One week ago at Stone Stadium, 4,505 students combined to form a standing room only crowd for what was essentially a preseason scrimmage for the men’s soccer team.
And while the line to get into the game poured out onto Whaley Street at times, it was the line inside of the stadium that drew the biggest crowd as students waited to collect precious loyalty points.
The Gamecock Student Rewards program is behind this points system, offering the chance to increase your odds of getting one of each football game’s 10,000 allotted student tickets. And while many are familiar with the concept of this lottery system, many more don’t know how to tap into the program’s full potential.
“The same points work for both sets, so if you attend athletic events you earn a loyalty point. Loyalty points, of course help you get football tickets,” USC Athletics’ Director of Marketing Josh Waters said. “But they also help you with those rewards. Rewards range from Under Armour caps to backpacks, polos, you know, all those prizes.”
In order to make these rewards more tangible, Gamecock Student Rewards has introduced a new app this year. Available through the App Store or Google Play, students can use it to keep track of their progress and find out when the next point-getting opportunity on campus may arise.
As of last year, when non-revenue sports were included, students attending any South Carolina athletic event can receive one loyalty point. That could go a long way in explaining last week’s massive turnout at Stone Stadium as students vie for a ticket to the football team’s season opener against Texas A&M. But going to the games of USC’s non-revenue teams (i.e. men’s soccer) isn’t the only way to rack up points.
Simply requesting a ticket for revenue sports such as football, baseball and men’s or women’s basketball will earn you a point. And if you do find yourself with a football ticket, staying until the end of the game could help you get into the next game as well.
“That was something we heard last year when we had some early exiting people at games, in the fourth quarter,” Waters said. “The things that we heard from students are: ‘We would love to get loyalty points.’ You’re going to get that.”
This incentive for sticking it out for the entire football game was implemented last year after head coach Steve Spurrier criticized the student section for its tendency to thin out as the game wore on. Students will see promotions like this carry over into this year. According to Waters, vouchers will be handed out to those that remained for the duration of the game, and students can redeem those on Greene Street the following week.
Another one of the obstacles for late-game attendance last year was the sun. After baking in Columbia’s famous heat for three quarters, many students headed back to the safety of their air conditioned rooms. Gamecock Student Rewards is trying to combat that by reducing drink prices once the fourth quarter hits, offering bottled water for a dollar in the final 15 minutes of the game.
At its core, the rewards program is about the students, and Waters has recognized that fact by tapping into some of the most influential Gamecocks USC has to offer.
Student Body President Lindsay Richardson and her Secretary of Athletics Austin Solheim have been in contact with Waters in order to hash out which incentives will draw students out of their dorms and into South Carolina’s athletic venues.
The two have teamed up this year to form the Student Gamecock Club, charging students an entry fee of $35 in exchange for membership, three loyalty points, tours of athletics facilities and more.
One of Richardson’s projects this year has been the introduction of Friday pep rallies. These would take place on Greene Street before SEC games and offer students that attend another shot at loyalty points.
The rewards program tends to work great for new USC students that are looking for any chance to get their first taste of Gamecock football at Williams-Brice Stadium, but the luster tends to wear off as the years go by.
“I think it’s also a worthy conversation to start about the upperclassmen,” Richardson said. “Also something I think we should probably start making our upperclassmen aware of is that they might be beaten in loyalty points at all these events that the freshmen are going to.”
According to Waters’ calculations, out of all the students that swiped their CarolinaCard last week at Stone Stadium, around 61 percent of those were freshmen.
As of Monday morning, student tickets for the football team’s season opener have been doled out, leaving many ecstatic and many others devastated. But Waters’ message to students is not to give up on collecting loyalty points, because in the current state of South Carolina football, big games are always just around the corner.
“The more points you have the better,” Waters said. “Let’s say you don’t get a Texas A&M ticket. I wish we could get them in, but in two weeks after that we play Georgia. So between now and Georgia, if a freshman or any student goes to soccer or volleyball, they’re really going to build up their points.”