The University of Dayton announced Wednesday it has submitted a variance request plan that differs from the state’s capacity limit, but Sullivan knows it’s unlikely to be approved in the early portion of the schedule as the number of COVID-19 cases in Ohio continues to rise.
When asked how many fans Dayton hopes to get into games, Sullivan did not want to point to a specific number.
“It’s a tough question to answer because we believe in being a responsible citizen,” Sullivan said. “That’s embedded into our purpose as a university and as an athletic department. We live and work in this community, too, so it’s not about pursuing the maximum number of fans per se. We need to work with the Ohio Department of Health to find an appropriate balance.”
Dayton sent an email to season-ticket holders Wednesday informing them of the variance request and providing other updates on how ticketing will work this season. In that email, Sullivan told fans there will be non-conference home games against Southern Methodist (Dec. 5) and Mississippi (Dec. 19). There will be three other home games that have not been announced.
“Just being transparent with fans, those will be more of the one-way games, the guaranteed games,” Sullivan said. “We don’t anticipate those being at-large caliber opponents.”
One of those games would be the home opener, and it will likely take place between Dec. 1-3, Sullivan said. Dayton will open the season Nov. 25 against Wichita Falls in the Crossover Classic and then play Creighton or Utah a day later in Sioux Falls, S.D. The possible opponents in the final game Nov. 27 are: Ohio State, Memphis, West Virginia or Texas A&M.
Dayton has one other non-conference road game scheduled. It will play Mississippi State on Dec. 12 at the Holiday Hoopsgiving Event in Atlanta.
Dayton also will play 18 Atlantic 10 Conference games — nine home and nine away as usual — though that schedule has not been announced.
All in all, the schedule could be one of Dayton’s best in recent years, though Sullivan said it’s disappointing to know UD Arena won’t be packed, and he also knows the whole schedule is subject to change because of the threat of COVID-19.
In the email sent to fans, Sullivan told them “full-season ticket invoices are delayed indefinitely” as Dayton pursues a “pay-as-we-play” plan. THAT will limit out-of-pocket costs until more information becomes available and allow for flexibility in mobile ticketing.
Sullivan offered fans the opportunity to opt in or opt out of season tickets for the 2020-21 season. Fans who choose to opt in will make a refundable deposit of $50-$200 based upon season-ticket location.
“The purpose of the deposit,” Sullivan wrote, “is to get a firm level of commitment from season-ticket holders so that we can accurately account for those season-ticket holders who have a true, genuine interest and comfort level in any potential seat allocation. Please keep in mind, due to the modified Arena set-up and restrictions on seating configuration, the quantity and location of your normal men’s basketball seats will likely not be available. For example, the current ODH order limits aisle seats, front row seats, and last row seats and along with many provisions outlined in the sports order to limit contact among fans and allow for six feet of social distancing between. Your exact seat location for the 2020-21 season will not be identified until we have an approved health plan and the number of ticket holders opting in, and may change game-by-game. An average expectation should be 2-4 seats for a limited number of games (if any variance is approved).”
Fans who opt out this season will be able to renew their season tickets for the 2021-22 season as long as long as they’ve paid their arena seating contribution.
The goal of the email, Sullivan said, was to be as transparent as possible with fans even though there’s still much uncertainty surrounding the season.
“As a math teacher would say, we have an intractable math problem,” Sullivan said. “There’s really no good solution. It’s a long season. We’re still about six weeks away from our first potential home game, and no one knows what December through February will look like. Our focus really has just been organizational agility. We’re ready to adapt and execute in these evolving conditions. We want to communicate to our fans that, hey, in order to do that, the first step is to kind of tell you where things stand, kind of paint that picture of reality, and then determine who’s interested in that reality.”
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