Company Season-Ticket Policy: A Free Template

A good company season-ticket policy answers five questions in writing: who's eligible, how games are claimed and approved, whether seats are for clients or employees (or both), what the guest rules are, and how use is recorded. Below is a free template you can copy, fill in the bracketed blanks, and adapt to your firm in about five minutes. A short, published policy is the single cheapest way to make ticket distribution feel fair and keep a clean record for finance.

Copy everything in the template section, replace the [bracketed] parts, and share it with your team.

Why write a policy at all?

Most ticket friction — the resentment, the double-bookings, the "who got the box again?" grumbling — comes not from people missing out but from not knowing how decisions get made. A written policy fixes that in one page. It sets expectations before there's a conflict, gives whoever runs the tickets a rule to point to instead of a judgment call to defend, and creates the paper trail finance needs at tax time. It doesn't need to be long or formal — it needs to exist and be visible.

The season-ticket policy template

[Company Name] — Season-Ticket Use Policy

Effective [date]. Applies to the [Team] season tickets held by [Company]: [X] seats.

1. Purpose and eligibility

Our [Team] season tickets are a company asset provided to [support client relationships / reward employees / both]. They're available to [all full-time employees / employees in the following roles: __ ]. Games are allocated fairly and transparently under this policy — access does not depend on seniority or on asking first, except where noted below.

2. How games are claimed and approved

The full home schedule is posted at [link / location]. Games open for claiming [X weeks] before game day. To claim a game, [claim it in the system / email the ticket coordinator] and note whether it's for client hosting or personal/employee use and who you'll be hosting. [Name / role] approves each claim. Our allocation method is: [open first-come claiming / lottery for marquee games / rotation / priority for client-facing roles / a hybrid — describe]. Marquee games ([list, e.g., home opener, rivalry nights, playoffs]) are handled by [lottery / priority] to keep them fair.

3. Client use vs. employee reward

Games with clear client-relationship value may be prioritized for client hosting. All other games are available for [employee personal use / employee use with the option to host a client]. When hosting a client, [note any expectations — e.g., a manager approves, and the business purpose is recorded for expenses].

4. Guest rules

Each claim includes [X] seats. You may bring [family / clients / colleagues] as guests. Tickets [may / may not] be given away, sold, or transferred outside the company. If you can't use a game you've claimed, release it as early as possible so someone else — or a client — can use the seats.

5. Recordkeeping and expenses

Every claim is recorded: the game, the seats, who attended, and who was hosted. This protects fairness and supports expense documentation. In Canada, business entertainment such as sports tickets is generally only 50% deductible and requires a record of the business purpose and who attended — so keep your hosting details accurate. [verify — confirm exact CRA requirements with your accountant; this is general information, not tax advice.]

6. No-shows and cancellations

If you claim a game and your plans change, release the seats as soon as you know. Repeatedly claiming games and not using them [may affect future priority]. The goal is simple: no seat we've paid for goes empty.

How to adapt the template in five minutes

Fill in the basics. Company name, team, seat count, and effective date — the header and Section 1.
Pick your allocation method. Choose open claim, lottery, rotation, tiers, or a hybrid for Section 2. If you're unsure, our guide to a fair way to distribute company sports tickets walks through the trade-offs.
Set your guest and transfer rules. Decide in Section 4 whether tickets can be given away or must stay in-house, and how many guests are allowed.
Confirm the recordkeeping line with your accountant. Section 5 touches tax treatment — have your accountant confirm the wording for your situation before you rely on it. [verify]
Publish it and point to it. Put the finished policy where everyone can see it, and reference it whenever a question comes up. A policy no one can find doesn't prevent conflict.

Frequently asked questions

What should a company season-ticket policy include? Five things: who's eligible, how games are claimed and approved, whether seats are for clients or employees, the guest and transfer rules, and how use is recorded for fairness and expenses. A no-show or release rule is a useful sixth. Keeping it to a single page is better than making it exhaustive.

Do we really need a written policy for a few seats? Yes — and the smaller the company, the more a one-page policy helps, because informal handling is exactly where favoritism and double-bookings creep in. A short written rule sets expectations before there's a conflict and gives whoever runs the tickets something to point to.

How do we make the policy fair? Decide the allocation method in advance and publish it, show everyone the same schedule, and keep a visible record of who got what. Fairness comes from transparency and a consistent rule, not from trying to please everyone game by game.

What records should we keep for tax purposes? Keep a per-game record of the seats used, who attended, and the business purpose. In Canada, entertainment expenses like sports tickets are generally 50% deductible and require you to show who was hosted and why — so an accurate hosting log makes expense time painless. Confirm the specifics with your accountant. [verify]

Can the tool keep the policy enforced automatically? Largely, yes. A system like Season Seats posts the schedule, runs claiming and approvals against your rule, and records every claim automatically — so the policy isn't just a document, it's how the tickets actually work day to day.

Season Seats is the system of record for corporate season tickets. It turns a policy like this into a working system — schedule, claim, approve, and a record of every game — so distribution stays fair and no seat goes to waste. See how it works on your team's schedule →