Indians Receive Permission to Begin to Refund Fans Who Purchased Tickets for 2020 Games

Cleveland Indians fans have been waiting to see how they would recoup their money for tickets they had purchased for the 2020 season.

The Tribe was set to open the home season on March 26th at Progressive Field against the Detroit Tigers.

To this point in the season the Indians would have played 16 of their 81 home games.

The team announced on Tuesday that they will release their ticket refund policy. The team had to wait to get permission from Major League Baseball to move forward with the ticket refunds.

Indians fans who called the team’s front office to inquire about refunds were told that as of now the games were considered “postponed” and at some point could be replayed, and the games were not technically “cancelled.”

Some wonder if the news about ticket refunds means that the 2020 season is on the way to being cancelled, but it seems more like a season will take place, just with a number of modifications that include the games being played in places like Arizona and Florida.

As each day passes the chances of baseball being played at Progressive Field in 2020 appear less and less, which puts fans in a tough position when it comes to their tickets for the season.

Crain’s Cleveland Business reported back in March that the Indians season ticket holder base for 2020 was set to be about 11,000, a drop from 13,000 in 2019.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that Tuesday that Major League Baseball wants to start the season in June, and the schedule would be roughly 100 games.

The USA Today report says that games would be played in home team’s ballparks, but with no fans.

The proposal includes a three-division, 10-team plan where teams would teams would only play within their division.

The Indians under the proposal are slated to be in the Central Division, along with the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, and Detroit Tigers.

The East would include New York Yankees and Mets, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, and Miami Marlins.

The West would be made up of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, and Seattle Mariners.

UPDATE 4PM

The Indians put out a press release this afternoon outlining the refund policy for tickets purchased for games that were scheduled fro March and April.

The franchise is giving fans who brought tickets one of two options.

1. The first is to simply get a Flexible Bonus Credit for the value of tickets to be applied towards 2020 or 2021 games.

2. The other option is to receive a refund.

· Fans can request a Refund at any time by calling 216-420-HITS

· Any Refunds will be processed within two (2) weeks of the Refund request

· Bonus Credits will not be included in any Refund

If you purchased opening day tickets on Thursday, March 26th against the Detroit Tigers, here's information on your options direct from the team:

Fans with tickets to the original 2020 Opening Day may take advantage of either the Flexible Bonus Credit or Refund options described above but must call 216-420-HITS in order to do so.

Alternatively, should a fan holding original 2020 Opening Day tickets wish to attend the 2020 Opening Day as rescheduled, the fan may take no action with respect to those tickets at this time. Upon the rescheduling of 2020 Opening Day, we will be back in touch. Because we do not yet know what limitations may exist with respect to fan attendance at any rescheduled Opening Day, we cannot guarantee that fans who hold tickets to the original 2020 Opening Day will be able to attend a 2020 Opening Day as rescheduled.

Tribe Fans who purchased directly from Indians.com can call 216-420-HITS at any time if they have any additional questions. Those holding tickets from secondary marketplaces, including StubHub, need to contact the respective secondary tickets company.