Brighton announce 2019-20 season ticket refund details
Brighton & Hove Albion have confirmed how they will refund season ticket holders for the final five games of the 2019-20 season following confirmation from the Premier League that the campaign will be concluded behind closed doors.
Each supporter will be contacted individually with details of their exact refund amount. This amount will be calculated by repaying 5/19ths of the original cost of that individual’s 2019-20 season ticket, reflecting the five fixtures against Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle United which have been lost.
The club have confirmed that refunds will be issued in the following ways, depending on how you paid for your season ticket both in the 2019-20 season and the 2020-21 season:
Brighton fans who had a season ticket in 2019-20 but have not renewed for 2020-21
Season ticket holders who have not renewed for 2020-21 will be refunded for the final five games of the 2019-20 season via a lump sum.
Refunds will be issued back to the original debit or credit card used for payment. Those who paid via direct debit will be reimbursed via BACS to the bank account which their direct debit came out of.
Brighton season ticket holders who paid a lump sum for their 2020-21 season ticket
Season ticker holders who renewed via a lump sum payment for the 2020-21 season will also receive a lump sum refund for the final five games of 2019-20.
Just like for those who haven’t renewed, this will be refunded to the same card or via the same method as the payment for the 2020-21 season was made.
Brighton season ticket holders who are paying for 2020-21 by direct debit
Those Brighton season ticket holders who have renewed and are paying for their 2020-21 season ticket via direct debit won’t receive a lump sum refund for the five cancelled home games from the 2019-20 campaign.
Starting in June, they will instead have their money reimbursed over the course of the next 10 months through reductions to their direct debit payments for the 2020-21 season, even though nobody knows when or even if the next campaign will take place.
Season ticket holders who took advantage of the club’s three month payment holiday will notice cheaper direct debits from when their payments recommence in August.
It’s a manner of reimbursement that has been met with scorn in some quarters. With many supporters struggling financially through loss of earnings or because of being furloughed, there had been hopes that the club might return 2019-20 season ticket money via a straight-up refund.
Working on the basis that the average Amex Stadium season ticket costs £700, receiving £184.21 for the five cancelled matches via a lump sum payment could go a long way towards helping plug a black hole in a person’s finances.
Waiving the refund
Brighton have announced that those who wish to donate their refund money to the Albion as One Fund will be able to instruct the club to do so as part of the email process handling reimbursements.
The Albion as One Fund has so far raised more than £300,000 since it was launched last month. Brighton’s first team squad kicked off the Fund with a six-figure contribution from their April wages.
All the money raised is being distributed to charities and good causes in Sussex who have seen their own fund raising efforts severely hampered.
The club have also said that supporters will have the opportunity to waive the refund, allowing the Albion to keep the money themselves.
Both of these options are likely to be popular choices for supporters who can afford it. Brighton’s actions over the past two months – senior members of staff taking pay cuts to prevent furloughing, donating food to homeless charities, pledging to give away free tickets to NHS staff once football recommences, turning the Amex into a testing centre for key works – have been exemplary.
There has been a real sense of pride in the way they’ve acted in this crisis. As a result, the Albion deserve as much support as fans can give them right now, however small that may be.
