The band didn’t play “Auld Lang Syne” Wednesday night at Allen Fieldhouse, but some longtime Kansas University men’s basketball season-ticket holders were feeling unusually nostalgic anyway.

For many fans, such as Scottie Lingelbach, it probably was the last time they would sit in the same fieldhouse seats that they have had for years.

“I may wear a black armband,” Lingelbach said a few hours before KU capped its regular-season home schedule against Nebraska.

“I just decided I was going to wait and see what they send me,” said Monte Clumsky, a Lawrence dentist who has had season tickets for 19 years.

The Kansas University Athletic Corp. is in the process of employing a new plan that will seat season-ticket holders based on a priority point system. The system is based on past and current support of the athletic department and the university at large.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway has looked at the point-system plan and approved its concept in principle, said Jim Marchiony, an associate athletic director.

The wait will be difficult for KU fans who are already feeling anxiety about where they will be sitting next year.

“I think there’s a lot of uncertainty,” said Monte Johnson, a former KU athletic director who also is a longtime ticket holder. “Anybody who thinks they are going to keep their seats forever probably isn’t reading the paper.”

Last year Mick Allen, grandson of legendary coach and fieldhouse namesake Phog Allen, saw the tickets his family had enjoyed for years sold off after his mother died. Although Allen got season tickets to two new seats in a primary seating area, he now wonders whether he will lose them, too.

Allen said he had written letters to athletic officials and asked them to consider the money raised for KU through the use of the Allen name, as well as donations to the athletic department and the Williams Fund.

Kansas University men's basketball fans wave goodbye to the Cornhuskers after the Jayhawks' 78-67 Senior Night victory over Nebraska. Many season-ticket holders at the final regular-season home game of the year also wondered whether they were saying goodbye to their long-held seats with the introduction next year of a premium seating policy at KU.

“I’ve done all I can do,” Allen said. “I fully expect to be in the fieldhouse next year. I’m just waiting to see where the chips will fall.”

Some ticket holders said they understood the athletic department’s need for more money to compete in the world of big-time college athletics. At the same time, they said they still were troubled by the seeming lack of attention to fan loyalty.

Johnson, who was athletic director in the early 1980s, said he knew the business was different than it used to be.

“It’s changed so much that I’d be less than honest if I said I knew what is going on,” Johnson said.

Because season-ticket holders have sat among the same people for years, they become more of a family than just friends, Clumsky and Lingelbach said.

“You know, we all sit together, and we take turns coaching,” Clumsky said with a chuckle. “One person will coach the first half, and somebody else will coach the second half. (Next year) We’ll all be sitting in different areas, and we won’t know who is coaching.”

Lingelbach, 81, is hoping her new ticket won’t put her high up in the fieldhouse bleachers.

“If I’m put four rows from the top, I’m not doing that,” she said. “I’ll say thanks, but I’ll watch it on TV. That doesn’t mean my loyalty to KU is in any way diminished, but I do think it’s sad that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of bonus points for loyalty.”

The research to determine how many points season-ticket holders have will take some time, Marchiony said. Letters will then be sent to individuals letting them know how many points they have.

A mock draft also will be held to give ticket holders an idea how many points they’ll need to get the seats they want.

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