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Got Rose Bowl Tickets

Each year, the city of Pasadena is allotted a certain number of tickets to sell to its citizens for the annual Rose Bowl game. This year’s game is between the University of Southern California (BCS #7) and the University of Michigan (BCS #3). The ticket sale happened this past Saturday morning at the Pasadena Civic Center, and from what I understand, approximately five hundred tickets were available for purchase.

People start lining up very early in the morning, probably around 5am or so. What’s funny about this is that the tickets are not distributed on a first come, first served basis. You wait in line for a randomly numbered bracelet, and after everyone in line receives a bracelet, a range of numbers is called. If your bracelet number is in that range, you are given the opportunity to buy as many as two Rose Bowl tickets. If your number is not in that range, you are not given such an opportunity.

Ariele dropped me off at 6:30am so I could get in line. I knew in principle my position in line didn’t matter, but I had not done it before, so I decided to play it safe. At 8am they started handing out bracelets. Here is an important detail that a lot of people fail to understand: the bracelets are not handed out by increasing number. It is not necessarily the case that the person in front of you will have a lower number than you and that the person behind you will have a higher number. In principle, these numbered bracelets are handed out randomly, so the chances of your number being in the selected range is not correlated with your position in line.

After she dropped me off in line, Ariele went for a run. By the time she finished up and got in line, it was 7:45am or so. At this point there must have been about two hundred people between Ariele and me in line. I got number 01273; she got 00990. The wrist band distribution is supposed to last for one hour, from 8am to 9am. Shortly after 9am, they called the first range of numbers: 00063-00312. Within fifteen minutes, they realized not many people had wrist bands in this range, so they adjusted the range to 0063-00400, and then to 0063-00700. This last range caused a large number of people to make their way toward the front doors of the Civic Center.

They put people in line sequentially based on the number on their bracelet and wrapped the line around the side of the Civic Center. When most of those people had their opportunity to buy tickets, it was clear some tickets would still be available. They then adjusted the range to 0063-01000, at which point Ariele was among those who could buy tickets. Over the course of the next two or three hours, they slowly added more and more numbers to this range, finally topping out at 01183. So, my number was too high, but Ariele was able to buy two tickets.

We’re not planning on going to the game, so it’s now time for me to learn how to sell tickets on eBay, something I’ve never done before. I’m curious to see how it goes.