Despite early confusion involving online football ticket sales, Farmer fans will be able to buy pre-sale paper tickets at the school store and the athletic office for the remainder of the season just like in years’ past. Tickets will also continue to be available online.

Before kickoff of the first game of the season, fans were standing in line for 45 minutes to buy tickets to watch the Farmers take on Plano Senior High. The decision to switch to online sales had been made by the athletic and purchasing departments in the spring. Mailers had been sent out, but there was still some initial confusion.

“With (pre-sale) tickets only being sold online, we felt it would be better to sell them at the school where everybody can get them,” student body officer Fairooz Adams said.

The student body officers approached principal’s secretary Kay Sutton with concerns about the tickets. Sutton went to the athletic department and asked if Student Council could sell pre-sale tickets at the school.

Now tickets can be purchased during regular business hours Monday through Friday at the athletic building, and on Thursdays and Fridays during block lunch at the school store. Pre-sale tickets are $4 for a student and $6 for an adult. Tickets can also be purchased at the gate for $7.

Though there were rumors that pre-sale paper tickets would not be available for district games, but athletic director Randy Mayes said they would be available all season.

“Beginning next week and continuing throughout the playoffs, we will sell online, as well as at the gate, and at the campus and in the athletic office,” Mayes said.

Mayes said the decision to do online-only sales was made after studying other multi-high school districts who have online season and individual ticket sales. At first, paper tickets were not pre-sold. When tickets are bought online, a service charge of $1.53 for adult tickets and $1.41 for student tickets is added to the sale. When tickets are bought online, a credit card is used and then the ticket is printed.

Mayes, who oversees all five stadium managers in the district, said that some of the public like the online ticket buying method and some do not.

“I have had people tell me that they like being able to buy their football tickets online because they did not have to leave their home,” Mayes said.

Others did not like the online only policy because they don’t have access to a computer with a printer or they don’t shop online, Mayes said.

Students who can’t buy online, can now purchase pre-sale tickets during lunch.

“I think it’s great that people can buy tickets during lunch time now because they don’t have to pay the extra price online,” student body president Samantha Martinez said. “And they don’t have to wait as long in the line because there will be less people buying from the front instead of having to buy online, and now more people can actually buy it at the school store during school instead of having to make time.”

Now that tickets are sold at the school store during lunch and at the athletic building, everything runs much smoother, Mayes said. He added that the line for tickets at the second game was much shorter and everything flowed much better.

Moving forward each week, the process is getting better, and in the future, the kinks will be worked out, Principal Jeffrey Kajs said.

“Starting next year with game one, I think it will be a completely smooth process,” Kajs said.