Let’s face it — scoring season tickets for Penn State Men’s Basketball is not a top priority for most students. But it looks like the Penn State Athletic Department and Nittany Nation — the official student section fan group — are trying to change that.

Last year’s season tickets cost $52, which only included a Nittany Nation shirt and early admittance. Considering that there were so few benefits for season ticket holders last year, it’s reasonable that many were calling for lower prices and more incentives. Luckily, Penn State students got their wish with several new perks for season ticket holders:

• Price lowered to $40
• Nittany Nation t-shirt
• 15 minute early admittance
• A pre-season cookout with the team and coaching staff
• A weekly email message or video from members of the program
• Preferred seating at Hoops Madness
• First priorities for post-season tickets and travel

Obviously, the new price will be the most improved feature about the season tickets, but the other stuff doesn’t hurt either.

“We’ve been trying to lower the prices for a few years,” said new Nittany Nation President Maddy Pryor, “We’ve looked at the practices of other schools, their student sections, and their athletic departments, and tried our best with our own athletic department to get it done. We’ve been listening to students for quite a while about it, and now that it finally happened, we’re extremely excited about it.”

In addition to the decreased price, the other improvements are pretty impressive as well. It’s hard to turn down a chance to eat a hamburger alongside Coach Chambers and crew, and getting into the games 15 minutes earlier is a nice way to secure courtside seats for big games against conference rivals like Ohio State and Michigan State. I wouldn’t necessarily drool over priority access to postseason tickets yet, though.

Promotions like Dollar Dog Night (Huzzah!) and snapback hats will live on, and a pinnie giveaway could be in the works as well.

Ticket sales are ten percent ahead of last year’s total after they were available for purchase with football tickets last week, and there will be another opportunity to purchase season tickets during a week long October sale in the HUB.

Be sure to follow Nittany Nation on Twitter and Facebook for more updates as the season gets closer.