Students don’t have to wait for hours in the sun outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for football tickets anymore. There’s an app for that.
UF launched the Florida Gators App on Aug. 1, which will allow fans to buy, claim and sell their tickets straight from the app.
Students can manage their tickets online and be admitted to the game using their phones, said Andrew Case, director of customer relationship management and analytics of the University Athletic Association.
This method of claiming tickets is meant to be more convenient, Case said. Here’s how:
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Students can use their TicketMaster account to purchase season tickets or single-game tickets in the student section.
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Students can claim their ticket online during the week of the game instead of having to go to the student ticket office.
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Students can link their emails with their friends and buy adjacent seats. Students are able to link up to 14 tickets before having to create a block, a process that requires a separate application.
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Once the tickets have been claimed, students are assigned a seat that will be added to their digital wallet.
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On game day, students should have their digital ticket and Gator 1 card ready.
Students can transfer tickets amongst one another, and non-students can resell tickets through the app, Case said.
Current students can also purchase guest tickets that allow non-students to sit in the student section.
“That helps reduce fraud because we know that they have a verified ticket through TicketMaster, and it’s going to get them into the game no matter what,” Case said.
Mobile ticketing was never attempted in the past due to a lack of good connectivity on game days, but this should become easier with the stadium’s improved Wi-Fi this Fall.
“With the addition of that connectivity, we feel like it’s the right time to move towards a more digital ticketing experience,” he said.
Evan Setley, a 20-year-old construction management junior, thinks digital ticketing is ingenious, especially after the long process that he went through the past two years to claim tickets.
“I would have to get all my friends tickets and everything, text them, meet up with them to get their Gator 1’s and everything and wait in line on Thursdays to get my tickets,” Setley said.
Setley is looking forward to the football season, and he thinks that the football team is going to play better this year.
“I think it’s going to be really exciting, sitting with my friends and having another great season tailgating,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Albert the Alligator leads the “2-bits, 4-bits” cheer for a crowd of about 2,000 students Tuesday evening in the stadium.
