With a vote of 1,599 to 978, the Athletic Fee Referendum has passed. Students voted on the fee in the Student Government Association elections on Monday, Feb. 28, and the undergraduate student body will now pay $15 per semester in order to receive 1,000 free tickets to all home men’s basketball games.

SGA president Courtney Anvender, who was a member of the Student Season Ticket Task Force which researched the feasibility of the fee and created the referendum,said she is happy with the outcome.

“I honestly went into it with an open mind,” Anvender said. “I thought it was interesting that I really only saw campaigns supporting it. I expected there would be a campaign for and a campaign against because I hear some students opposed to it.”

Anvender said the fee passage is exciting for the students and will improve the student experience.

“It takes down a barrier and gives you one more option as a student to get invested in the community,” Anvender said.

The one factor that needs to be finalized is distribution of the free tickets, which will present a new set of challenges.

“My first thought is that [the vote] was the easy part,” Derrick Neuner, co-chair of the task force, said. “There is a lot left to work on in terms of distribution.”

Anvender said she has already been in discussion with Vice President of Student Development Kent Porterfield in order to make sure students have an equal opportunity at receiving one of the free tickets.Though the distribution of tickets remains unsettled, Neuner said he is also excited the fee passed and was surprised by the wide margin of the vote. Neuner said he heard a lot more negative feedback about the fee after it was officially placed on the ballot but, as Anvender mentioned, no anti-fee campaign formulated on a large scale.

Anvender said the distribution method will be determined by the end of the semester.

Derrick Neuner is the associate sports editor at The University News.