OSSAA approves price hikes for playoff tickets

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  • Cache’s Hunter Tate attempts to break a tackle during a football game against Elgin Nov. 1, 2019. Rick Endicott Photography, file Cache’s Hunter Tate attempts to break a tackle during a football game against Elgin Nov. 1, 2019.
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OKLAHOMA CITY – Ticket prices for high-school sports playoff events will increase the next school year, state school sports officials have announced.

The price hikes were approved recently by the OSSAA board of directors, which last approved an increase in ticket prices in the 2015-16 school year.

Current tickets prices for the playoffs are $5 for preliminary rounds and $7 for championship rounds.

Those will increase to $7 for preliminary rounds and $10 for championship rounds starting with the 2020-21 school year.

However, admission prices for all playoff games in football and soccer will be $10, said Van Shea Iven, sports information director for the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.

Schools set their own gate prices for regular-season athletic events, Iven noted.

“Hopefully we’ll have a football season this fall, but a lot of things need to occur for that to happen,” Gary Dees, athletic director for Lawton Public Schools, told the Ledger earlier this month. “I’m optimistic but...”

Ticket prices for all state championship games in Texas are established by the University Interscholastic League, according to Rusty Dowling, executive director of the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association. The cost last year was $15, the UIL website shows.

Admission fees for non-championship games are set by the competing schools, Dowling said. “They agree on prices, passes, etc.”

In Kansas, “It varies some by sport, but in general our state ticket prices are $6 for students and $9 for adults,” said Brent Unruh, office and operations manager for the Kansas State High School Activities Association.

“For our lead-up rounds (regional and sub-state), most activities are $5 for students and $6 for adults,” he said.

“Prices are a bit higher for all-day events like wrestling tournaments and track meets.”