The excitement surrounding the 150th Lehigh-Lafayette game has been abuzz on campus for the past year. While many students and alumni have their tickets secured and their plans in check for a weekend in New York City, others are in a state of limbo, as the currently allocated tickets for the game are sold out.
Many have booked hotel rooms, transportation and other events in the city but are still waiting in the hope that more tickets will be released from Lehigh and Yankee Stadium.
While this would be ideal for those students and alumni without tickets, the Director of Sales and Marketing for Lehigh Athletics, Richard Haas, has confirmed that every ticket has been sold and that the stadium will be at 100 percent capacity on game day.
This realization comes as a disappointment to those who do not have a ticket for game day. Hannah Wilhelm ’16, said she did not have a ticket until recently. She was lucky enough to find another student selling theirs.
“I would’ve been so upset if I couldn’t go to the game, and I know a lot of people who still don’t have tickets,” Wilhelm said. “Even though Lehigh isn’t selling more tickets, hopefully the students without tickets can find students who are selling theirs.”
Lehigh, Lafayette and the New York Yankees have been in discussion about the event for over two years now, with each making sure that student ticket sales was its top priority.
“Our main focus for this event has always been about the students, and that is the reason why we kept ticket pricing low: for the students,” Haas said. “We wanted every student to experience this.”
The event received such great feedback that Lehigh has received requests from more than 15,000 people to release more tickets. Sadly, without more seating available, the request is not possible.
“Yankee Stadium has a capacity of 48,000,” Haas said. “On game day, 28,000 of those seats will be held by Lehigh, (with) close to 4,000 of those being students. The turnout for this event is amazing.”
Last fall, initial tickets sold quickly to alumni and season ticket-holders. Student tickets were released in the spring and purchased through a promo code that was sent to each student’s Lehigh email. The window to purchase was small, yet ample notice was given to each student.
Students were considered to be those in the classes of 2014 to 2018, as well as graduate students. If purchased before April 9, each student was guaranteed a ticket.
As detailed by Lehigh Sports prior to the sale of student tickets, “Students who swiped in to at least one athletics event other than the Lehigh-Lafayette football game (were) able to purchase a ticket beginning April 2. Students who (had) not swiped in at an athletics event (were) able to purchase a ticket beginning April 3.”
Despite some negativity surrounding the organization of the student ticket sale, the majority of students bought their tickets within the given time frame.
Josh Perlmutter, ’17, is one of the many students who does not have a ticket for the Lehigh-Lafayette game because he did not purchase one in time. He understands that without more capacity in the stadium, there is nothing that Lehigh can do.
“I kept pushing off buying a ticket, hoping that more would open up over the summer,” Perlmutter said.
While the original plan was to open tickets to the public this summer and fall, there was such a great response from alumni, students and season ticket holders that tickets to the public were never even released.
The general consensus is that many students without tickets will still go into New York City for the weekend. It is also expected that many students and alumni will try to buy tickets outside of the stadium, and judging from the tickets for sale on StubHub, those with tickets may even try to sell their own. Tickets in the 400s of Yankee Stadium’s grandstand section are now selling for close to $500 each.
Brenna Clark, ’17, predicts that many of her peers will make the trip to New York with or without a ticket to the big game.
“(Just) being in the atmosphere, even if you’re not in the actual stadium, will be a really cool experience,” Clark said. “I’m sure plenty of people will do (that).”
For the lucky ones in the stadium, the experience will be pretty great, too. Once in the stadium, students will occupy three specific areas that are only available to students.
Tickets for the game will be mailed in early October, so students should expect to get tickets in their Lehigh mailboxes upon their return from pacing break.
Additionally, students should expect to see information about bus passes to and from the game on Saturday. Pricing will be low, as Lehigh’s main focus is to accommodate its students.
Comment policy
Comments posted to The Brown and White website are reviewed by a moderator before being approved. Incendiary speech or harassing language, including comments targeted at individuals, may be deemed unacceptable and not published. Spam and other soliciting will also be declined.
The Brown and White also reserves the right to not publish entirely anonymous comments.