The ISU Athletic Department announced this past June that it had sold out its All Sports Package, which is the only way for students to obtain men’s basketball tickets. 

Now with the overselling, a plan is in place where if a student is denied entry into a men’s basketball game because the student section is full, he or she will be refunded the face value of that ticket.

For students who wanted men’s basketball tickets, they had to purchase the $249 All Sports Package, which included football, men’s basketball, volleyball, women’s basketball, wrestling and gymnastics. 

Along with the All Sports Package being sold out, the athletic department also decided to oversell men’s basketball tickets. 

The Hilton student section currently holds about 2,500 seats. ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said in an interview this summer that with the new plan, they would be selling about 3,500 tickets for the 2012-13 season. 

“We worked with our student advisory group on a plan this year to oversell men’s basketball tickets, similar to what the University of Kansas does with their student body,” Pollard said. “We did this to try and get more students at men’s basketball games.”

Spencer Hughes, the Government of the Student Body Director of Student Affairs, said they had concern about what a student would do in the event that they be denied entry into a basketball game that was full. 

“When we found out that athletics was planning to oversell the student section for men’s basketball games, the initial concern was about [there] not being enough space for students,” Hughes said. 

Hughes said GSB President Jared Knight met with the athletic department and discussed possible alternatives to the problem. 

“Then the concern kind of shifted that there wouldn’t be a policy in place in the event of a student coming to a game that doesn’t have a seat and [the student] is denied entry,” Hughes said. “So we really wanted to get something in place. Because it’s unlikely that’s going to happen, but just in case it does, we have something in place.”

Pollard said the department worked with a student advisory group on the plan to oversell tickets in an effort to get more students to the basketball tickets, similar to what Kansas has done with its program. 

Now a solution is in place in the event that a student comes to a men’s basketball game and is denied entry because the student section is full. 

“This past week there were some conversations going on, and something got worked out that in the event of a student showing up to a basketball game and there not being a place for him, and [he] is denied entry into the student section, they will get the face value of the ticket for that game refunded,” Hughes said.

Both Pollard and Associate Athletic Director Steve Malchow were unavailable for comment on Monday.