Electronic ticket issues pop up at some Section V basketball sites; storm may be an issue Friday
(The number of years Section V has had digital ticketing only was incorrect the first time this article was published.)
Section V officials acknowledged Wednesday that there have been issues involving spectator admission with digital tickets at basketball tournament sites, but said incidents have been rare or tied to specific schools.
Fillmore and Batavia Notre Dame played a Section V boys basketball tournament semifinal Tuesday night at Warsaw, where Section V boys basketball committee chairperson Ed Stores Jr. is a teacher.
"Last night, we got a mad rush of people. We had some issues last night," Stores said. "We've been able to do digital ticketing.
"It is new for many people, and schools' Wi-Fi are not set up for 50 to 100 people jumping on it and downloading their information at the same time. We're working on the kinks. We're going to continue to monitor it."
Shaun Jeffers, who handles communications and marketing for Section V, said digital ticketing is taking place across New York State. Section V has had digital ticketing for more than five years, but this is the second where cash payments for admission are not accepted.
All of the Section V boys basketball tournament finals are scheduled to take place Friday and Saturday at the Rochester Community War Memorial at Blue Cross Arena for the first time since 2020.
"(The War Memorial/Blue Cross Arena events), the (Rochester) Amerks, the Knighthawks are all digital ticketing since COVID. They have not gone back to cash sales," Stores said.
Section V girls basketball coordinator Tim Lincoln said he has heard no complaints about digital tickets. Lincoln said he was on-site for games at Victor on Monday, Canandaigua on Tuesday and received no reports of issues from other girls basketball committee members at other schools.
Will a possible storm cause issues this weekend?
Lincoln is more concerned about reports and talk about a storm on Friday. Two Section V Girls Basketball Tournament finals are scheduled that evening at Rush-Henrietta and Letchworth.
If the school district officials tied to the Andover/Whitesville, Elba, Keshequa and Lyndonville teams decide not to travel to Letchworth on Friday and the same decision is made for the Dansville, Hornell, Waterloo and Palmyra-Macedon teams, the plan is to move those four sectional finals to Saturday.
Andover/Whitesville versus Elba and Keshequa versus Lyndonville would remain at Letchworth. The Dansville-Hornell and Waterloo versus Palmyra-Macedon would stay at Rush-Henrietta. The game times Saturday could be adjusted if there are postponements.
The girls basketball sectional finals Saturday between Canisteo-Greenwood and Oakfield-Alabama, and Pittsford Sutherland versus Canandaigua are at Rush-Henrietta.
On Wednesday, Section V announced that the boys basketball games previously scheduled for Friday in Rochester will now be played on Sunday. “All games will still be played at the Blue Cross Arena, and tickets already purchased for Friday will still be valid on Sunday,” according to a tweet.
The Class C3 game will begin at 11 a.m., the Class C2 game at 1 p.m. and the Class C1 game at 3.
Lincoln and Stores said it is difficult to get a read on the severity of the weather, even with different sources of information and forecasts.
"Most of them are saying about the same things but they are trying to guess two days in advance," Stores said. "We are looking at it for sure."
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Electronic ticket issues pop up at some Section V basketball sites
