Saturday and Monday) at a total cost of $20.60. Deadline to order Final Four Courtside ticket is Monday, March 30; you will receive an order confirmation if you are one of the first 422.

·Once the 422 seats have been allocated to students, the site will be closed and students will receive a message that the event is sold out.

·Orders will only be converted into tickets and the credit cards will be charged on March 30 if Duke advances to the Final Four.

·If Duke does not advance to the Final Four, your order will be cancelled and your credit card will NOT be processed.

·Attempts to create duplicate orders from an individual student will be cancelled and the seat will be made available for sale.

·All sales will be made via credit card payment only and the specific credit card used for the purchase will be used to authenticate the student at Ford Field, so you must bring it and your DukeCardto Detroit.

To order a ticket, go to:

http://www.ticketingcentral.com/V2/Home.aspx?I=sWjeOgAAAABw%2fXJJAAAAAACj%2fv%2f%2f%2 fwD%2f%2f%2f%2f%2fAAD%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2f%2 fw%3d%3d


Please call 919-681-BLUE with questions. GO DUKE!

I was just curious if any other students got the chance to purchase these tickets for such a ridiculously good deal. Unfortunately, I was busy in a meeting and didn't get to my email in time. Now they are all sold out. I was also curious if any students think that this first come first serve method of distributing the tickets was a fair process.

lmo7'11
03-25-2009, 05:19 PM
Did you get an email after you bought them saying they were sold out? I purchased mine about 20 minutes ago and got a confirmation email back.

I agree that it was a little unfair...it would have been better if they sent out an email saying that tickets would be available starting at *insert time here*. Many people have class past 3 oclock, and they shouldn't be penalized for not being able to check their email instantaneously.

hurleyfor3
03-25-2009, 05:20 PM
I'm not convinced this is legit. Not just because of the price. My understanding is students have to pay face for anything not in Cameron, that is, postseason tournaments and neutral site games.

It's usually up to the individual schools to decide how to allocate the tickets they get. Think of Davidson last year providing tickets to every student who wanted to go. (Duke was similar in 1991 and '92, although no big deal was made over this because it was considered standard operating procedure.)

Most importantly, I'm very sceptical of any process which puts the making-the-Final-Four cart before the we-gotta-win-two-more games horse. That doesn't sound like us, or any other program.

Oh, and the putative homepage for ticketingcentral.com gives a 403 error.

Summie444
03-25-2009, 05:26 PM
I think it would have been a fair process if they gave us advance notice as to when the window for purchasing tickets would open instead of just springing it upon us. While I wasn't going to buy a ticket, when I saw the e-mail at about 4:15 I created an account, followed the link, and received the message "This offer is currently restricted. Please make a different selection." It's not exactly a "sold out" message so perhaps they are having some issues because lmo7'11 was able to get through well after I tried. I am thinking that this is likely the case because I believe only about 225 students went to Greensboro so I can't imagine over 400 students immediately deciding that they would be willing to go to Detroit. Try calling?

Edit: I think the e-mail is legit. Check out the 9th and 10th paragraphs in this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090318/ap_on_sp_co_ne/bkc_ncaa_hoops_at_the50

hurleyfor3
03-25-2009, 05:37 PM
OK, so these may be tickets allocated explicitly for students by the ncaa. I would guess a member school is still free to provide more tickets to students (at face) from its normal allotment. Oh, and we sent 500+ kids each to the '91 and '92 FFs.

But I'm so cautious about angering the basketball gods (assuming the Final Four) I changed the thread title.

cruxer
03-25-2009, 06:00 PM
I'm not convinced this is legit. Not just because of the price. My understanding is students have to pay face for anything not in Cameron, that is, postseason tournaments and neutral site games.

The NCAA said (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i2RLKQZKT_ElpSSQy6FOefHN6YfQD970NLH80)that because they are positioning the court for the Final Four in the middle of Ford Field, as opposed to on one end, they'd be able to offer a limited number of student tickets close to the floor for $20.

CameronBornAndBred
03-25-2009, 06:06 PM
The NCAA said (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i2RLKQZKT_ElpSSQy6FOefHN6YfQD970NLH80)that because they are positioning the court for the Final Four in the middle of Ford Field, as opposed to on one end, they'd be able to offer a limited number of student tickets close to the floor for $20.
Yup, they announced that a few days ago, and I think it's really cool. It puts the students first, and for cheap. They basically said they could do it because they are selling a rediculous number of tickets to the event; I think it was about 30,000 more than they usually sell.

SushiChef
03-25-2009, 06:09 PM
Miraculously I was able to get through and purchase a ticket. Originally, it was giving me an error that said something to the effect of 'Tickets unavailable. Try selecting a different number of seats or different price range.' I persistently kept trying to get tickets and finally it took me to a screen that allowed me to purchase them.

I hope that every student that would like to go to the game gets the chance (assuming we make it!). I agree with what most of you are saying, that there should have been some kind of 'heads-up' email that warned people who may have had schedule conflicts.

Good luck to everyone...GO DUKE!!

CameronBornAndBred
03-25-2009, 06:33 PM
Great to hear you got the tix, I REALLY hope $20.60 is charged to your card this weekend!

III
03-25-2009, 07:18 PM
I also was able to purchase a ticket.

This distribution system is bad for two reasons:

1. It's unfair. Some of the biggest fans at Duke happened to be in class at the time the email went out (and the approximately hour window afterwards in which tickets were available).

2. Because of the EXTREME time crunch, anyone who had an inkling of an iota of a chance of being able to make the trip to Detroit probably bought one. What are they going to do when 30-50% of the purchasers can't go and the tickets are non-transferable?

CameronBornAndBred
03-25-2009, 07:23 PM
2. Because of the EXTREME time crunch, anyone who had an inkling of an iota of a chance of being able to make the trip to Detroit probably bought one. What are they going to do when 30-50% of the purchasers can't go and the tickets are non-transferable?
I'm assuming when the reality hits that their team has won, and they have a ticket to the Final Four, the ticket holder will realize the moment for the once in a lifetime opportunity that it is, and will find a way to get to Detroit. I'd hitch if I had to.

soccernamlak
03-25-2009, 07:54 PM
I received my email as an undergraduate at 3:49PM and promptly bought a ticket for myself. I figure if we make it that far this year, I'm going regardless of classes and transportation issues :)

lifelongdevil
03-25-2009, 08:19 PM
the distribution system was ridiculous; just because I'm in class from 3-5 I dont get a ticket?

for both the opening rounds and regionals they had alerted us to the time beforehand so the process was more equitable

,but afterall..i hope this is an issue

soccernamlak
03-25-2009, 08:59 PM
the distribution system was ridiculous; just because I'm in class from 3-5 I dont get a ticket?

for both the opening rounds and regionals they had alerted us to the time beforehand so the process was more equitable

,but afterall..i hope this is an issue

I do agree the system was unfair. It was just luck that my teacher happened to let us out of class early and that I got the email as soon as it was sent.

No prior warning for tickets to one of the biggest games of the year if Duke makes it? I hope the Duke Ticket Office reconsiders their method of dispersal in upcoming years

And another thing....why did the grad students get the email almost 50 minutes before undergraduates?

GP3NY
03-25-2009, 09:03 PM
Hey everyone -- I called the ticket office right when I got this email because it didn't sound right at all --- they told me that it is SPAM and definitely do not buy a ticket!! They were looking into it and were supposed to have let people know that it is not legit. I would look into it tonight and/or cancel your credit cards!

SushiChef
03-25-2009, 10:17 PM
Hey everyone -- I called the ticket office right when I got this email because it didn't sound right at all --- they told me that it is SPAM and definitely do not buy a ticket!! They were looking into it and were supposed to have let people know that it is not legit. I would look into it tonight and/or cancel your credit cards!

The students at Memphis seem to think it's legit as well:

http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=357696

blazindw
03-25-2009, 10:54 PM
What concerns me is that the link is NOT from ncaa.org. For something like this to be legit, I would think the link would come from the NCAA and not from some separate site. This leads me to suspect that this is indeed spam.

DukeUsul
03-25-2009, 11:07 PM
If you go to the goduke.com or ncaa.com sites and follow the links for ticket information for either this weekend or next weekend's game's you'll find that the tix are in fact being sold through a third party website. Of course this site is razorgator.com, not whatever was posted by the OP.

Smells fishy.

A WHOIS search tells us that ticketingcentral.com is registered to:

Bucchino, Len
len@veritix.com
18111 Preston Rd
Suite 300
Dallas, TX 75287
US
Phone: 972-248-5383
Fax: 123 123 1234

Veritix.com seems to belong to a company that does virtual ticketing for sporting and entertainment events. The fax above is obviously bogus. And I can't find any confirmation that veritix actually has an office at that address.

Anyway, there's a bit of info to chew on, but nothing earthshattering.

DukeUsul
03-25-2009, 11:09 PM
The fact that www.ticketingcentral.com returns a "virtual directory listing denied" error means that the website does not have a default index page set up. Very fishy. Every website has one.

DukeUsul
03-25-2009, 11:11 PM
Then again, thet appear to be legitimately listed in sites like this which shows significant web traffic:

http://www.quantcast.com/ticketingcentral.com

http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/ticketingcentral.com/summary/

Maybe they are legit.

sue71, esq
03-25-2009, 11:28 PM
I can't speak for the email that Duke sent out, but I can tell you that the NCAA is doing this and is using Veritix for it. All Sweet Sixteen schools were supposed to go live with it on Monday, but I doubt that happened, given that there was 2 days notice or so... it's a great idea but it sounds like implementation needs some tweaking.

SushiChef
03-25-2009, 11:43 PM
Apparently the chronicle isn't questioning the legitimacy of this email. However, they have yet to contact the ticket office. Here is a link to the chronicle blog that was last updated at 9PM:

http://sports.chronicleblogs.com/2009/03/25/student-tickets-available-for-final-four/

soccernamlak
03-26-2009, 10:08 AM
Maybe Veritix needed to setup a quick website outside of their normal venue so no one looking into Veritix's website could find/buy tickets before they are released? Essentially, get an employee to set up a website elsewhere for venues like this?

Whereas the WHOIS is fishy, the traffic makes it seem legit. The payment information that thanked me was from Veritix and Flash Seats(verified through raw source of the email)

IP Address: 216.243.70.180
mx1.flashseats.com
ISP Navisite, Inc.
Country United States
WHOIS: http://www.whois.net/whois/flashseats.com


Plus, ultimately, if it was a SPAM, don't you think we would have gotten a student-body email from someone in the Ticket Office by now at the minimum?

SushiChef
03-26-2009, 01:55 PM
I finally spoke with the Duke Athletic Ticket office today. I verified that the email from them regarding the hypothetical final four tickets is legit. Yesterday when it was sent out the majority of people working had no idea about it and that's what lead to the confusion.

77devil
03-29-2009, 01:22 PM
If anyone who bought tickets wants to unload them, I am looking for 2 or 3.
Send me a PM