Fans of Otterbein University's baseball and softball teams will no longer be able to get into home games for free.
An email sent out by Dawn Stewart, the vice president for student affairs and the athletic director, said, “There is one additional change this year around the entry to our competitions. Each of our team sport venues will charge for entry to contests (baseball, softball, men’s and women’s lacrosse and outdoor track and field.).”
This is a change only for baseball and softball from previous years, where parents and fans could get into the contests at no cost.
“Baseball and softball are the only two new ones,” said Connie Richardson, the senior associate athletic director. “Prices of everything have gone up. I’m sitting here waiting for our bus company to tell us that our buses are going to be more expensive. And we’ve got more student-athletes.”
Richardson said that entry into men’s and women’s tennis and golf contests will continue to remain free of charge.
All ticket sales and passes for Otterbein will be available via HomeTown Ticketing, according to the email sent out by Stewart. Student-athletes will be provided with four free passes to share with parents, other family members or friends. Ticket prices are $7.00 (plus processing fees) for anyone over the age of 7. (Ages 7 and under are free as well as all OAC students with ID). All OAC institutions will be charging for admission for visiting teams using the HomeTown Ticketing platform.
All of the money from the tickets will be funneled into the athletic fund, according to Richardson.
“We’re not making a lot of money, but we’re making a little. It’s more than what we’ve made in the past, but all that money goes into our athletic budget to help us balance that budget out.”
