NOTRE DAME — The University of Notre Dame athletics department will eliminate all service charges and fees connected with purchasing tickets for all athletics events, effective with the 2015-16 athletic seasons.

This includes season renewals, football lottery applications as well as single-game ticket purchases made online, over the phone or at the Murnane Family Ticket Office.

In addition, 2015 football season tickets for Notre Dame students will remain at $245 each, the same price point as in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons. That figure represents less than half the face value of a full-priced season ticket. The normal $5 service charge for students also will be dropped.

The Notre Dame ticket office experimented with a ”Fee Free February” promotion to eliminate all service charges associated with purchasing tickets to events in the month of February.

“The response from our fans to our month-long offering proved to be extremely positive,” said Rob Kelly, Notre Dame assistant athletics director for ticketing and technology. “So, as we move into the ticketing process for the 2015 football season, we decided to remove all processing, renewal and lottery application fees and service charges. This reflects a conscious decision to align our ticket pricing practices with the broader experience we want to deliver all Notre Dame athletics fans.”

Irish fans previously had been charged a routine processing fee for any ticket order in any sport. Online ticket orders also were assessed a per-ticket convenience charge. All those charges now will be eliminated. In 2014 ticket buyers were charged an average of $3.40 per ticket in addition to the face value — and online purchases averaged $8.80 per ticket.

“This will enhance the experience of ordering tickets by removing the hidden fees that so often result in an unpleasant ‘gotcha’ moment at checkout. The face value of the ticket will be the only charge to our customers from start to finish, and we are confident this all-inclusive price will simplify the process,” said Kelly.

The face value of the ticket will include standard delivery methods currently in use. Season tickets for all sports and football lottery tickets will continue to be shipped by express service. Single-game ticket purchases will continue to offer standard first-class mail service. The option to upgrade to express shipping for single-game ticket purchases will be available at an additional cost.

Also new for 2015 is the acceptance of credit cards for football season ticket renewals. Prior to this, the only acceptable forms of payment were cash, check and e-check. Additionally, the ticket office will roll out the use of credit cards to all football ticket lottery applicants in 2015. This will eliminate the past practice of holding applicant funds until lottery results were released and processing refund checks for unsuccessful applications.

“We have been accepting credit cards for all single-game tickets and non-football season renewals, so it’s great to finally offer this same convenience to our football season ticket holders and football ticket lottery applicants. We are catching up in many ways, but this simple accommodation also will allow us to offer ever more innovative and complementary services to the Notre Dame faithful,” said Kelly.