I don't believe you would have to buy a ticket to watch, however I'm pretty sure you have to be there at 9:00 if you are wanting to play.

One more thing: If you know you're playing but will be a few minutes late, something you could do is let someone know your squad and map choice in advance. That way, someone onsite can fill out your squad sheet and get you entered into the computer.

Yeah, in that situation, I don't know if it would be an autoloss or a bye (would probably depend on the number of players). But the point is, don't worry too much about being there right at the crack of 9. People will still be filling out squad sheets and getting registered, and most events don't start until 10 or 15 minutes after anyway. If you think you're going to be later than that, I would recommend confirming that you plan to attend and getting your squad and map in in advance, as has been mentioned, just so we know you're coming. As long as you do that, we can make a decision and either hold for a few minutes or else proceed with the first round.

For the GenCon virgins-
Event Tickets - Spend the $10 to get them mailed to you or stand in long lines. 30 minute minimum wait on Thursday morning with some wait times going up to an hour.
Traffic - Indy has a few million people that work there and you are going right into the middle of everone else trying to be at work between 8 and 9 am. Plan accordingly.
Parking - plan to pay and walk at least two blocks after you find a spot. Planing ahead of time will make this easier then i make it sound.
Convention size - 40,000 people will be there over the 4 days. While a majority are Friday thru Sunday, there are still lots of people there on Thursday and the convention space is not small its over 300,000 square feet. What I am trying to say it could be challenging for a first time to find us in the minis hall.
Start time -While everyone has mentioned we don't start on time, it would be nice if we could. If you know you are not going to be there by 9:15 I would talk to Eric and James and have them sit you up with a bye in the first round.

I guess what I am trying to convey is there is alot of ways for first timers to burn more time then they are planning on just getting to the tables. I hope this helps.

I agree that an automatic bye would be unfair to other contestants. Although, it would be funny, assuming an odd number of players, if he got the bye randomly.

Agree. If he happens to get it randomly, good for him. As long as he has his squad/map registered beforehand.

Actually last year will call was open 24 hours a day. It was awesome, Graham, Weeks, and I went and picked up our stuff at about 3 AM and there was no line at all. So if you're doing will call I would suggest doing that (after verifying that they will be open 24 hours again this year, of course).

In past years we would go straight there after we got into Indy around 1 PM on Wednesday, and the line was only 20-30 minutes long. It's not so bad if you're standing in it with people to talk to.