Tag: season tickets

Broncos will give season ticket holders refund or future credit if COVID-19 impacts games

If NFL games are canceled or played without fans this fall, Broncos season ticket holders will get refunds or future credit.

COVID-19 has shut down sports across the world but the NFL has remained optimistic that things will be better in time for its fall season. The league has already said it will announce the 2020 schedule no later than May 9 and the NFL expects to play an uninterrupted season.

That’s what the league is saying publicly, anyway. Behind closed doors, the NFL has to be preparing for the possibility for games to be delayed or canceled.

In a letter to season ticket holders this week, the Broncos told fans that they anticipate “an uninterrupted 2020 schedule,” according to KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis.

Denver might anticipate an uninterrupted season but that hasn’t stopped the team from preparing for an interrupted one. In that same letter to season ticket holders, the Broncos informed fans that “if a game is canceled or is played in conditions in which fans are prohibited from attending, season-ticket holders would get a full refund or future credit,” according to Klis.

Whether the NFL is willing to publicly admit it or not, the coronavirus has put its season in jeopardy. Denver fans won’t lose money because of it.

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Season ticket-holders irked by Celtics billing in pandemic

Boston Celtics season ticket-holders are irritated they were notified they’ll be billed today for the coming 2020-21 NBA season despite the league not even knowing when it will start.

It could be an oversight, but Boston Celtics season ticket-holders are irked that the franchise seems poised to charge them in the midst of a suspended season during a pandemic.

With many out of work at least temporarily due to the impacts of closures resulting from quarantine orders and social distancing practices, receiving an email alerting them that Celtics season ticket holders would have their first payment for the 2020-21 season processed today was not well-received.

One such fan is Denyson Tavares, interviewed by the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach.

“It just rubbed me the wrong way,” said Tavares to Himmelsbach. “It’s not like the financial burden about it. It’s just like, we don’t even know when we’re going to play this season, and they’re already extracting money for next season.”

“The optics of this are really terrible,” he added.

At a time when Boston has had to take extraordinary steps to support their own game-night arena staff due to the lack of games for them to work at, Tavares questions the wisdom of not suspending the payment schedule as well.

Noting the financial crunch increasingly bearing down on fans, the architect relates how rapidly things are moving for some financially.

“Two weeks from now we could all not have jobs,” he explained. “And that $220 they charge me a month, that’s groceries. So you kind of have to put things in perspective. I just think, let’s hold off.”

With many seeing jobs they’ve held for years disappear almost overnight, and private businesses finding the clients they depend on out of money — or a sense of safety — to do business with them, it’s a reasonable perspective on a catastrophic situation unlike anything in living memory.

“The NBA is canceled until whenever,” added Tavares. “At least come to an agreement where once we know this season is going to start, then we’ll start charging you again.”

“I don’t think people would have an issue with that.”

In times like this, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

Bears to increase season ticket prices by nearly 4 percent in 2020

For the second consecutive year, the Chicago Bears will increase ticket prices for the upcoming 2020 season.

Die-hard fans of the Chicago Bears will have to spend a little more money next season to see their team play at Soldier Field.

In a letter addressed to season-ticket holders, Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips announced the team will be increasing season ticket prices by an average of 3.9%.

According Larry Mayer, senior writer for ChicagoBears.com, the increases will range from 1.5-5.3%. Club seats will see an increase of 3.3% on average, while non-club seats will increase by 4.3%.

This is the second straight season the team has increased ticket prices. Going into the 2019 season, the Bears raised prices by 4.1 percent on average.

Ticket price increases are relatively common in professional sports, and Phillips lays out the team’s reasoning in his letter to fans, while also sharing his disappointment in their play on the field in 2019.

“Unfortunately, our performance on the field failed to meet everyone’s expectations,” Phillips wrote. “No one was satisfied, and it is now imperative for us to thoroughly analyze what went wrong and make the necessary corrections for 2020. Our goal is to bring a World Championship back to Chicago.”

In addition to the price increase, the team confirmed dynamic ticket pricing will continue next season and preseason games will be priced based on a tier. Single-game tickets will be available to purchase following the release of the 2020 NFL schedule later this spring.

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