Michigan: Season Tickets Would be Refunded or Transferred if No Season, Deadlines Extended
The athletic department this afternoon sent out a letter to season ticket holders for 2020 football and 2020-'21 basketball and hockey. The letter assures those who have purchased season tickets, or were considering doing so, that their purchases won't disappear into the ether if either season is canceled.
In that event season ticket holders would have the following options:
- A full refund (including preferred seat contributions)
- Transferring payments to the following season (again, PSD included)
- Changing what they paid to a donation to athletics (PSD included)
Since the 2021 football season (with MSU and OSU at home) is likely to be costlier than this year's Ball State-Arkansas State-Wisconsin-Penn State-Purdue-Maryland-Indiana slate note that you'd probably still be on the hook for the increase.
The letter also extended the deadline for ticket renewal to June 1. The upgrade and additions period was moved to a week after that, with those "if you want PSU you have to take two weak tickets off our hands" three-game packs bumped to July 7 and single-game sales moved to July 21. Basketball and hockey ticket dates were also moved forward a month.
The letter does not answer what would occur in the event of a shortened season, noting there are too many questions about that to come up with a coherent policy.
Clearly, the market for season tickets was not going anywhere during all of this. An acknowledgement of fan concerns, new deadlines, and some surety that payments will be honored was a necessary first step, however it's hard to see the market being anything close to normal times. It's still far too far out right now to predict whether sports can resume this fall, not to mention whether fans will feel safe attending them.
The entirety of the letter to season ticket holders can be found after the jump.
From: Michigan Athletics
Dear Season Ticket Holders,
We hope that this note finds you and your family in good health and good spirits. We are writing to you based on many of the questions that we have received pertaining to potential changes in our ticket policy and thought it would be best to share modifications with everyone.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, one of our goals has been to provide you with frequent updates. As the pandemic and global response continue to evolve, we remain committed to providing flexible options as it relates to season tickets in the sports of football, ice hockey, and basketball.
Sadly, over the past few weeks, we have continued to see COVID-19 impacting so many in our communities. There are many questions, including what impact this pandemic may have on the future, including our 2020-21 sports calendars - at this present time, we don't have answers. Speculation about the global environment 4-6 months from now is premature, and we will continue to follow the advice and directives of medical experts and health officials. We are committed to doing whatever is necessary to protect the health of our student-athletes, season ticket holders, and fans.
Over the last several weeks, we have worked to adjust timelines and policies due to this unique and rapidly-changing landscape. Many of you have questions about how an alteration or cancellation of a season might impact you. Again, while it is too soon to speculate, if any sports season were to be canceled in 2020-21, we have made temporary changes to our refund policy to provide the following options for both your Preferred Seat Contribution and season tickets:
- Transfer of payments to the following seasons (2021-22)
- Changing the allocation of payments to a tax-deductible athletic donation
- Receiving a full refund
An additional range of questions remains, including adjusting dates of games or the number of games that could be played. The speculative nature of these questions, coupled with a large number of potential scenarios, prevents us from reasonably defining the types of relief that could be available. We understand and share the frustrations caused by these uncertain times. We recognize the importance and community contribution that each donor and season ticket holder brings to Michigan Athletics, and we are committed to treating you with fairness and appreciation.
Given the difficulties and uncertainties faced by so many, we felt it more than appropriate to push back the ticketing deadlines amidst these extraordinary times.
FOOTBALL TICKETS
- The season ticket renewal deadline has been extended until June 1
- Football season ticket upgrades and seat additions have been delayed, and will now take place between June 8 and June 19
- Three-game ticket packs will go on sale on July 7
- Individual game sales will begin on July 21
MEN'S BASKETBALL AND ICE HOCKEY TICKETS
- Men's Basketball and Hockey Preferred Seat Contributions are currently accessible at mgoblue.com/psc
- The preferred seat contribution (PSC) renewal deadline has been extended one month to June 30
- Season ticket renewals will take place between July 17 and August 7. Season ticket holders can pay 50 percent by the August 7 deadline and the remaining 50 percent on September 4
- Season ticket upgrades and seat additions will begin on August 18 for ice hockey and between August 19-21 for men's basketball
Please know that we appreciate and value your continued commitment to our athletic department and university. We will continue to provide updates as details emerge. Please contact our ticket office with any questions.
Thank you and Go Blue!
Well, cancelling this next season would be one way to get back to back home games with Sparty as payback.
We can also break Ohio State's winning streak!
Can anybody see the days of 100k plus crowds in Michigan stadium ever coming back? Vaccine or not, a whole bunch of people will find other things to do on Saturday afternoons this fall (assuming the season is cancelled) and many of them will never come back on a regular basis. Trust me, I can say from personal experience that once you break a long habit (in my case 1988-2014) its hard to go back to what you did before because you fill the time with other activities.
I worry about this. Pandemics do historically change things, but I think social interaction is something so human that I'm not sure live sports will ever die - they may give everyone more room at the stadium moving forward, with clearly defined seats and boundaries.
I also worry if/how college sports survives this - not just football, all of the NCAA as it currently is. I'm not sure what the future holds. I love how every home football Saturday felt like a festival all through Ann Arbor, and dozens of other college towns around the country. I can't imagine that void opens and isn't filled in some way by some thing. If it does, it does. It's for the best for public health, so be it. I'd be sad. I imagine everyone on this board would be too.
I can. People after the 1918-'19 pandemic turned to sports and other social activities at vastly higher rates than before. Even with alcohol banned the 1920s were an extremely social time, and a golden age for sports specifically.
Almost every person alive right now is going to have some kind of trauma (defined as turning off a portion of your brain so you don't experience the full brunt of pain) associated with this disease, and as social animals we tend to look for more social interactions after going through something like that.
Live sports are going to come out better than ever when it's safe. Even before it, people love going to live sports as much as they ever have; high get-in prices that aren't affordable for half or more of the population are the only reason you don't see that as butts in the seats.The trouble is it probably won't be safe until the 2021 season.
The problem with this is we were also coming out of a war so the economy was about to explode. Capital, business growth, etc. We are about to go into a recession if not depression with 15-25% unemployment by 5/1/2020. This thing by fall 2021 may be mostly over, but many people will not have a lot of spare dough, imo.
Maybe the economy pops back soon and we're back to where we were 4 months ago. IDK
So much stimulus to probably somewhat mediate a "Depression" such as the 1930's. Hard to say on the economy.
As a clinician in mental health, I think about now about a Covid hangover for people when they become potentially able to renew social participation. Not a PTSD level trauma with a diagnostic criteria but an impact. Where I work the staff now social distances at all times (fully masked) and lunches are no longer a social or interactive time. Most isolate quietly. We limit space in the cafeteria for ordering and standing distances are plainly marked. These are quite small examples but there are dozens more each day. Dozens more similar inputs.
I wonder if people will just become used to the distancing, expect it as a security, express suspicion of their neighbours, of the people near them at a tailgate, of the 20 000 fans walking behind the band into the stadium. If that happens, as a hangover, things will certainly be different.
For what it's worth, I do quietly hope the older couple in front of me (lady: "come on boys...do something" or "why'd they run it up the middle" or "hit somebody" and her husband Eeyore "here we go again" do not renew their tickets).
A second quiet hope is that if Michigan realizes a sea change in consumer behaviour (which may well happen) then chair back the whole thing to 75 k and enhance the experience to lure back the people.
Demand will go down in the future for sure, but to say we won't get 100k crowds again I disagree. You mention people will break habits and find new ones, but to break the kind of tradition we're talking about here, I think it would have to be at least three falls without Michigan football to break these habits.
There's one surefire 
way to guarantee 111,000 every week whenever games resume...
My sense is that season tickets were going to be down this season, absent the pandemic, based upon both a less attractive schedule, and a decrease in interest and hope to some extent. This is Michigan unique, we also would be subject to the struggles across college football: high prices, better alternatives- 4k TVs etc. I think we would have had noticeable empty pockets of seats.
Now with the pandemic, even if we play a full schedule with no seat restrictions (probably unlikely) I think we'll see huge drop-offs in attendance. Ironically if we play a reduced schedule with say 3 home games that fans are allowed in, I think we could see near capacity crowds (maybe).
Basketball on the other hand will be fine from an attendance standpoint. Think we effectively sold out the last 3/4 of the season and demand outstripped supply. Fan optimism about program direction is much better.
April 17th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
I think it will have more to do with the fact that Michigan is stale and has no excitement surrounding the program. Michigan is never beating OSU so what is the point of wasting time watching games when we all know how the season will end? Either start paying players or join the Ivy League for football.
I'm still holding out hope there'd be a shortened, late season. I'd be down with playing just the B1G East, and every East and West team matches up on championship weekend for an 8th game. Purdue and Indiana can play their game first, and whomever would play them last just switches their E-W game (assuming neither of them make it to Indy). And there can always be 2 weeks between home games, and reduce the stadium capacity to 1/5 of what it is, with temperature checks on your way into the stadium and everyone wearing a plastic face shield, and students (and the band) get priority for tickets...
A guy can dream. I'd take a short season and no bowl games, no playoff. Conference Title Games on NYD?
The only reason I plan on renewing this year is to not lose my tickets next year and beyond. I flatly do not want, nor plan, to attend a game in person this year. Between my kids and my older family members, the risk isn’t worth it to me. I would expect a 20-25% drop in renewals this year from older or cash strapped fans. The wait list may end up clearing and those that gave up their tickets this year could get them next based on their point totals.
I totally agree but do not see that it makes sense for a person to put a lot of money into a season worth of tickets (mine, two in one of the higher rent districts Section 3) with no intention of using them. In my case, I refuse to put my life on the line for a football game. Until a vaccine appears, or something comparable, I don't see a possibility of attending a football or basketball game. I did make the seat donation in January. The dept should offer another alternative to somehow skip a season and get back into the crowd next year, especially given an existing seat donation. Maybe someone else would like to put THEIR life on the line and rent my seats for a year! This would be my 49th year of season tickets....
I hear ya, xgijim. I was looking forward to my 44th year. My most optimistic plan was to attend a minimum of one game but a max of 2.
More and more though, I'm convinced there won't be a season until at least next spring and only then if we have major medical/scientific breakthroughs to pave the way.
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