‘Nobody was ever promised a refund’: Cactus Rats ticket holders won’t get money back, club official says

An Energy City Cactus Rats baseball team official says season ticket holders who have asked for refunds over ballpark construction delays won't be getting them.

An official with the Energy City Cactus Rats baseball club says season-ticket holders who requested refunds shouldn’t expect to see any money back.

Jennifer Vachon and Sandie Miller told CTV News Edmonton they each paid more than $1,000 for season tickets to watch the team.

Both women asked for refunds after learning that the team’s ballpark, which has been under construction since 2023, would not be ready for this season.

Miller said she was put on a “refund list,” but had not seen a return of the $1,050 she spent on two season seats.

Instead, both women were told their tickets would carry over to the 2026 season, something neither of them say they want.

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On Friday, CTV News Edmonton spoke to Patrick Cassidy, the managing partner for the club, about the refunds.

Cassidy says while the refund list exists, it doesn’t mean anyone is getting their money back.

“They’re asking about refunds, so we put them on a refund list. It gets called a refund list, and then people assume they’re going to get a refund, but they’re on a list where people are asking for refunds. So there’s kind of a difference there, right?” Cassidy said.

He claims the list is internal, and the public wasn’t supposed to know about it.

“Somebody got information that says you’re on a refund list, and maybe it wasn’t clarified, but I can almost guarantee you that nobody was ever necessarily promised a refund.”

“We don’t do refunds. We do pay it forward.”

Cassidy says season-ticket holders were never told when the ballpark would actually open.

“We’ve never guaranteed a date. We wouldn’t do that. We’re still not doing that. When you buy tickets, you sort of buy them with that understanding that it’s a project under construction. And if that’s too risky for you, there’s a lot of people that want to buy tickets,” he said.

“Some people maybe assumed it was going to be a guaranteed opening this year. That was never a story that came from us.”

He chalks the delays up to permitting and zoning issues and land title transfers tied to the self-storage facility, restaurant and residential condos that are also planned for the development.

“Our plan right from day one was to construct the self-storage facility, get it filled and sell it. And that’s still the plan. The concept behind that is basically just reduce debt on everything else, maybe eliminate debt. So that’s our long term goal.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nav Sangha