Hundreds of UNC-Charlotte students "who are paying increased student fees to help pay" for the new on-campus Richardson Stadium, and hoped to attend the school's inaugural football game on Saturday, "won’t be there," according to a front-page piece by David Scott of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The game is sold out, and has "turned into one of the hottest tickets around." Of the 15,314 seats, 7,500 tickets "are allotted to students, but 8,300 had requested them." The rest of the stadium's seating is "divided among season-ticket and permanent-seat license holders (6,800) and about 1,000 for players’ families, the opposing team’s fans, recruits, sponsors and high school coaches." Charlotte Associate AD/Media Relations Tom Whitestone said those seats also are "expected to be filled Saturday." Whitestone: “We are at our breaking point." He added that the school "will not distribute standing-room-only tickets to students who didn’t have their names drawn in the lottery." Temporary stands also are "not planned for this season in Richardson Stadium, which will likely be expanded to 40,000 seats by 2015, when the 49ers move to Conference USA" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/28).
