Despite a big boost in sales, the University of Minnesota is scrapping the ticket-bundling practice that forced student hockey fans to buy football tickets as well.
The Student Senate on Thursday adopted a resolution against ticket bundling, and in a letter to U President Eric Kaler on Friday, Gov. Mark Dayton called the practice appalling.
"The Legislature and I did not provide the additional funding for the university to freeze students' tuitions over two years so that you could invent other ways to increase their costs," Dayton wrote.
In 2013, the university began offering discounts to students who bought season tickets for multiple sports. But hockey tickets sold out fast, so this summer, the university began requiring students buying hockey or basketball tickets to buy football tickets, too; those who wanted tickets for just one sport would have to wait until the fall semester began, but by then, all the student hockey tickets were gone.
Bundling — and perhaps the team's improved play last year — boosted student-ticket sales for football by 31 percent, from 4,410 last year to 5,765 this year. Basketball sales were flat, and hockey sold out each year.
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University officials said Friday that next year they'll go back to selling student season tickets for individual sports while also selling discounted bundles.
