Amnesty Program Explained

Last week, Oregon St. Athletic Director Bob DeCarolis referred to something the ticket office is referring to as an "amnesty" program in his periodic report to Beaver Nation, but did not explain what it entailed.

Today, the details were explained. The term "amnesty" is totally misleading. It could be of real value to you, however, if you have been partnering with someone on the purchase of season tickets for football, basketball, or baseball.

As DeCarolis explains in his statement, season tickets bought as a package are all in the name of one person, and the accrued time in the program, and priority for access to tickets when demand exceeds supply, like some bowl games, can not normally be transferred except to family members, usually in the case of death, and such.

Yet many groups like to get their tickets as a single purchase, in order to keep the group together. This can be of considerable significance, as anyone who has been the recipient of randomly distributed tickets to road games can attest.

Under the "amnesty" program, which is really just an access to what you have already been paying for program, pre-existing partners in these ticket purchasing programs, with some exceptions, can establish their own accounts, and leap-frog others who came later, but already have their own accounts, in the process.

It's a step in the right direction toward modernizing the archaic ticketing process in place at Oregon St., albeit a small one.

It's still unclear how buying tickets has somehow been an act of wrong-doing, necessitating "amnesty" though.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com