SAN ANGELO, Texas — Monday marked the first day San Angelo Rodeo 2022 tickets are available for purchase online and in-person. But people are complaining that the process for obtaining a ticket has been difficult.
The box office line at Foster Communications Coliseum opened at 10 a.m. Monday.
"At 10 am this morning, we had over 1,600 people trying to purchase tickets online at the same time. Today's online sales far exceeded what it ever has in the past," San Angelo Rodeo Senior Manager Brittni Kaczyk explained.
San Angelo native Clair Orta said she got in line at 8 a.m. and waited hours for the opportunity to buy a ticket.
“We were online as well as waiting in line for our tickets. The online website seems to be going a lot slower and crashing a lot so we decided to come here and get a physical ticket,” Orta said.
Orta and dozens of people commented under the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo's Facebook post complaining about issues on the rodeo's website.
People complained they were about to purchase their tickets, but the website suddenly crashed. Another issue is having to wait nearly an hour for the website to refresh, only to get an ‘error’ message.
Because of the many issues, San Angelo Rodeo representatives issued a statement addressing these problems.
'We understand everyone’s concerns and frustration. Some performances have already sold out which is why you may see an error page. These tickets are in high demand, just like other events, but tickets are still available for most weekday & matinee performances. We are working with IT on our website to make sure the remaining tickets we do have are posted and available,' the post on social media said.
Another issue that arises around rodeo season is dealing with ticket gougers. What they do is buy up as many tickets as they can early, then resell them for more than what they paid for them. Or sometimes people claim to have tickets, but really don’t and steal money from those searching for a ticket.
San Angelo Rodeo representatives issued a statement addressing this problem as well.
'PLEASE BEWARE OF SCAM TICKET SELLERS! We are not saying that all people selling tickets in the comments are scam, but it is common for fake accounts to comment to try to get you to buy tickets they do not have.'
Kaczyk also said a lot of people complain about rodeo box seats being gone so fast every year. Because these seats are usually passed down from generation to generation, there's not much that can be done about it.
"Box seats are also held by our sponsor partners and then we have some we refer to as family boxes. They've been in place since far before I was born. In my 14 years of working with the rodeo, those box seats have not been open to the public," Kaczyk said.
There is an option for people to purchase season tickets, which means you buy the same amount of tickets for all of the performances, she said.
Rodeo tickets are available only through the coliseum box office or the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo website.