After ticket pull chaos, Texas A&M president Mark Welsh takes responsibility for ordeal
The Texas A&M football ticket pull process for the Texas game has come under a lot of scrutiny in the last few days. Anecdotes from people present at the stadium told of line rushes, EMS visits, and trash being strewn around as crowds jostled for the best spot.
Overall, it was not exactly a positive experience! The toothpaste is out of the tube by this point, but you now have fans wondering whether some of these tickets were pulled to be resold—which would inevitably mean more burnt orange at the game, something no Aggie wants.
The outcry eventually grew far too loud for there not to be some kind of response from university leadership, and we've gotten just that. Mark Welsh, president of Texas A&M University, met with the media to discuss what happened at ticket pull, calling it "unacceptable."
To his credit, Welsh took responsibility, and was pretty blunt about it. "Blame me," he declared.
It looks like this will lead to some possible big changes for the way students get tickets, too, as a university official has claimed that they will take a "hard look" at the way the process currently runs and whether changes are indeed necessary.
After this much upheaval, it's hard to see something like this staying around for the long term. Then again, it's a tradition well-loved by some, so it may not be as simple as all that.
The crowds that gather for this kind of thing are certainly formidable, and that can lead to some pretty unsafe conditions. In my opinion, it's better to be on the safe side, and find another way to conduct this process.