WVUA-FM received the following statement Monday afternoon from Associate Athletic Director for Communications, Doug Walker after a number of students expressed frustrations over the ticketing procedures for the Alabama-Michigan game.

We are always concerned about accommodating as many students as possible at each game. Unfortunately, this being a neutral site game, only about 800 tickets were supplied to us at the student rate of $50 per ticket. To increase the number of students who could attend the game, the University made arrangements for an additional 800 spirit pass tickets at the rate of $35 per ticket.

Our ticket office followed the same process we’ve followed for away games for several years. Students received an email that told them whether they were in the ticket pool for away game tickets. The number of students who received away game tickets has always depended on how many tickets we received for the game and how many students indicated they wanted tickets. For students in the ticket pool, it has always been a first-come, first-served distribution process the week prior to each road game.

Specifically for the Michigan game, we sent an email to students on Friday, with the details of the distribution process, including how many $50 tickets were available and why, and the alternative option – the $35 spirit pass tickets, which the athletics department negotiated with Cowboys representatives so more students could attend. Students that received spirit pass tickets will receive a refund reflecting the difference in price.