Utah’s student section has a new habit this season, and it’s already changing the feel at Rice-Eccles Stadium: the MUSS is getting there early.
That used to be a tougher sell. In past years, a chunk of the crowd - students included - would drift in after kickoff or trickle toward their seats during the opening minutes.
Tailgating ran long. Parking took time.
Sometimes there was one more drink to finish before heading inside.
The old ticket setup didn’t help. MUSS president Kai Cruz said the lower bowl and much of the upper bowl were assigned at first, but after five minutes left on the pregame clock, those seats were opened up for anyone.
“In previous years, the ticketing system had assigned seating - for the lower bowl, and for the better part of the upper bowl - but after about five minutes left on the pregame clock, those assigned seats were then relinquished, so anybody could sit anywhere,” Cruz told The Salt Lake Tribune in an interview.
“This kind of led to some students knowing they could have their seat saved until later, and so students wouldn’t necessarily prioritize getting to the stadium early.”
Now Utah has tried something different, and the early returns have been strong. When No. 12 Utah (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) hosts Kansas in Saturday’s Big 12 opener, MUSS leaders will get their fourth look at a general admission setup that has already sped up the student rush into the stadium.
Cruz said the shift has made a noticeable difference.
“This year, we’re there an hour before kickoff, the MUSS is almost full, and everyone’s incredibly juiced,” Cruz said.
The move wasn’t just about where students sit. It also changed how they got tickets. According to MUSS student leader Trevor Coyle, the section moved away from a first-come, first-served process it had used for 24 years and switched to a lottery system.
“In previous years, all the tickets that’d been claimed in carts were unavailable,” Coyle told The Tribune. “It started to become about being lucky with your operating system, being lucky with your browser and your computer in order to get a ticket.”
Cruz said that old system created unfair results.
“It led to inequitable experiences such as computers crashing or networks not working. It just wasn’t fair.”
The new lottery window ran for six weeks in the spring, from April to May. And MUSS leaders used it to push students toward more than just football.
Students could earn points by attending non-football events around campus, then use those points to improve their odds in the football ticket lottery. Cruz said students got one entry at the standard rate, and extra attendance could stack up from there.
“At the standard rate, all students get one entry,” Cruz said. “Then, as they were going to other events and building it up, they could earn more football lottery entries.”
The system awarded 500 points for each non-football contest attended. Once a student reached 2,000 points, that student earned another football lottery entry. Some nights were worth double or triple points when MUSS leaders wanted to boost turnout.
“We had some students with close to 50 extra entries,” Cruz said. “It’s almost like a MUSS battle pass. There are prizes they can earn all along the way, and so those extra entries are kind of slipped into that prize ladder.”
Utah assistant athletic director Gavin Gough said the changes were designed in part to “increase the connection” between the student section and the football team. The new waiting area for the MUSS sits next to The Ute Walk, where fans can watch players arrive about two-and-a-half hours before kickoff.
“That’s something that we in athletics have been really excited about,” Gough told The Tribune. “There’s now a good number of students that are lining up and coming to the stadium early.”
Kris Bosman, Utah’s Chief Alumni Relations Officer and the person who oversees the MUSS, said the goal was to get students in place early enough to build the atmosphere inside Rice-Eccles.
“The GA ticketing decision was made this year to like to really get students in there early to start that atmosphere in Rice-Eccles,” Bosman said.
She also thinks the student section could influence everyone else in the building.
“People will be curious,” Bosman added. “Like maybe they’ll think, ‘If the students are here early, maybe I should be here early.’ That passion is contagious.”
Through three home games, the experiment has done exactly what Utah hoped. The MUSS has filled faster than it did in previous seasons, and the students who are there are getting better seats and louder moments to work with.
“They are getting great lower-bowl seats, and they’re there, and they’re bringing that energy, especially when our student-athletes come take the field and start their warm-ups,” Gough said.
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