Starting in the 2021-22 school year the OSAA is moving to a digital ticketing system for OSAA playoff games and championship events. We completely understand the differences in each community and how constituents access games. We want to work with each community to make OSAA playoff games successful, easy, fun and enjoyable for all. 

Digital tickets will be available online for purchase for every OSAA playoff game and those tickets will be just as good as those purchasing day of. Presold digital tickets will take precedent over any potential walk up at the day of the event. It’s important that host facilities are prepared to take these tickets at the event. 

The OSAA staff will be reaching out to confirm facility maximums and how we can work together to get digital tickets to crowds. Each school and location may have different restrictions and we want to honor those restrictions. We will be communicating consistently throughout October and November.

The reason for the move to digital ticketing is multifold and we, and the OSAA Executive Board, believe this adoption will be successful. Here are a few of the reasons:

Now is the Time – the pandemic has changed every community and every level of life over the past 18 months. The consumer has shifted to using apps and digital services now more than ever. By not having large ticketed events the last 18 months, this is the perfect time to reset and start a new way of thinking on how to enter contests. 

Staffing – moving to digital ticketing reduces the number of people needed for an event. In situations where there were multiple ticket sellers, now there is only a need for a couple of ticket scanners. The labor market is extremely tight, as schools see in your buildings as they try to hire teachers and classified staff. Finding people to work games has also been a difficulty for schools. This move helps reduce the number of people in the ticket booths while providing frictionless access to patrons.

Reconciliation is a thing of the Past – if a school chooses to do so, the days of athletic and accounting department staff storing cash in a safe or reconciling the day after the event is a thing of the past. Money for digital tickets goes directly to the OSAA account with no cash or credit card slip left at the site.

Ease of Technology – if you have a smart phone and a cell signal at your field/gym, you have a ticket scanner in the palm of your hand. Anyone who has a smart phone and credentials on the app can scan people into a contest. Long lines for tickets now no longer become a problem. For a single game high school event, the battery and amount of data used to scan tickets into an event is unnoticeable.

Preparation for the Finals – if you think you’ll have a team that’s going to make a run for a championship, introducing digital ticketing now is going to help immensely. At OSAA State Championship events, there will be no cash transactions or point of sale system on site. All people entering the event must have a digital ticket. Start now and make that transition a simple one as the excitement builds. We will use all of our platforms to get the word out about how to get tickets for games but we will need your support in communicating to your communities.

Help us make this an awesome transition as we are excited to get playoffs started again!

For questions, please contact Kyle Stanfield of the OSAA at [email protected]