Pitt announces tickets for 2020 and options for pandemic refunds.
Despite COVID-19 pandemic questions shrouding the 2020 college football season, Pitt is selling tickets for the Panthers’ seven home games with full-refund options.
Pitt athletics publicly acknowledged Monday a “2020 ticket guarantee” within a ticketing news release. The guarantee states that if for any reason Pitt’s home schedule is not played — or a portion of it isn’t played — the value of the affected tickets, scholarship seating and parking payments will be refunded to fans who purchased through the Panthers Ticket Office.
While it wasn’t specifically addressed in the release, the same refund policy will apply if games are played at Heinz Field without fans in attendance, according to Markeisha Everett, Pitt’s assistant athletic director of marketing.
“If for some reason we’re having a football game and we’re not allowed to have fans in the stands, then we would absolutely make sure that they have their money back,” Everett told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Monday.
According to the release, season ticket holders also will have the option of reinvesting refunded amounts in two ways: Supporting student-athlete scholarships through the Panther Club as a tax-deductible gift or accrual of priority points, or using the amount as a payment toward 2021 football season tickets.
While this information now is just becoming public, Everett said Pitt season ticket holders were informed of their options about a month ago.
Everett also said Pitt administrators are having “a ton of discussions” internally about possible capacity concerns at Heinz Field related to COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines.
When asked if they’re discussing who would be prioritized in a half-capacity Heinz Field — students, season ticket holders, etc. — Everett said that conversation is being had. “I can’t necessarily go into details about what that looks like,” Everett added, “because we don’t know how everything is going to play out.”
It should be noted that the Panther Pitt, the football team’s student section, plans on being at Heinz Field supporting Pat Narduzzi’s team in the fall. In a statement posted Friday to the group’s Twitter page, it also acknowledged that if students aren’t allowed inside Heinz Field for games, students will receive a full refund.
Everett added that while Pitt administrators are discussing myriad attendance and ticketing possibilities, the athletic department is trying to keep a business-asusual approach. Unlike the University of Iowa, which paused football ticket sales Monday as it awaits capacity clarity, Pitt is moving forward as it would “if COVID wasn’t in place,” Everett said.
“We’re optimistic, and we’re waiting to see what happens,” Everett said. “If something should happen — if something is altered or canceled — we just want to make sure that the Panther fans are taken care of.”