With the season heavily delayed, the Boston Red Sox have released their plan for refunding or exchanging tickets that have been purchased for 2020.
As we await the start of the 2020 season, many fans are waiting for some news on how their tickets will be handled. It’s safe to say thousands of tickets have already been purchased for games this season throughout the league and not a single out has been recorded. Today, the Red Sox unleashed their plan for how they’re going to take care of fans that already have tickets in hand for the beginning of the season.
Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy laid out how the franchise is planning on handling the situation as far as the early part of the season is concerned.
"“As we continue to evaluate possibilities for the 2020 season, it’s important that we provide options to our ticket buyers for games scheduled in April and May,” said Red Sox President & CEO Sam Kennedy."
So, as of now if you’ve purchased a ticket for any games in April or May, you may choose a full refund, receive a credit to your account for use in either 2020/2021, or exchange the ticket for a game later in this season.
Those seem like interesting options in my opinion as it offers a few solutions for fans to choose from. As we’ve heard in recent weeks and even in the last few days, anywhere from mid-June to the first week of July is the optimistic target for the league to open. As of now, it’s pretty much guaranteed that your tickets for the first two months of the season are dead in the water.
One thing that confuses me a bit is why is there a cutoff at the end of May? Even if the league gets up and running and play begins this summer, fans most likely won’t be allowed to attend. It seems damn near impossible to go from not being allowed to have more than 10 people in a single close distance place to 35,000.
Even if the coronavirus is contained and close to eradicated, it would seem incredibly dangerous to just go from 0-60 on social distancing regulations. So why not just offer these options to all that have either purchased tickets or have season tickets? I just don’t see a way in which fans will be able to watch games in any stadium, in any sport, in the near future.
I’m also speaking as someone who has already purchased tickets for games this year and would like to have a little more clarification. I understand the options that Kennedy released today, but again, why have such a near cut-off?
I had an entire weekend planned for the end of June to see the Cardinals come to town to battle the Red Sox. It’s pretty clear at this point that I won’t be sitting in my seat with a beer in one hand and a Fenway Frank in the other on that night.
"“We appreciate how patient our fans have been as we worked through the implications of the pandemic on our schedule. We extend our best wishes for the health and safety of the individuals and families in Red Sox Nation.”"
Then we have to factor in the rumored divisions that may be created to cut down on the amount of travel each team will be doing in 2020. Under the possible restructuring, the Red Sox wouldn’t even see St. Louis, so will my ticket just be changed to whichever team is in town on that Saturday night? Per the release, those that will fall under this policy will be notified by the team to make their decision. If no choice is made then the ticket holder will just receive a refund for their purchase.
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It just feels a little shortsighted by the Red Sox ownership to not make this a season-wide offering, especially since we have no idea if there will even be a season. I’ve never had trouble getting a ticket to a game, before or after the winning began, so I doubt this would be any different. I’m sure demand may go up but I can picture an equal amount of people not wanting to be that close to thousands of others so close to the time of the pandemic.
I appreciate what the league and the Red Sox are trying to do here but they really needed to take it that extra step. It’ll be hard enough to get the season up and running with the players and personnel all needing COVID-19 testing, but to think fans will be in attendance is a farce. The team should be a leader and make these offers covering the entire 2020 season, not amending the policy as each deadline comes and goes.
The Red Sox took a good first step today in keeping their fans safe in the wake of the coronavirus. We all miss baseball and I’ll be heartbroken if I can’t make my annual trip to Fenway, but in these times, it’s just the smart play. Give the fans the options you did today but extend it for all of 2020. It’s a fantastic good-faith gesture that will give this ownership group some much needed positive light.