With no fall football, Toledo offers several options to season-ticket holders

MAC postponed the fall athletics season.

By Brian Buckey / The Blade
Tue, 11 Aug 2020 18:50:48 GMT

With the recent postponement of the Mid-American Conference football season, the University of Toledo athletic department and ticket office is in uncharted territory.

There are fans who renewed or purchased football season tickets beginning in February, before the surge of the coronavirus sports cancellations in the United States.

Saturday, MAC presidents voted unanimously to postpone all fall sports — football, volleyball, field hockey, men’s and women’s cross country, and men’s and women’s soccer — leaving Toledo in a bind as to how to respond to season-ticket holders.

Toledo is offering several options to those season-ticket holders now that the Rockets will not have a fall football season.

One of those options, of course, is a total refund should the season-ticket holder so choose.

Another option is to roll over all season ticket accounts, whether paid or unpaid, to the spring in case there is a spring football season.

Should fans roll over their season tickets to the spring and there is no spring season, that account can be used for any future ticket purchase whether that be men's and women's basketball or football.

Also according to UT deputy athletic director Dave Nottke, should season-ticket holders not be able to attend a spring season or not feel comfortable attending games, Toledo will do its best to honor their seating locations for the fall 2021 football season.

The final option is for the season-ticket holder to use the money they paid for season tickets for a one-time donation to Toledo's Athletic Department Progress Fund.

"Our goal through this whole thing that we discussed with our team is flexibility," Nottke said. "We've had a significant number of people beginning back in February that have paid. So the plan is to reach out to everybody and let everybody make the decision on their own comfort level."

Toledo vice president and athletic director Mike O'Brien sent out an email to fans prior to the MAC announcing the postponement of the fall football season outlining some of the potential options should games be canceled.

He emphasized the importance of donations during these tough times.

"In these hard economic times, we understand that some of you may not be in a position to make a donation; we will offer a refund to anyone who requests it," O'Brien wrote in the letter. "But for those of you who are able to make a donation, we are sincerely grateful."

With the loss of a guarantee game at Michigan State and the loss of revenue from fall football attendance, donations are more important than ever.

"It's absolutely critical," Nottke said. "We've historically done a very good job of generating revenue through ticket sales and donations. Any time you have areas that are affected like loss of a guarantee game or reduced attendance, making it up on the donation side can really help. ... Getting those donations and asking people to continue their annual giving and continue their annual support is important.

"There is a significant financial challenge for us with not having seasons or having seasons shortened. There are some things that have hurt. So we are reaching out to our fans and encouraging people to give an extra one-time donation to our Athletic Department Progress Fund."

To gauge the interest level and comfort of attending games with coronavirus concerns, Toledo will be sending out a questionnaire to its season-ticket holders.

"What we are trying to do with this is get an idea of what everyone is thinking right now and what their thought process is," Nottke said. "What is their comfort level? We know if things work out that we are playing in the spring. There could be some social distancing and reduced capacity. That could happen. We are just trying to get an idea from people where they stand with their comfort level on attending games."

link