What if UB offered an opportunity for a student to win up to $13,000 this weekend? Would that be something you're interested in?
UB Fall Crawl: Last Bull Standing gives students the chance to win a semester of tuition, a semester of books, two Lady GaGa tickets, pizza for a semester, and $100 in campus cash.
Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to participate. Pick up a stamp card from the entrance of any of the first three home games this weekend and attend four of the six events. Then, return the card to the same station with the four stamps to enter your name into the drawing.
The first 500 students to hand in their stamp card marked with four of the six home game stamps will receive a plastic "UB Fall Crawl" mug.
From Friday to Monday, there are six UB athletics events. These start on Friday, with wrestling at 3 p.m., football at 6 p.m., and women's basketball at 7 p.m. The events continue on Saturday with men's basketball at noon and swimming and diving at 1 p.m., and they finish on Monday with women's basketball at 7 p.m.
This is the first time that True Blue has tried anything like this. This year, the event has a number of sponsors.
The free tuition, paid for by UB Athletics, will not include room and board. The free semester of books, sponsored by the UB Bookstore, will be the average that a typical student spends on books; the winning student will keep any leftover money.
The free pizza will be from IncrediBull pizza, and students will receive coupons to get two large pizzas per month throughout the course of the semester.
"[It is a] fun event on campus to promote athletic events [and] get students out to multiple games to not only see our football games but some of the other [non-ticketed] sports… It's for students to witness them and cheer them on," said Paul Hutchings, manager of University Awareness and Special Events. "Why not combine everything and put together a good promotion so students can have a full, fun weekend of events going on?"
The winners will be drawn at the women's basketball game on Monday, and students do not have to be present to win.
This is a great opportunity for students, whether regular or first-time attendees of UB sporting events, to support the UB athletics department and try to win prizes at the same time. The athletics department is using this event as a trial, so if it there is a good turnout, there may be more giveaways in the future.
The prizes are all well suited for UB students, and they should entice even those who are not sports fans. The seats for the Lady Gaga concert are lower level, general admission tickets in front of the stage and would normally cost upwards of $100. Tickets are no longer available to be purchased in pairs.
"I think it's going to be great… I wanted these prizes to be what students want because that's who we want to come out to the games. The students are what make the environment fun," Hutchings said. "Maybe, for instance, someone that really wants to go to Lady Gaga, but doesn't have tickets, might do this. The person might not be a sports fan, but now coming to these events to try to get the Lady Gaga tickets, they might become fans. That's what we want."
For students who win, this is sure to be an unforgettable event, and those who don't win will still get to see their sports teams compete against some tough opponents.
E-mail: features@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Tracey Drury
