WSU announces options for football season ticket holders if COVID-19 impacts 2020 season

Though the college football season is still more than three months away, with the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing throughout the United States, the Washington State Cougars ticket office has announced options for what season ticket holders can do with their 2020 plans if the virus “impacts” the season. Those options include donating the cost, rolling it over to 2021 or receiving a refund.

The ticket office noted in their post today that any donation to the Cougar Athletic Fund related to your season tickets would become tax deductible, which had been the case until 2018. They also said that if the season is shortened in any way, ticket values would be pro-rated.

If you do have season tickets, you’ll especially want to pay attention to when an announcement of any “impact” is made. The ticket office notes if they do not receive notification of what you want to do with the funds two weeks from that date, they will consider the money donated.

This is the first we’ve heard of any school’s ticketing office getting out ahead of the potential partial or full cancellation of the 2020 football season. Though WSU was likely working on this messaging prior to yesterday, it’s release today makes the impact of the California State University system’s announcement cancelling in-person classes this fall more profound. That announcement does not cover UCLA or Cal in the UC system or Stanford and USC, which are private, but the pressure is now likely building to do the same. NCAA President Mark Emmert has already said he doesn’t believe athletics can take place without students on campus and if more public university systems follow suit, that will almost certainly result in cancellations of sports seasons.

We don’t know what the full impact on Washington State athletics would be without a football season, but it’s likely to be very, very bad.