Wren Baker explains new student seating section model

West Virginia will move to a first-come, first-served game day student section seating model this season.

It’s something that Athletics Director Wren Baker believes is necessary given how things have turned out, even in games where the Mountaineers have had to advance to the lottery system to award tickets, such as the Backyard Brawl in 2023 and the opener against Penn State last season.

“Game kicks off and you have a whole bunch of empty seats in that lower and that’s been a challenge. We’ve tried other ways to address it and we just have not been able to have a real solution,” Baker said.

So, when officials sat down and discussed the issue this year, it became a topic of conversation.

The previous format rewarded upperclassmen with the ability to sit in the lower student section and that percentage was bumped up in order to try to fill that part of the stadium.

“And it just hasn’t worked. You still look up there at kickoff, in a game that’s completely sold out, tickets going for four or five times face value, and you have a couple hundred, if not more, empty seats over there,” he said.

The new system, which was put into place earlier this year will give the first 2,200 students who enter the East Gate of Milan Puskar Stadium a wristband to be seated in the lower-level student sections 109 and 110.

Then, after that, students will be seated in the upper-level sections 205-211 or the lower-level section 121 based on preference. It’s also important to note that the section option will not open until all of the wristbands have been distributed for the lower level.

And in the end, Baker simply believes that this is the best way to handle it although he recognizes that, like with any decision, some people will think it’s good and others will be disappointed.

“But I think it’s the most fair way to do it and the best way to create the kind of atmosphere and environment that we’d like to create,” Baker said.

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