Students have an added incentive to purchase football season tickets this year, as supporting the Illini at Memorial Stadium can help earn a coveted seat at Assembly Hall.

Through a recent change in the basketball ticket distribution policy, students can now earn points towards a priority spot in the fight for basketball tickets by buying football tickets.

Ticket office director Jason Heggemeyer said about 1,500 students who applied for basketball tickets in 2005-06 could not get seats. By purchasing football tickets, Hanna said, students can get an advantage over similar students who only want to attend basketball games.

“We were tying to look at opportunities to put the kids in control, give them an opportunity to earn points,” Heggemeyer said.

The basketball point system assigns one point for each year in school: freshmen get one point, sophomores get two points, and so on. It then adds three points for each year the student has purchased basketball season tickets or been a member of Orange Krush.

Under the new system, students will get an additional point for purchasing football season tickets, either in the student section, as part of a fraternity/sorority block or as a member of the Block-I. Those who buy their tickets before the end of the spring semester can get an additional half point. The half point is meant to be an incentive to buy tickets early, Hanna said, and can become an important edge when the point totals match.

“It’s the tie breaker,” said DIA marketing director Chris Hanna.

Football ticket sales have decreased over the last five years, Hanna said, but with a new coach and a highly regarded recruiting class, the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics expects interest to rebound. He said there is a feeling of momentum among Illini fans, and that he hopes students will be eager to see the progress the team has made this fall.

“The excitement about Coach Zook, the recruiting class he’s brought in and the direction the team is going seems to be getting through to students,” Hanna said. “Then with Syracuse, a Big East school, coming in as well as Ohio State and Iowa, you can see some hot buttons that get students interested. So it seems like excitement will be up this year.”

Football tickets are currently on sale at the Assembly Hall box office. The Illini ticket mobile will be outside the Union 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily next week. More information is available at fightingillini.com.

STADIUM SALE SET

Fans wanting to get team-issue apparel will have an opportunity to do so Saturday at the annual Stadium Sale. The sale, held in the Great West Hall of Memorial Stadium, will include a variety of Illini merchandise. The sale runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.