Samad Hakani, Photography Editor

On Monday afternoon, the Yale College Office of Student Engagement sent students the highly anticipated details on how to acquire a ticket to the Yale-Harvard Game on Nov. 23 at Harvard Stadium in Boston. 

According to the email, student tickets will be $25 each; however, they are only available through a new lottery system. 

Seniors who enter the lottery will automatically be given four entries, juniors three, sophomores two and first-years only one. If a student wins the lottery, they will receive an invitation to purchase tickets within a specific time frame. Winning the lottery, the email noted, does not guarantee students a ticket. 

“The weighting in the process for seniors was a direct response to students feedback, who felt that we wanted to give seniors a greater chance to attend their final Y-H game as a student, whereas, a sophomore or first-year will have several more chances to attend a Game,” Dean of Student Engagement at Yale College Burgwell Howard wrote to the News. 

Despite the explanation of the weighting in the process, many were still unhappy with the decision.

The process is now one entirely of luck, which, despite being more equitable, still doesn’t seem ideal to many.

“The Harvard-Yale game is such a key part of the Yale experience, so it’s a bit disappointing that getting a ticket now depends on luck,” says Amelie Liu ’27. “But at the same time, having a lottery system does take away the pressure of having to click super fast, which can be stressful. It feels more fair, even if it’s not guaranteed.”

The Office provided ways for students to increase their odds of winning a ticket by attending select fall varsity athletics games: men’s soccer v. Sacred Heart on Sept. 21, field hockey v. Quinnipiac on Sept. 29, volleyball v. Cornell on Oct. 11 and Women’s Soccer v. Princeton on Oct. 13. 

Each game a student attends will earn them one additional entry into the lottery. These games were decided on by the Athletic Department. 

“Yale has 35 varsity sports teams who compete at a high level, but only a dozen or so draw the crowds they deserve, so some of the games were chosen as a way to help students discover the great sports and teams that their classmates are involved with, and will hopefully continue supporting their classmates when they see the great effort and entertainment of these other sports and teams,” Howard told the News.

The Athletic Department has incentivized game attendance to bolster support and encourage students to get involved with other sports on campus. 

The plan is similar to last year when students were encouraged to pick up their tickets for The Game at a women’s hockey game, men’s basketball game and women’s soccer game.

“The lottery process was designed by our colleagues in Yale Athletics, using the feedback we received from students in 2022 and 2020 who felt that they did not even have an opportunity to purchase a ticket because they had a conflict when the tickets went on sale,” Howard said. 

The 2022 ticket sale process, the last time the event was held at Harvard, was especially problematic. 

A link for tickets was accidentally made available to students before the set release date, causing website crashes and panic among students.

“A lottery was deemed a more fair approach to provide folks an opportunity to be in the running to secure a ticket,” Howard continued. 

Harvard Stadium seats just over 30,000 people, whereas the Yale Bowl seats over 60,000. This discrepancy in occupancy, along with Harvard reserving most of the tickets for Crimson fans, means that Yale students will have a more challenging time securing a ticket this year than when The Game was hosted at home.  

Harvard students do not have difficulty getting tickets to The Game when it is in New Haven due to the massive size of the Yale Bowl.

Howard commented on this fact and told the News, “That is why Harvard students believe that it is much more fun to come to New Haven — as more of their student body can attend and fit inside the stadium.” 

For Harvard students, no such issues exist. The official Harvard website boasts one free ticket for undergraduate students.

In the face of this disparity and despite Howard’s comment, many seniors still felt the process did not properly account for their seniority. This game will be their final Yale–Harvard Game as undergraduates.

“This is absurd,” Sean Davis ’25 told the News, saying The Game was the highlight of his years at Yale. “It should be more than one better for juniors.”

Although securing a ticket to the Yale-Harvard Game this November will be more difficult than in years past, students who stay on campus at Yale can watch The Game on television. In the past, there have been watch parties on campus. The Game is also viewable on ESPN for those watching at home.