A football game in 50 seconds [video]

A time lapse of the opening game of the college football season: NC State versus South Carolina (which unfortunately ended 7-3 in favor of SC). (Hat tip: yet another NC State sports blog)

The crowd standing and sitting in unison creates a very cool effect.

For years, NC State has had a hard time trying to get students in the stands by kickoff because tailgating at NC State has special importance. NC State went to a new system a few years ago that rewards early-arriving students with better seats. This sounds nice in theory, but you can clearly see the perverse results in the video: The students who care most about their seats arrive early, ridiculously early, well before any other sections are filled. The tailgaters know they are going to get the worst seats in the house, so there is no reason to hurry, and the upper part of the student section is that last place in the stadium to fill -- well past kickoff.

The ticketing people should consider talking with one of the many brilliant economists at NC State who would be happy to share some better ideas. One idea would be to penalize late-arriving students by, for example, suspending ticket rights for the next game. This would create a disincentive for late arrivals while eliminating the incentive for excessively early arrivals.