Athletics to charge students

T-shirt with a Golden Hawk logo: $9.99. Admission to a WLU sporting event: $2-$5. Team spirit: priceless?

After instituting a five dollar charge for students to attend football games last year, students will now have to pay to attend hockey, basketball and volleyball. In previous years, attending a sporting event cost nothing when one possessed a WLU student card.

“I think games should be free to students because we are there to support our school,” said Jamie Stewart, a second-year Environmental Studies student.

However, Stewart sees the other side of the issue mentioning that, “If there are cutbacks like people losing their jobs or fewer opportunities for students and athletes because of the lack in income from games, then maybe there should be fees.”

The question is, with admission fees to games, will students continue going to games?

“Absolutely students will continue to come,” he said. “Especially the way the tickets are being marketed, with special offers such as flat-rate yearly passes or homecoming tickets that include a t-shirt along with a ticket for only fifteen dollars.”

“It creates different incentives for students to come so that we can drive that spirit and actually get people behind the game.”

The ticket revenue will go into funding things such as event staff and travel costs.