In 2020, Texas Athletics pulled the option of transferability from the Big Ticket as a COVID-19 safety precaution. Big Ticket holders at the time were required to either provide a negative COVID-19 test result in the days leading up to the game, test negative right before the game or recover in two weeks after being positive in order to attend. Due to this system, students with Big Tickets were not able to transfer or sell them. 

Since then, the Big Ticket has remained non-transferable. However, Big Ticket holders continue to transfer and sell their tickets in alternative ways that aren’t as safe or reliable. For a safer transaction when selling and buying, Texas Athletics should allow students to transfer their Big Ticket to other students. 

Many Big Ticket holders are forced to use unfavorable methods when trying to sell and transfer their ticket to other students. Students often try to transfer their tickets using Apple Wallet, screenshots or by sharing usernames and passwords. 

Alex Allen, a music performance and biochemistry sophomore, had concerns with selling her Big Ticket during the season. 

“One time, I tried to transfer a ticket over and I was doing it by having someone else sign on to the account. And I was concerned because they had stopped contacting me,” Allen said. “So I wasn’t sure if they had taken the ticket without paying, and so I had to change my password just because it wasn’t very easy to transfer the ticket over.”

Students shouldn’t have to resort to giving their passwords to strangers to transfer their tickets for one game. Texas Athletics should make this process fully ensured by once again making Big Tickets transferable.

Not only are Big Ticket holders affected by the lack of a safe transfer system in place, but so are the students trying to buy it from them. 

“There’s always a risk that the person will just hold on to the product,” David Zambrano, an arts and entertainment technologies freshman, said. “So yeah, there are a lot of (problems) without it being officially transferable. There are a lot of loopholes people could just take advantage of.” 

Although the Big Ticket is only sold to full-time UT students, there is always a possibility students could get scammed out of their money when purchasing other ticket alternatives. The ability to transfer Big Tickets would minimize this danger. 

Despite multiple interview requests, Texas Athletics was not available to comment prior to the publication of this article. Giving students the ability to transfer Big Tickets would not require creating a new, untested system. Rather, UT would just be reinstituting a process that existed before COVID-19. 

Texas Athletics charges students $200 for the Big Ticket and are therefore responsible to students for making their games and ticket purchasing process as enjoyable and safe as possible. Students shouldn’t have to rely on alternative and unsafe methods just to get into UT games. 

By making the Big Ticket transferable, students would feel more secure when buying, selling and transferring the Big Ticket instead of constantly being wary and unsure when making these unofficial transactions. 

Both Big Ticket holders and students trying to buy the ticket for a game deserve security from Texas Athletics when looking to participate in school spirit and watching their favorite teams.

Ramos is a journalism sophomore from Laredo, Texas.