ROC pass sales were suspended for the remainder of the fall season, to be resumed for student purchase prior to the winter season.
Once sales resume, passes will be sold at the same price: $150 for a student pass and $220 for a guest pass, according to a post by @byuroc on Instagram.
The initial pause was announced in the week leading up to BYU’s football game against Baylor – the first home game of the season and a prestigious, highly anticipated match up.
Students who hadn’t purchased a ROC pass before seeing the announcement swarmed the BYU ROC Pass Exchange Facebook group, an online marketplace for ROC pass renters and rentees. Group members negotiated prices and sent out posts advertising that they either had passes or were looking for them.
According to the ROC pass sales webpage at the time, passes would be made available for purchase after the Baylor game; however, BYU Athletics updated the page on Sept. 4 and said passes will go back on sale “before the first Men’s Basketball game at least.”
The ROC's instagram page said that while it was a difficult decision, it was also the only choice; BYU ticketing is held to standards of safety, and whether ROC passes can continue to be sold is measured by capacity and attendance projections.
“This is a measure to attempt to prevent students who already paid for a ticket from being turned away after waiting in line for games all day,” @byuroc said via in a direct Instagram message. “In order to take steps toward safety at the games, this was the only option.”
Daniel Ball, a BYU junior and a football and basketball fan, said that he understands the safety precautions taken for the Baylor game, but doesn’t see the purpose of extending it further.
“I don't think any of the other games will be nearly as packed as the stadium was for Baylor,” Ball said. “And now that they've paused it until after football season, I don't even know if it's worth purchasing one for just a couple more basketball games.”
Ean Price, a BYU senior, said that a hefty portion of his savings at the beginning of the semester went toward school fees – but by the time he had paid tuition and was ready to buy a pass, they were unavailable.
Price said that though he doesn’t want to buy individual tickets to future games, it might be his only option; he is concerned about being able to find passes in the ROC Pass Exchange Facebook group.
“You never know if somebody will beat you to a pass before you can check Facebook or whatever,” Price said. “So it's kind of just, you know, it's tough and it's hit or miss whether or not you might be able to find a pass to a game.”
Ball said he plans on trying to find tickets or pass rentals through the Facebook group — however, he said while searched for the Baylor game he saw listings up to $100 for the one game rental.
“I think that's like one of the bonuses of a ROC pass is like, it's just a super good deal to get into all the sports events,” said Ball.
According to the @byuroc, students who buy passes when they reopen for sales prior to the winter season will still receive an “incredible” discount.
“There are very few home football games and there are very many home games in other sports in the winter sports season,” @byuroc said. “The pass was designed to be a cheap way to allow students access to BYU sporting events, and it truly is an incredible value even if you start in the winter season.”