Select-a-seat system designed to ease fieldhouse unfairness

New process begins Monday for season ticket holders

Carol Floersch was in Allen Fieldhouse late last year when the Jayhawks’ head coach, Bill Self, was called for a rare technical foul.

“Our seats were so high up, I missed the whole thing,” Floersch said. “I didn’t know he’d gotten a technical until we were driving home and I heard it on the radio.”

Floersch’s late husband, Dr. Hube Floersch, had season tickets since returning from World War II. He died in 1995.

Under the athletic department’s new priority point system, Floersch’s four tickets were good for seats “about three rows from the top,” she said.

“My son asked the people across the aisle from us how many points they had, and they said a hundred,” Floersch said. “But we have more than 500 points.”

Floersch said her son called to complain but was told “there wasn’t anything they could do about it.”

Doug Myrick, of Kellex Services, adjusts a number on a newly painted seat at Allen Fieldhouse. KU basketball season ticket holders will be able to start picking their seats beginning Monday.

Floersch’s seats were assigned by a computer that had been programmed to assign the best seats to those with the most points.

That won’t happen this year.

The athletic department has adopted a select-a-seat system that’s designed to let those with the most points pick their seats.

Floersch, 80, couldn’t be happier. “I’m thrilled,” she said. “We did this for football (season tickets), and it worked beautifully. I’m really looking forward to picking my seats.”

The new system starts Monday. In descending order, season ticket holders with the most points have been assigned times to come to Allen Fieldhouse to choose their seats. The process ends Friday.

“We’re set up for 10 people every 10 minutes,” said associate athletic director Jim Marchiony.

Ticket holders have the option of choosing their seats via telephone or letting department officials assign their seats.

“There should be far fewer concerns this year than we had last year,” Marchiony predicted.

Marchiony said he expected Allen Fieldhouse to sell out.

“If it doesn’t, it’ll be very close,” he said. “It will depend on how many faculty-staff tickets aren’t used and are turned back in.”

Kansas University faculty, staff and retirees will select their seats Sunday Their selection process will be based on seniority rather than points and limited to 1,812 seats in three corner sections.

To offset the complaints of faculty, staff and retirees whose seats are behind – and whose views are blocked by – students, the band has been moved to a section closer to the floor.

“The band will not stand on the benches,” Marchiony said.

Some of the seats formerly occupied by the band will be made available to faculty, staff and retirees.

Ryan Farnsworth, of Acme Floor Co. in Lenexa, masks out the three-point line Friday on the south half of James Naismith Court at Allen Fieldhouse. The new floor's paint scheme will look almost identical to the former design. Work continues on the Allen Fieldhouse renovations as season ticket holders get ready to select their seats beginning Monday.

Still, more than 100 of the seats set aside for faculty, staff and retirees are likely to be behind student sections.

“We figure that, potentially, 1,400 seats will not be behind students,” said Susan Twombly, chairwoman of faculty SenEx Basketball Committee. “Unfortunately, some will be behind students. We’ve done everything possible to minimize the inconvenience.”

Twombly said she expected faculty, staff and retirees to return 250 tickets to the athletic department. “Most of those, I suspect, will be behind students.”

These tickets will be made available to the donors, Marchiony said.