Fans buying tickets to Charles County Public Schools sporting events will start paying more this season after the school system announced it will no longer absorb the $1 convenience fee charged by its online ticketing platform, GoFan.
Under the new policy, tickets priced at $10 or less will carry a flat $1 convenience fee. Tickets priced above $10 will carry that same $1 fee plus an additional 5% of the ticket’s face value. Previously, CCPS covered those fees itself so spectators paid only the listed ticket price. The school system said the fee applies to tickets sold both online and at the gate through GoFan, and that some schools also use the platform to sell tickets and collect fees for non-athletic events such as school plays and class dues, though those fee structures may vary by school and should be confirmed directly with the school hosting the event.
The $1-and-under-$10 structure, and the added 5% for tickets over $10, mirrors GoFan’s standard nationwide fee schedule, which the company has said tends to run lower than fees charged by competing ticketing platforms. GoFan markets itself to school districts in part by covering credit card processing costs itself rather than passing them on to schools, and by offering the platform to schools at no charge, with its revenue instead coming from the per-ticket convenience fees. That means CCPS’s shift does not reflect a new cost imposed by GoFan, but rather a decision by the school system to stop covering a fee structure that has existed since the district adopted the platform.
CCPS moved to all-electronic ticketing for its sporting events starting Dec. 5, 2023, eliminating cash sales at the gate for system-sponsored games and requiring fans to purchase tickets in advance or at the gate through the GoFan website or app. The switch also ended re-entry to venues without prior authorization and made all GoFan ticket purchases nonrefundable. At the time, the school system said spectators 60 and older could still receive a free Senior Citizen Event Card for entry to CCPS-sponsored athletic events and countywide music and theater events, though those cards are not honored at playoff games or events outside the county, and CCPS employees can continue to use their staff identification badges for free entry to most system-sponsored events.
CCPS has said the shift to electronic ticketing was tied in part to broader efforts to manage attendance and security at athletic events, alongside a tiered athletic event safety plan developed with input from athletic directors, principals, and the district’s offices of school administration and school safety. The ticketing system gives administrators real-time visibility into how many tickets have been sold for a given event, which can factor into decisions about staffing, capacity limits, and entry procedures at higher-profile or higher-risk games.
The fee change comes as CCPS continues to grow. The district enrolled roughly 28,162 students as of last fall, spread across 39 schools, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing school systems in Southern Maryland. That growth has translated into consistently high demand for tickets to marquee events, including football and basketball games between the county’s larger high schools, where attendance can strain gate capacity and parking even under the current reservation-based ticketing model.
CCPS did not say in its announcement how much revenue the previous fee-absorption policy cost the district annually, or what prompted the change. The announcement was limited to the mechanics of the new fee structure and instructions for accessing GoFan through its app or website.
Fans looking to purchase tickets can download the GoFan app through the Apple or Google app stores or visit gofan.co directly from a desktop or laptop browser. First-time users must create an account before purchasing tickets, and can then search for a specific CCPS school by name, mascot or city to find upcoming events. Families with questions about fees tied to non-athletic events, such as school plays or dances, are directed to contact the relevant school directly, since those fee structures can differ from the standard athletic ticket policy.
