Students who get their football tickets in block seating at UF can breathe a little easier. Privileges will not be taken away for leaving a football game early.
UF has no intention of mirroring the University of Alabama, which recently suspended 20 of its 36 block sections for “excessive tardiness or early departure from the stadium.”
Mike Hill, executive associate athletics director for external affairs, said there are no plans or discussions at all about taking block seating away from UF students, including the larger Greek-life blocks, for leaving early.
“That’s how it should be,” said Jackson Crumit, a 21-year-old UF accounting sophomore, who is the ticket chairman for fraternity Sigma Chi. “It’s our decision to leave early because we are paying to go to the games.”
Students who belong to organizations at Alabama, mostly fraternities and sororities, that hold tickets to pre-designated sections in the stadium will still be allowed to attend games, but they’ll have to find another place to sit.
Travis Leyndyke, who was promoted to director of ticket operations at UF two weeks ago, said UF doesn’t really track people leaving early.
“I guess it could be possible by looking because we know where their seats are, but we don’t have any policies to where it’ll be taken away,” he said.
The only reason block seating gets taken away now is if there are issues during a game, Leyndyke said.
The last time the ticket office threatened to revoke block seating was about three years ago. Some blocks were “screaming vulgar things toward the opposing fans,” Leyndyke said.
A version of this story ran on page 3 on 11/5/2013 under the headline "Despite Alabama decision, no worries for block seating at UF"
