97.1 The Ticket -- Fans who have purchased tickets for the upcoming NCAA Tournament may not be getting all their money back.
The NCAA announced Wednesday that tournament games, as well as all other upcoming championship events, will be closed to the general public. Only essential staff and family members will be allowed to observe the games in person.
Anyone who ordered tickets from an official NCAA Championship vendor online or over the phone will be refunded automatically. The NCAA says no additional action is needed.
- If you ordered your tickets from an official NCAA Championship vendor online or over the phone, you will be refunded. No additional action is needed.
- If you have ordered your tickets from an official NCAA Championship vendor you will receive additional information via email.
- Your refund will be automatically delivered (except applicable fees) to the same card used for purchase.
The third bullet point notes fans will receive their refunds -- except for applicable fees. It's unclear how much those fees are. But the fees are likely what the NCAA charges fans in order to pay the vendors who sell their tickets, such as Ticketmaster and StubHub.
It is not clear whether those vendors will refund full prices, but fans on social media were upset about that decision.
Why wouldn't the fees get refunded? People would not have bought the tickets at all or gotten charged the fees if they knew they would be prohibited from attending.
— Not Real Jim Boeheim (@NotRealBoeheim) March 11, 2020You need to eat the fees. I smell a class action suit if you don't.
— NoIncomeTax (@NoIncomeTax) March 11, 2020*Except applicable [EXORBITANT> fees. Can't say I'm in the least bit surprised
— Dino Spumoni (@Sirchanc3) March 11, 2020As the Big Ten and other conferences have announced similar spectator restrictions for their conference tournaments, it's not clear what their refund policies will be.
