The playoffs are upon us - the season of championships, strong competition, and moments that become lifelong memories.
For athletic directors, it means more fans, more games per week, and a shorter timeline to get everything done. The good news for schools is that 40 state associations have partnered with GoFan to handle playoff ticketing digitally to save time and elevate the event experience.
Whether you’ll be using digital ticketing for the first time or you’re already familiar with it, check out the resources in this guide to promote your events, educate your staff, and communicate with your fans. Save this page for quick reference throughout the postseason.
The seeding meeting may be held on a Saturday or Sunday before the tournament launches. During the seeding meeting, matchups, locations, and dates are announced. In most sports, event preparation starts the same day. However, football typically launches the following Friday.
Once postseason events are live, hosting ADs can locate their ticket sales link in GoFan HQ or by visiting gofan.co and searching for their school. Visiting ADs can locate their link by visiting gofan.co and searching for their school. The link pulls up the public sales page where fans can order tickets for specific events.
GoFan sends event ticket sales links to school athletic contacts, primarily the athletic director at each school. The link connects to the ticket sales page for the event. This link should be sent by email to your school community.
Schools can drive attendance to playoff events by promoting the ticket sales link. The GoFan team can also support these efforts with automated emails to fans. Many playoff schools are already GoFan partners and use the service during the regular season. GoFan schools know what to do - push the link out via email and social media, and share it with the opposing school administration so they can do the same. During playoffs, schools that don’t currently use GoFan for the regular season should follow the same process.
Email is a great way to get people to drive attendance to events. Students, family members, and the local community tend to follow the school’s email instructions. The same applies during playoff ticketing.
Since your fans may have different communication preferences, we recommend distributing your ticket sales link in as many ways as possible.
Fans buy tickets on the event sales page. Fans can also buy tickets by visiting gofan.co and searching for their school or state association. It’s easy to relay these instructions to fans as well. If tickets are still available on the day of the event, walk-up fans can easily buy tickets at the gate with this method too.
When a fan lands on the ticket sales page for the event, they select the number of tickets they want by type. GoFan lists the ticket types and any parameters like age or requirements for student ID. The purchaser selects Get Tickets after the number of tickets is entered. They have the choice to pay for the tickets with Apple Pay or Google Pay, or by entering a credit card. With Apple Pay and Google Pay, fans can buy tickets in about 10 seconds. Entering a credit card will push the process to about 30 seconds.
In the credit-card scenario, the fan enters their email address to ensure that they get a copy of the receipt and the confirmation email, which links to the ticket validation. Email confirmation happens automatically with Apple Pay and Google Pay because a fan’s email is connected to the payment, and the GoFan email confirmation goes to the email associated with the Apple Pay or Google Pay account.
The purchaser selects Pay to complete the transaction and receive the tickets.
Upon purchase, the system returns the View Tickets page. The fan can immediately redeem tickets if they are with the gate attendant. Or, they can simply close the browser if they want to use them later. This page allows the fan to use their tickets with the gate attendant or transfer them to friends or family for entry later.
GoFan makes it simple for fans to use tickets. After purchase, they can access tickets via email, text, the web browser, or the GoFan app. Most people access tickets by email or text.
The purchaser must present the tickets to the gate attendant on a mobile device to get into the game. The GoFan proprietary ticket validation process prevents fans from duplicating tickets or gaining double entry.
Fans present the Use Tickets screen to the gate attendant. The gate attendant acknowledges how many tickets are being used, recognizes the number of fans, and then taps the mobile device. The system returns a green check mark indicating a valid ticket. The gate attendant lets the guests in the game.
For schools with concerns about Wi-Fi or connectivity issues, GoFan now offers an offline redemption option to redeem tickets with a scanning device through GoFan Box Office.
Fans can elect to use all tickets at once if their entire group arrives together. However, the fan could use only the needed tickets in a scenario where one fan shows up early and his two friends arrive later. In that situation, the early fan could transfer unused tickets to his friends by text or email.
Again, we want to reiterate that tickets can only be used for one entry. Once they are successfully redeemed, used tickets are listed under the Used Tickets tab on the website or app. If a gate attendant has a question about the order, accessing this tab gives them the information they need to see which tickets have been used and when.
Sometimes fans may have trouble finding their tickets. Gate attendants can help solve the problem. There are four ways to retrieve tickets on GoFan: by text, email, in the GoFan app, and on the website.
The simplest way to solve this is by suggesting that the fan check their email and search for GoFan. GoFan sends an email reminder two hours before the event when tickets are purchased before the two-hour timeframe. If tickets are purchased within two hours of the event, the fan can still find their confirmation email by searching for GoFan.
The confirmation and reminder emails have a button that says ‘View Tickets.’ Click the ‘View Tickets’ button, and the fan can then manage the ticket validation process with the gate attendant.
Fans who opt to receive tickets by text can always find their tickets in the link. Just tap the link, log in, and validate the tickets.
The browser and app work the same way that text does. Log in and navigate to the View Tickets page. Validate the tickets with the gate attendant.
Fans must present their GoFan digital tickets on a smartphone device. Fans access their tickets on the View Tickets page by email, text, browser, or app.
Fans can share their tickets with friends or family. The tickets are always a single-use validation, so no ticket can be used twice. However, a fan can purchase an extra ticket, for example, and share it with a friend from the View Tickets page.
To share with friends or family, select the share icon, select your desired option, and complete the transfer. The person receiving the transfer can also access the ticket by text or email.
To summarize what schools can expect during the playoffs, it comes down to two tasks for those hosting.
First, they will promote the events by sharing the ticketing link and encouraging fans to buy tickets on gofan.co. Second, they will provide gate attendants to validate the tickets for fans.
School staff members are encouraged to watch all the how-to videos in the GoFan Digital Ticketing Guide. If your staff have any additional questions, they can easily find answers with a simple search on the GoFan School Help page. Fans can also find answers to frequently asked questions with a quick search on the Fan Support Page. We've linked all these resources below for quick reference.
To learn more about how to succeed with digital ticketing in the postseason and beyond, contact us for more information.