While other pro sports teams acted quickly on ticket refunds, the Texas Rangers whiffed
As Major League Baseball offers a course study in Brand Self Destruction, the Texas Rangers hold on to what you gave them and somewhere Ray Davis is saying, “From my cold dead hands.”
He’s not talking about his Smith and Wesson. He’s talking about your cash money.
Ray-Ray, I admire anyone who is stingy but this went on too long.
The Rangers are one of those businesses that require a tiny slip of paper for a refund, even though they have proof of said transaction, as well as your entire life’s history available to them with the swipe of a credit card.
While MLB moves at the pace of a 10-speed bike with two flat tires to announce its 2020 schedule, the Rangers remain committed to waiting as nearly every other team in sports moved.
As of June 17, if you are a Texas Rangers season ticket holder, the club is issuing the following response via email:
“Once the negotiations between MLB owners and MLBPA come to a conclusion, we will have more clarity on the direction of the season and will be able to release a policy regarding your season ticket plan as it pertains to the rest of the 2020 season.
“There will be relief options that do include refunds for your ticket plans. However, I am unable to elaborate on those options at this time since I do not know what all they will entail. Once we get more information, I will be able to share that with you.”
The email was obtained from an email sent by a Rangers’ ticket representative to a season ticket holder.
The club said it has worked with fans who requested refunds on a case-by-case basis.
The optics on this are awful. It’s terrible goodwill in light of the fact the franchise was handed $500 million from taxpayers to build a stadium.
America is suffering through record unemployment. Now is not the time for a company valued at more than $1 billion to alienate customers who spend their hard-earned money on a luxury item.
No one can blame the Texas Rangers for a historic pandemic that closed the world, including the start of the 2020 MLB season. How they have chosen to treat their season ticket holders is bewildering.
When the calendar hit April 1, the Rangers did not announce a ticket policy. The same for May 1. Their reason was until MLB announced an actual schedule, the club was not going to move forward with any new policies.
Now, team officials said they would, of course, eventually comply with refund requests. They just needed to know how the schedule was going to be set.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of MLB teams, and franchises in other leagues, proceeded with offering refunds, or credits for future games, even though there was uncertainty with schedules.
When the NBA and NHL shut down because of the coronavirus closures, almost immediately the Dallas Mavericks offered refunds to season ticket holders for games that were not played.
The Dallas Stars did the same.
This week, the Brooklyn Nets offered a 20 percent bonus for fans who keep their money with the team for tickets to games in the 2020-21 season.
Some clubs have given their season ticket holders jerseys, or some type of gesture.
The Boston Red Sox began offering refunds, and credits with a 10 percent bonus, on April 29.
The Tampa Bay Rays, arguably the club that needs money the most, offered refunds at the end of April.
The only pro franchise that remains as dug in as the Rangers is the Houston Rockets. Even though the remainder of the NBA season is scheduled to be played in an Orlando bubble with no fans, the team is still not issuing refunds as yet.
Speaking to season ticket holders of the Rangers, they all say the same thing: Their broker tells them, “We don’t know.”
However, for season ticket holders who want a tour of the new stadium, the Rangers offer a 15 percent discount on the price of that ticket. So the Rangers are offering a discount to season ticket holders the chance to spend more money.
(BTW: Every Arlington resident who voted “YES” to give the Rangers $500 million should receive a free ticket to tour the stadium their money helped to build.)
We are past the midway point of June, and the inaugural season of Global Pandemic Life Field is essentially gone. Whenever MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred comes to an agreement with MLB Players Association chief Tony Clark for a shortened 2020 schedule, which will likely be this week, the season is already over.
Even if the Rangers host a game in 2020, and can allow fans, it won’t be able to fill the place to capacity. The club says it is preparing countless contingency plans for various scenarios.
The first official game for Globe Life Field will be in 2021.
Though no fault of the Rangers, the 2020 MLB season is not what ticket holders paid for.
It should not have taken any fan to beg for their money back on this one.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
