Taking Tickets Digital

USC is moving further into the modern era of ticketing. Starting this season all tickets will include a bar code to scan people as they enter the Coliseum. The system was in place at the Galen Center last year, and according to USC Director of Ticketing Debra Duncan, "it really facilitated security at the gate." USC also has the capability of scanning at Dedeaux Field and used it on student IDs in the spring.

USC also launched a new online ticket transfer system today. Season ticket holders can log in through the website and send their tickets to friends and family, who can print them from their computer. This will eliminate the need for people coming from separate locations to use will call or meet prior to the game.

In the coming weeks, fans purchasing tickets to individual games online should be able to print from their computer instead of having them sent by mail or held at the gate. The system was successfully tested on basketball last year but was not made available for this weekend's Idaho game.

Season football tickets are no longer for sale. Individual tickets are available for the opener this Saturday, though USC Sports Information Director Tim Tessalone said that he is expecting a sellout by game time. The Washington State (Sept. 22) and Stanford (Oct. 6) games also have seats available. The price online, including all fees, is $51. If you're thinking about rolling the dice and showing up without tickets, USC has partnered with StubHub to provide an alternative to dealing with the shady guys on Trousdale. Resale value of a seat for the Idaho game ranges from $20 to $2,499. That wasn't a typo. The pricey ones are "high enough to see over the players, but close enough to say hi."

StubHub and USC have a marketing partnership that allows people to sell their tickets online for a fee. Sellers can print a FedEx label from their own computer once tickets are sold from the site, or can drop them off beforehand. Though not endorsed by the school, in theory people could sell their tickets, collect their money via a service such as Paypal and send them through the new Trojan Transfer -- eliminating the need to physically send or deliver the tickets.

Students will get into games by scanning the bar code on their school ID (the Spirit Activity Card has been discontinued). Football season packages were sold to currently enrolled students for $135. All other sports are free for students who show their USCard. Student seating for non-football events is on a first-come-first-served basis. The ticket office hasn't finalized plans for high-demand basketball games, so students may want to check on that before showing up against UCLA and other marquee hoops matchups.