A promotion geared get more University of Iowa students to buy season tickets to football games has been suspended.
There’s been a roughly 30 percent decline in student season ticket sales in the past two years, so the university offered a raffle. Officials planned to randomly select five people from the pool of students who bought season tickets to Hawkeye football games and those five would get free tuition for a year. University of Iowa athletic director Gary Barta says questions were raised about whether the gimmick fell within the guidelines of state laws on raffles, so the proposal has been temporarily tabled.
State law requires raffle tickets to be purchased with cash, for example, and students are able to buy season tickets with credit cards. The price for a student season ticket to University of Iowa football games is $175 for all seven home games. Students are being allowed to get a season ticket for six games, for $150. Regulators say that raises concerns, since the “price” for entering the raffle isn’t the same for all participants.
The university’s athletic director says his goal is “to make sure that the student experience at Hawkeye football games is as fun and exciting as possible” and the promotion will be evaluated to make sure it’s in “complete compliance” with state law.