Consumer News Story

SGA Athletic Senator Locks in Student Discounts for Concessions at Milan Puskar Stadium

By: Mariah Congedo

 

Milan Puskar Stadium is the first facility at WVU to have discounted concessions for students. Photo by Mariah Congedo

Morgantown, WV – West Virginia University football games are a hot commodity for Mountaineer fans. Tailgates fill the parking lots and student fans from all over come together to root on the Mountaineers for a hopeful win.

During the lengthy quarters of the game, students usually get thirsty or hungry. Often times, however, the overly-priced food and drink items discourage patrons from purchasing anything. The Student Government Association (SGA) athletic senator, Abundance Hunt, has found a way to solve this problem.

Hunt is a third-year member of SGA and a second-year athletic counselor. Last year, while Hunt was attending a game she noticed that everyone was leaving in the third quarter of a good game. She figured students were hungry, but did not want to spend money on concession stands when they could go right across the street to somewhere a lot cheaper or go home.

“I was talking to students about how ridiculous it was to pay $4 for a bottle of water and how they would rather just leave the game instead of stay,” Hunt said.

Hunt grew a passion to ensure that her peers were able to enjoy themselves at sporting events and preventing their want to leave early because of hunger. She brought it up to athletics, which was, at first, very controversial. Because of her eagerness to make this happen, athletics got on board and helped out immensely.

After the athletic department’s receptiveness and with the final clearance from Sodexo, Hunt’s idea became a reality at the first home game of the 2017-2018 season. Social media played a big role in advertising the new policy, and Hunt said that word about the discounts on social media from students was really good.

“One thing that students do need to remember is that the profits from the concession stand do go to the organization working them, so that’s why a lot of the items are downsized because we had to keep those proportions the same,” Hunt said.

Senior, Morgan McNabb attends several athletic events a year and expresses that she thinks it is awesome for students to get a discount and that it is necessary.

“I get hungry at the games and I’ve always felt it was too expensive, but with these discounts I will feel more obligated to go to the concession stands,” said McNabb.

The Coliseum is the next location to have student discounts at their concessions. Photo by Mariah Congedo

With a student ID, students can get the discount at two of the concession stands at Milan Puskar Stadium. The concession stand at section 121 and at the Red Zone Grill offer discounted peperoni rolls, popcorn, small fountain drinks and water.

Hunt is also looking to expand student discounts to other sporting venues in the future—with The Coliseum being next on her list for this year. McNabb says if discounts are offered at other events it will be beneficial to every student at WVU.

Student awareness about these discounts is important to Hunt. She is looking forward to spreading the word and continuing to make students enjoy game day.

386-consumer news story transcript