Columbus North High School

November 3, 2022 - Information was recently released regarding Columbus North Athletics’ transition to digital tickets during the winter athletics season. That announcement has some patrons excited about the change that they are seeing when they visit many other schools, but other fans are more concerned. “We understand that this transition will be easier for some of our guests than others. Our fans need to understand that we will do all we can to make accommodations for those fans who may not have smartphones. All Columbus North fans, as well as our guests from other schools, are important to us, and we want everyone to feel welcome at our events,” explained Athletic Director Brian Lewis. Columbus North plans to offer both cash and digital options for ticket purchase beginning November 22, with the hope to transition completely to cash-free sales beginning on January 10. Lewis explained that, “we will use the next two months that we have to prepare for this change to make accommodations for those who may not have access to the technology needed for digital tickets.” Some of these options may include the addition of credit card readers at the ticket gates or paper printed tickets at home by the patrons and then scanned at the gate. “We don’t want anyone to feel unwelcome at our events due to technology issues. We value our guests and will do all we can to help remove barriers.” QR codes for access to online rosters were introduced at a recent girls basketball game and the feedback was generally positive. Some fans were excited to see the extra information that was now available in the digital format that had not previously been seen with single-sheet paper rosters. These included links to up-to-date full-season schedules for all winter teams, a link to the North Athletics webpage, and coming soon will be concession stand information. Like with the soon-to-be-available digital tickets, not all patrons had easy access to the digital rosters. Therefore, Columbus North will continue to keep a limited number of paper rosters available at our ticket gates for our guests who may not have access to the digital content on their phones. “We are listening to the concerns of our guests and will continue to modify and adjust as we move along. These options are new to our department as well, and we’re still learning the best ways to accommodate all of our guests while still maintaining the goal of becoming cashless in our ticketing system,” Lewis commented.