Under the Friday night lights, fans crowd the stadium with their phones in hand and barcodes ready. It’s a new routine this fall, as WHS begins its move to online ticket sales for all athletic events.
Jim DeSarno, director of athletics, health and physical education, said the change was made to simplify the ticketing process and reduce the amount of cash handled at games. “It just streamlines the process,” he explained. Nowadays, most tickets for concerts and flights, for example, are digital, so this change is simply WHS changing with the times.
WHS is using a system called GoFan, which allows attendees to purchase tickets directly through the school’s schedule on the Union County Conference website. QR codes posted at the stadium also link to ticket sales, making it easy for anyone to buy a ticket digitally on the spot. Once a ticket is purchased, the digital ticket’s barcode is scanned at the gate for entry.
The system is aiming to make away games easier to navigate for WHS fans. Many schools that play against Westfield use GoFan as well, so tickets for both home and away games appear in the same place online.
DeSarno said the school is still allowing cash payments for now, but plans to gradually reduce in-person payments. “We’re not drawing a line in the sand and saying no cash at all,” he said, “but we eventually want to get to the point where we’re like everybody else.”
So far, the online ticket system has been used for two home games, and it has gone smoothly. “It’s worked well. The company we’re working with is on top of everything, and we get our information right after the game is over,” he said. “It takes a lot of steps out of the process.”
However, for students, the switch has been a mixed experience. Senior Ana Sanchez said she first heard about the change through school announcements. While she found it easy to purchase her ticket online, she ran into trouble once she arrived at the gate. “Even though I had preordered it online, you couldn’t show a picture,” Sanchez said. “You had to have the specific barcode up, and if you didn’t keep it, they had to look up your name.”
Sanchez said she still prefers the old system. “I think buying them at the game was easier to organize yourself,” she said. “The old system, where you could just buy them at the door, was more effective and allowed more people to watch the game.”
As WHS continues to adjust to new systems and routines this year, online ticketing is just one more change shaping the school experience. Whether fans are scanning barcodes or handing over cash, one thing has remained: Westfield still shows up for game night, ready to support our teams.
