The University of Connecticut announced Thursday that students will be admitted to all home sporting events free of charge beginning this fall.
To date, UConn has staged six sports as ticketed events: football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, and men's hockey. The new policy will allow students to attend those events merely by swiping their student ID cards. Free admission will continue for each of the university's 16 remaining sports.
The policy change is expected to boost attendance. Football, men's basketball and men's hockey have all experienced recent attendance declines.
Moreover, it is a measure to ease the financial burden on regular students. For the 2019-20 school year, all UConn students will pay $3,428 in mandatory fees, according to the Hartford Courant. As of February 2018, $434 of the total sum went toward athletics.
"Our students help create an exciting atmosphere at many of our home events and I am hopeful that this new streamlined process will entice even more students to join the fun," athletic director David Benedict said in a statement. "Students already contribute to our success through student fees and I feel it is important to eliminate any cost to them above and beyond those fees."
