This year, McDowell High School has stopped selling athletic event tickets at the gate. McDowell fans will need to purchase digital tickets online with the use of the GoFan app or website.
To some who were not aware of this change, this has raised concerns about access and ease of use. According to the associate athletic director, Kevin Stoicovy, there were multiple reasons for the change.
“It’s a lot easier for accounting purposes. For the district, we’re not handling as much cash, if any cash at all, so our accounting numbers are more on point,” says Stoicovy. This also contributes to liability and safety concerns. Now that McDowell no longer has to keep cash at the gates in the parking lot, the ticket takers are “safer with handling money.”
The district hoped it would be more convenient for fans to be able to buy a ticket at any time from any place using their devices.
“They could buy a ticket for a game the day of, at the gate using our QR codes to scan and purchase right there on their phones, or they can purchase it weeks ahead of time on their phones and have it ready to go,” Stoicovy says. The hope is that this would ease lines through the gates.
McDowell is not the first to go in this direction. Stoicovy says digital ticketing has been, “a move that’s been happening across athletics in general.”
While the ticket price hasn’t changed this year, the electronic tickets have an additional $1 service fee that goes into the price of each ticket on the GoFan website. A varsity football ticket cost $6 for an adult, but when using the app, it would technically cost $7 due to that service fee.
To help combat technical issues for the older Millcreek audience, senior citizens aged 60 and older who live within the Millcreek Township School District are eligible to apply for a gold card either at the Millcreek Township building or the Millcreek Education Center building on 26th Street.
“If you get the gold card, you get free admission to all McDowell regular season events. You just flash your gold card at the gate and you’re permitted in. That’s another feature that the township has been doing for years, but it’s something that we like to highlight even more now, because again, the move to all digital ticketing seems like a shock to some people, and certainly in the senior age group,” he says.
Another option for students to get into games is to buy a “season pass” on GoFan.com for $20 with a $3 service fee for students and $45 with a $4.25 service fee for adults. This pass is good for the entire school year and gets students into multiple regular season home games. There is an alert on the site though that indicates there are some restrictions.
“Pass grants admission for one person to McDowell HOME regular-season events sporting events. NO SCREENSHOTS ACCEPTED. Pass INVALID for postseason and select events, including but not limited to home varsity/JV boys basketball games vs Cathedral Prep,” according to the McDowell High School page on Go Fan.com
