If you plan to buy a Minnesota Vikings ticket from the St. Thomas Box Office, hope for a little luck. Due to high interest, tickets will be sold through a lottery system.

“The system is designed to eliminate students waiting in line, missing class, and allow every undergraduate student a fair opportunity to purchase tickets regardless of class schedule,” said Colleen Stephens, manager of Box Office and Expeditions.

Students may come to the Box Office anytime between 8 a.m. and noon Thursday, Sept. 17, to pick up a free raffle ticket. Raffle tickets will not be given out after noon. Only one raffle ticket is allowed per student. A valid UST ID is required.

The lottery drawing will take place the same day at 12:15 p.m. Lottery results will be posted outside the Box Office and on the “University of St. Thomas Expeditions” page on Facebook. People with winning raffle tickets have until 4 p.m. that day to buy their ticket for $10.

Thirty-two tickets are available for the Vikings home opener game Sept. 27 against San Francisco, and 30 tickets are on hand for the Green Bay Packers game Oct. 5.

Stephens urges students to not form lines early or line up prior to the Box Office opening at 8 a.m. on Thursday.

“There is no advantage to doing that,” she said.

Shane Delaney can be reached at smdelaney@stthomas.edu