Alumni Affairs has done nobody wrong

I recently read Elizabeth Dixon's March 24 letter "Alumni Affairs 'done us wrong'" and believe it important to shed some light on NCAA ticket distribution. In this case Duke Alumni Affairs and Duke Athletics have not "wronged" anyone.

To start, the NCAA allocates 550 tickets for all of the eight participating institutions at each sub-regional location. Each block of 550 tickets is equal in its proximity to the court and the number of lower level tickets vs. upper level tickets. Because the NCAA's goal is to have a sellout crowd for every game, the remaining tickets in each arena are sold as early as a year in advance. By the time selection Sunday rolls around, most arenas are sold out, and the opportunity to get more tickets is usually not available.

Duke attempts to purchase more tickets whenever possible. We were able to acquire 10 extra tickets from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., for a total allotment of 560 tickets. One could argue that the NCAA should hold more tickets aside for each school; however, I would say that after nearly 20 years in the business, this number is fair. We could have used more tickets in D.C., however, last year in Buffalo, we were unable to use our entire allotment.

Duke then allocates the available tickets in the following order: (1) Players' and coaches' families and friends; (2) Current undergraduate and graduate students (personal use only); (3) Iron Dukes members; (4) Duke University alums; and (5)Duke fans.

After taking care of the first two groups above, there were approximately 240 tickets remaining to sell. These were sold at a maximum of two per member to the top 120 Iron Dukes members who requested tickets. More than 100 other Iron Dukes members who requested tickets were turned away.

Our No. 1 goal is to get as many Blue Devil fans in the stadium as possible. However, when an arena is sold out, there's not much Duke can do save from getting tickets from an outside inflated market.

It's important to note that each location and each round of the NCAA Tournament is different regarding our supply and demand. For instance, last year in Buffalo, all area alums were contacted via e-mail with an opportunity to purchase tickets. All who responded were able to buy up to six tickets each. More than 40 alums did so. Our ticket supply was the same as last week in Washington, D.C., but the demand was much greater this year.

As a team advances each week, the NCAA ticket distribution increases. The regional ticket allotment is 1,250 tickets per school, and the Final Four ticket allotment is 3,500 per school.