The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-15
ALLOTTTNG FOOTBALL TICKETS
YALE HAS TEE BIG JOB DOWN
TO A SCIENCE.

or 10000 Tickets Distributed Tor the
Princeton and Harvard Games This
FAN Only Three Wont A~stFay-HOw tho
Thousands OF Applications Are handled.
There is more work connected with the
distribution OF tickets for a big football
game. say the Yale-Prlnceton contest,
thar there Ia in drilling the players on tho
Geld, and not half as much fun. There
isn't any fun at all about the former; It IL 4
big and serious business. IL does not begin
a. early in the fall as the campaign on tho
gridiron. but only a week or 30 later. and
Il means over a month Of hard and. patient
labor, unremitting attention and care and
a thorough system. At Yale, where there
are two big games to prepare for only a
week apart. the work Of distributing tickets,
with its vast amount Of detail, has been
reduced to a science. this the outgrowth
Of experience year after year as the size Of
the crowds at games has Increased.
eff ali the work OF distributing tickets
for our two big games were placed end to
end and done by one man." a Everard
Thompson. who has charge of this de-
partment at Yale. 1T would take him two
years, six months and seventeen days to
do it."
The first move is made on October 1.
On that day at New Haven this year special
forms Of envelopes were sent to Yale grad
uate clubs informing them that applica-
ton blanks for tickets were ready. These
were for Yale graduates. Princeton and
Harvard attend to their own people. II
the game is to be played in New Haven
Yale sends to the other college whatever
number Of tickets it may ask for, and il the
game is notNto be played in New Haven
tickets are sent to ale.
The graduates are reached by means OF
mailed announcements to the clubs and by
announcements in the college papers, the
latter being the source by which the under
graduates are informed hat application.
blanks are ready. There is the work OF
having the blanks printed, but that Is a de-
tail OF small moment in the multitude OF
others which bear more directly on the
undertaking.
The system at New Haven provides that
each applicant may ask for three tickets,
and the athletic bureau Of distribution Vir-
tually binds itself to furnish the three tickets.
One idea Of three tickets for each man is hat
the grad or student thus may take himself,
his girl and her chaperon. When it was
suggested the other day that next season
only two tickets each might be the, pro-
cedure one student remarked thai IT, that
were lone he couldn't take his girl because
her mother wouldn't allow her to go to the
game without a chaperon.
As the applications come in they must
be verified-care must be taken that the
applicant is what he represents himself to
be. This 10 done by consulting the college
catalogues. the lists Of living graduates,
undergraduates and those who attended
college but did not complete their course.
There are instances-but infr~equently-
OF applications coming in from persons who
never saw Yale. and cases have been known
OF outsiders using the names OF graduates
who no longer are in the land OF the living.
The completeness of the records makes it a
comparatively easy matter to detect any
fraud Of this Sort and no tickets get into
the hands of spectators this way. Indeed
spectators are so well curbed at New
Haven nowadays that very few tickets get
into their hands
Il often happens that more than three
tickets are wanted by an applicant, and a
it also happens that some do not want any
tickets. it is possible to adjust the two con-
ditions and accommodate those who want
more than the regulation share. The
plan in such cases is TO see that the man not
using his privilege gives proper authority
10 the one to whom he turns over his appli-
cation. The two applications are then
pinned together. entered separately on the
books. but the allotments made together.
For the last Princeton game az New
Haven there were printed $4,000 blanks, |
The financial situation this fall made some
SOAhkAA11NAOtAD WACh NAO hlNhNgY |
began coming in for tickets. Most of the
comes in checks, and during the 4
panicky times about 81. 900 worth of checks
which would not go through the banks
thought the checks were good. but it meant
no little extra trouble to get his matter
Strengthened out |
Roughly speaking 5000 tickets we're |
for the Yale-Princeton game. The
were elaborate and expensive, to |
avoid as far as possible counterfeiting. !
With this in mind too. each year there is a
different design on the tickets. The plan
OF different colors for pasteboards for differ (
ent parts of the stands was disregarded
this fall. IL was found that there was a
sufficiently large proportion OF color blind
ticket holders 30 cause confusion at the
gates. Those thus afflicted vent TO the
wrong entrances. So this year Thompson
hit upon the idea OF having Gate l." @Gate
q or Cat g." as the case might be, printed
IN the tickets in large letters. This and
m~egaphone men all about the place did away
with any confusion at the entrances.
As the applications come in they are put
away in a big safe, first acknowledgment
being made, until a week before the closing
time Of applications, when the work Of
opening and entering them begins. The
work OF distributing il now on in earnest, |
n force Of ten men is enough 10 begin
with. As the applications come in they
must be assorted into their various classes,
seniors, juniors, sophom0res, freshmen,
professional schools, graduates and odds
and ends. When enough applications have
been received to start with the working
force gets busy.
What ia known as the loose leaf system
is used for entering the apploations-easy
TO handle and easy TO bind. The number
Of the application, the name Of the appli-
cant and other data necessary to seeing that /
his wishes in the matter Of getting his tickets
are recorded. One man calls OF and another |
puts down. As each application Is entered
the end Of the envelope is slit open and the
money taken out. The amount OF the
money In written on each envelope and
whether the applicant will call or lave his
mailed. On each sheet are recorded
the names Of the two workers who handled
hat sheet, and these two are responsible
for everything on that particular sheet.
The filed sheet goes to the t~reasurer's desk
and a resume OF it goes to Thompson.
A record also il kept Of where applicants
ant to be seated, and they are accommo-
dated so far as il possible with a view to
them and getting congenial spirits
II the graduate from Missouri
wants to sit with the graduate from Maine
his wish is carried out. 1t takes patient !;
ma~neuvring and planning and shifting to
get all the various groups seated and have
lha difara6t grOuDa and Dartios-tha Chaar- |