The university will take a different approach this year in how fans will purchase tickets. The Athletics Ticket Office has made online ticket purchasing available for Spring 2021.

Although there was already an online ticket purchasing option, the department is now pushing it to be the primary sales method.

Lori McAfee, director of ticket operations, described the push for online ticketing services as a safer alternative due to the pandemic. Accordingly, the university followed in the footsteps of other schools.

“I think mobile ticketing will help us encourage fans to purchase tickets in advance to game day,” said McAfee. “For instance, during football season, fans like to come up to the booth right before gates open and this causes a line. With mobile ticketing, you can skip the game day purchase line and walk into the stadium without having to get a physical ticket printed.”

In addition to safety precautions, online ticket purchases will also be more convenient for fans.

“Fans can easily go online from their house at any time of the day and purchase tickets. They can now print at home or download their tickets straight to their phone. They do not have to come by the office and pick up their tickets,” McAfee described.

Tickets will be accessible in different formats when purchased online.

According to the university website, “All tickets will be available via email or text message in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.”

With the unpredictability of sporting event schedules, online ticket purchasing will also provide versatility and quick updates.

“If a game were to be moved to a new date, the ticket office can now email or text updated tickets, which keeps fans from having to come back to the office to get a new ticket,” said McAfee.

To purchase online tickets, fans will be required to create an account on TicketReturn, a website that provides ticketing services to box offices.

Carson Fryou, a sophomore sports communication major, shared his opinion on online tickets.

“It is a great idea for sports fans to get their tickets safely,” said Fryou. “Some people will have a hard time with their tickets if the mobile devices they use to buy the tickets break.”

A crashing ticketreturn.com could also cause issues. However, Fryou said he believes this problem could be easily solved.

“People who have technical problems could ask someone else to buy tickets for them and pay that person with real cash,” said Fryou.

A How-To Guide on purchasing tickets is featured on Lionsports.net. There, instructions for purchasing, viewing and transferring mobile tickets are explained.