Students will no longer stand in lines swirling around the Reitz Union Colonnade for tickets.
The University Box Office will close June 30.
Brian Brasington, assistant director for business services at the Reitz Union, said the box office revenue has been on a decline for the past three to five years from the ticketing industry moving online.
Brasington said the Reitz Union, which runs the University Box Office, is making arrangements for individual venues to have box offices. He said the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts might use its own box office. Tickets for its events are already available on Ticketmaster.
The Stephen C. O’Connell Center and Constans Theatre will have to come up with business plans to sell tickets.
Brasington doesn’t know if there will be an option for buying tickets online for on-campus events.
He said the box office currently employs one full-time staff member and about 12 student employees. He said opportunities for student employees will be available in other areas of the Reitz Union.
Megan Wicks, a 19-year-old theater and marketing sophomore, said ticket sales to student performances are likely to decrease.
“It upsets me only because now people won’t be able to come to a show and buy it there that night,” she said. “It will require people to think way ahead, so some might not come altogether.”
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
