More than 11,000 students bought a ZonaZoo pass this year. But the die-hard fans on the UA Mall four hours before the game aren’t the only ones on campus.
Students who find the passes too expensive prefer to watch the game at home without having to deal with the crowds and those who simply don’t care about football were there getting caught up with schoolwork.
At the UA Main Library, linguistics freshman Rebecca Hynes was studying for a project. She usually goes to tailgating parties but doesn’t have a ZonaZoo pass.
“”I didn’t have enough money for one,”” Hynes said. “”I live off-campus so I have to pay for parking passes and things like that, so it was just too expensive.””
She plans on going to a couple of games, like the one against ASU in December, but not the majority of them.
“”I just don’t have it in my budget,”” Hynes said.
Family studies senior Deirdre Yazzie never bought a ZonaZoo pass.
“”I’d rather watch it on TV because I just don’t like the drunk people around, being disturbed (by them),”” Yazzie said.
She acknowledged how how exciting the stadium atmosphere can be, but planned on watching the game with friends at home after she finished studying.
Whitney Sheets was a member of Pride of Arizona marching band her freshman year, and had a ZonaZoo pass her sophomore and junior years. Now an art history graduate, she won’t go to any of the games, even though her friends and boyfriend will.
“”I went for the novelty of it and the experience, and then I was just kind of done with it,”” she said.
On game day, the library receives a lot of visitors looking for one thing other than books: the bathroom. Senior Library Information Associate Pat Montoya said the volume of people at the Main Library is a lot smaller on these days, with a lot of people coming in two hours before the game to use the restroom or ask for campus information.
The library keeps gate statistics on the number of visitors per day. Montoya said those might “”even show increased activity”” because of game goers.
“”But if you’re talking about people who are coming in just to use the books and the computers, it’s probably gonna be less.””
At the Science-Engineering Library the situation is similar. University library employee Nicole Ramsey always works Saturdays, and said “”it’s dead”” on game days. While there are usually 40 to 50 people wanting to use their most popular study rooms, there were none until noon that day, and five people after that. Lines to use the computers didn’t exist; there were plenty available.
“”(The) restroom’s our biggest question. ‘Where’s the bathroom? Do you have a bathroom?'”” Ramsey said in regards to what a lot of people are interested in before going into the stadium.
Brandon Knox, a political science sophomore, was getting some work done before going to the game with friends. He didn’t have a ZonaZoo pass his freshman year also because of his budget, but he got one this year.
“”It’s definitely expensive. I haven’t really mapped out how much it would be to buy tickets to go to each game and see how it compares. But also, it’s the student section and it’s pretty cool.””
Pre-business student James Mays said that the seats you can get with a pass are well worth the money and it’s “”probably way cheaper”” than buying a ticket for each game.
Anthony Vottima, a business junior, is the only one of Knox’s friends without a pass. Vottima said it’s “”a little pricey,”” and won’t buy tickets to any of the games during the season. Later, he was going home to watch the game on TV by himself.
