NSU has partnered with the Miami Dolphins to provide students with free tickets to Dolphins football games throughout the regular NFL season. The program, Fins Football, will be formally announced at Sharkapalooza on Aug. 26.
Assistant Dean of Student Services and Director of Residential Life and Housing Aarika Camp said, “Our whole goal with programs like this is to create exciting experiences for students, and they’ll be able to say they had these experiences because they went to NSU.”
The Fins Football ticket reservation system will be completely online, and available through SharkLink, as well as the official Fins Football website. Students will be required to pay a $50 administrative fee online upon signing up for the program; however, this fee will be refunded to each student in January if they meet the terms and conditions of the program.
Program terms and conditions include attendance and behavior at games. If students have reserved tickets to a game, but do not attend, they will be penalized and forfeit their $50 administrative fee.
There will be eight home games that students can choose to attend over the course of the Dolphins regular season. Students can choose to go to as many or as few games as they would like. NSU is allotted 500 tickets to give away per game. Camp said allowing students to pick which games they want to attend lets them design their own unique experience through the program.
Ticket reservation will open up 30 days prior to each game and will close a week before the game’s scheduled date. Students will be able to cancel any ticket reservations up to seven days before the game with no penalty. If students cancel their tickets less than seven days before the game or do not show up to collect their tickets, their $50 administrative fee may not be refunded at the end of the program.
If any extra tickets are available, students will be allowed to reserve one extra ticket for a non-NSU-affiliated guest.
Camp said, “This opportunity is open to all NSU students. Students at the regional campuses, graduate students, online students and undergraduate students will all have a chance to reserve tickets for the games. We want to make it fair and show that there aren’t distinctions between NSU Sharks. If you’re a Shark, you’re a Shark.”
Shark Shuttles will be available to transport student to and from every game. The shuttles will begin leaving campus at 10 a.m. and run until the start of the game. Shuttle service will resume at the beginning of the fourth quarter to bring students back to campus. All students will have the option of taking their own cars to the games but will have to pay for parking.
Camp said, “We’re trying to make this as accessible as possible for all students.”
In addition to providing students with free tickets and transportation, the Fins Football program will feature a tailgate from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at every home game.
The tailgate, which will be called Shark Village, will feature games, giveaways, and music provided by Radio X. However, students in attendance will need to provide their own food for the tailgate. Camp said the tailgate theme will be “NSU meets the Miami Dolphins.”
“It really should feel almost like we have our own football team, and we want students to be able to connect with one another through the tailgate,” said Camp.
Tickets will be handed out to students at the tailgate approximately one hour before the scheduled game time.
Student Affairs will be handing out free tickets to the Dolphin’s final preseason game against the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 1 at Sharkapalooza, so students can decide if they would like to participate in the program during the regular season.
Ticket reservations will open on Aug. 27 for the Dolphin’s first regular season home game against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 25.
PHOTO CREDIT: B. HENSLER
