Ticket Protection Tips – Ohio State Buckeyes
Ticket Protection Tips
The Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office has provided the information below to help Ohio State fans purchase verified tickets and to protect themselves from fraud. For any questions concerning verified tickets or ticket protection, please contact the Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office:
Phone: 1-800-GOBUCKS
Email: athletic.tix@osu.edu
Twitter: @OhioStateTix
Authorized Sellers
The Ohio State Department of Athletics cannot guarantee that any tickets purchased from a third-party source are valid or that they will allow you entry into the venue. Tickets should always be purchased from an authorized ticket agent. The only authorized sources for tickets to Ohio State Athletics events are:
- The Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office
- Ticketmaster
- Ohio State Ticket Exchange
- OhioStateBuckeyes.com
- The venue box office where the athletic event is taking place
Please note: the ticket office is not responsible for validating tickets that were not purchased through an authorized source.
Print-at-Home (PDF) Tickets:
Due to increased fraudulent activity with traditional Print-at-Home (PDF) style tickets, the Ohio State Department of Athletics and Schottenstein Center have eliminated Print-at-Home/TicketFast tickets. Although ticket buyers will no longer have the option to print their tickets at home, fans still have a quick delivery and entry option by utilizing mobile entry offered via My Ohio State Buckeyes Account and Ticketmaster.com. Details on how to manage your tickets and utilize the mobile entry options can be found by visiting our Digital Ticketing Guide. Fans will also still have the option to receive traditional hard stock tickets via mail or will call. We are hopeful that this change will reduce the prevalence of counterfeit tickets in circulation and lead to a better game day experience for all Buckeye Fans.
Ticket Resale
The Ohio State Ticket Exchange is the only official resale marketplace for tickets to Ohio State Athletics events. When you buy tickets for select events on Ohio State Ticket Exchange, the barcodes on those tickets are electronically validated by Ticketmaster’s exclusive barcode verification technology. The original ticket barcodes are canceled and new, unique tickets are reissued with your name on them. This process guarantees the authenticity of the tickets.
Sellers utilizing Ohio State Ticket Exchange experience many benefits. You receive a secure, no-hassle payment, you never have to deal with ticket delivery, and you protect other Ohio State fans from ticket fraud. Ohio State Ticket Exchange also offers comparable fees to other resale websites.
Ohio State Ticket Exchange is available for all ticketed sports, and provides fans with convenient access to purchase tickets for games and sections that otherwise may be sold out as well as gives ticket holders a place to post verified tickets for sale.
Counterfeit Tickets
Tickets to all sports have unique barcodes and will be scanned for validity at the venue entrance. Any counterfeit, invalid, or altered tickets will not be allowed to enter the venue. The Ohio State Department of Athletics has the right to remove the possessor of counterfeit tickets from the venue, even if the invalid ticket wasn’t discovered until after entering the facility. The Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office will confiscate all fraudulent tickets.
Due to the enormous interest in all of our athletic events, Ohio State Athletics encourages all fans to purchase tickets only through an authorized source.
The Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office,?Ticketmaster, and?Buckeyes Ticket Exchange?are the only authorized sources for tickets to Ohio State Athletics events. Fans purchasing tickets from unauthorized sources (including StubHub, Vivid Seats, CraigsList, EBay, and ticket brokers) assume the risk that tickets purchased are counterfeit or the barcodes have been invalidated. Any fan attempting to enter an Ohio State Athletics facility with counterfeit or invalid barcodes will be denied entry.
Digital Ticket Management
Your My Ohio State Buckeyes Account gives you a convenient, simple, and secure way to manage your tickets free of charge! Using your My Ohio State Buckeyes Account, you can:
- View your tickets on your mobile device.
- Transfer your tickets to family and friends.
- Sell your tickets through Ohio State Ticket Exchange.
- Donate your tickets to charity.
For information on managing your tickets online, please review our Digital Ticketing Guide.
Mobile Entry
All game tickets will now be issued?digitally to your smartphone!?This means that your phone is your ticket into the game.
You can?check out this video?which will walk you through pulling up your digital tickets on your phone. Remember these tips:?
- Screenshots?will not?get you in. All tickets use a dynamic barcode with an waving blue line that passes across the barcode. Barcodes update every few seconds. If you screenshot the barcode, it will not scan and you will be stuck outside the stadium.?
- You can add your tickets to your phone’s wallet. This will help keep them safe in case you don’t have connectivity. When you add them to your wallet, the barcode will go away and they will be turned into a ‘Tap-N-Go’ ticket – much like when you use Apple Pay or Google Pay at the grocery store. Make sure to have NFC turned on!?
Printed Tickets and Social Media
It is imperative that ticket holders know the potential risks of posting pictures of their tickets with visible barcodes online. The barcode is the most valuable piece of information on a ticket. Treat and protect the barcode, and other account information printed on the ticket, as you would your bank/credit card information. On your ticket, there is a unique barcode. If anyone acquires it, they can make duplicate tickets to use or sell that render your tickets worthless. Stop counterfeiters by following one simple rule when sharing pictures of your tickets online:?Cover the Code.
Ohio State Athletics has also introduced new RFID technology for printed tickets beginning in fall of 2022. These tickets look different from a traditional ticket with a barcode, but have a unique encoded RFID chip within the ticket itself. This RFID chip is used to validate the tickets upon entry into the venue.
Game Day Ticket Issues
Fans that have questions or experience any ticket issues when entering Ohio Stadium on game day can visit the nearest Ticketing Services location (Gates 5, 11, 14, or 38) for assistance. At all other athletic facilities, fans can visit the main ticket office at the venue for assistance.
