Do Pro Sports Teams Donate Tickets and Memorabilia?

Yes — many professional and college sports teams run community donation programs that provide game tickets and team memorabilia to nonprofit fundraisers. Teams treat these donations as part of their community outreach, and most handle requests through a dedicated community relations department or a team charitable foundation rather than the front office. This guide is part of our fundraiser donation answers library, and it walks through the teams in our directory league by league.

Team donations tend to fall into two buckets: tickets to a game and team memorabilia such as a signed team jersey, ball, or photo. Both make strong prizes — memorabilia in particular is a staple of silent auction lineups, while ticket vouchers work well as raffle prizes. Program details change from season to season, so treat each team's donor page as the place to check what its program has historically offered and current status.

MLB teams that donate

Baseball's long home schedule gives MLB clubs plenty of ticket inventory across the season, and many club programs have historically supported nonprofit events. Teams in our directory:

• New York Yankees — American League club playing at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
• Boston Red Sox — the home team at Fenway Park, with a deep New England fan base.
• Chicago Cubs — National League club at Wrigley Field on Chicago's North Side.
• Los Angeles Dodgers — National League club in one of baseball's largest markets.
• St. Louis Cardinals — National League club with a famously loyal regional following.
• San Francisco Giants — Bay Area National League club; its directory page focuses on game tickets.
• Kansas City Royals — American League club; its directory page is likewise ticket-focused.

Each page describes what the club's program has historically offered and how requests were handled at our last check. One note on ticket donations: clubs often donate vouchers redeemable for select games rather than seats to a marquee matchup, which actually makes them easier to use as raffle prizes — the winner picks a date that works.

NFL teams that donate

Football teams play far fewer home games than baseball clubs, so donated items skew toward team memorabilia — again, think a signed team football or team jersey rather than tickets to a specific game. NFL teams in our directory:

• Green Bay Packers — the community-owned club at Lambeau Field.
• Kansas City Chiefs — AFC club playing at Arrowhead Stadium.
• Philadelphia Eagles — NFC club with a passionate hometown following.
• Pittsburgh Steelers — one of the NFL's most storied franchises.
• New York Giants — NFC club playing at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
• Minnesota Vikings — NFC club based in Minneapolis.
• New York Jets — AFC club sharing the New York market.

If your event serves a team's home region, say so plainly in your request — team programs exist to support the communities where their fans live. Several of these clubs run their giving through a dedicated team foundation, which is worth knowing before you go hunting for a contact; more on that routing below.

NBA and NHL teams that donate

Basketball and hockey clubs follow the same pattern: community relations staff or a team foundation reviewing requests from nonprofits, with memorabilia such as a signed team jersey or puck among the historically listed items. Teams in our directory:

• New York Knicks — NBA club playing at Madison Square Garden.
• Dallas Mavericks — NBA club based in Dallas.
• Los Angeles Lakers — one of the NBA's most recognizable franchises.
• New York Rangers — Original Six NHL club, also at Madison Square Garden.

As with the other leagues, each donor page notes what the program has historically offered and its status at our last check. Arena sports have one scheduling advantage for organizers: long seasons that run through fall, winter, and spring, so an event outside baseball or football season can still land a locally loved prize.

College teams that donate

Big college athletic departments field donation requests too, and the largest programs run structured processes that look a lot like the pro versions: a request form, documentation requirements, and a preference for causes in their region. In our directory, the Ohio State Buckeyes represent this group — a major Big Ten athletic program whose page describes what it has historically offered to nonprofit events. If your fundraiser is in a college town, the local athletic department is often a natural fit, especially for events tied to schools or kids' athletics. For more donor ideas aimed at that audience, see our roundup of companies that donate to youth sports teams.

How team donation programs usually route requests

Sports teams almost never handle donation requests the way a local store does. There is no manager at the gate with authority to hand over a signed team jersey, and calling the main office rarely reaches the right desk. Instead, requests typically route through one of two doors:

1. A community relations department. Staff inside the club review requests, usually submitted through an online form on the team's website, and match them against the program's guidelines.
2. A team charitable foundation. Many clubs run a separate nonprofit foundation that manages giving, including item donations to outside fundraisers.

Either way, the person you might meet at the stadium box office is not the decision-maker. Common patterns across team programs: requests go through a form rather than email, 501(c)(3) documentation is often requested, and priority goes to organizations in the team's home region. This routing question — who actually says yes — trips up a lot of first-time organizers, and it applies well beyond sports. Our guide to who approves donation requests explains how corporate offices, local managers, and foundations divide that job.

Timing and how to improve your odds

Team programs receive heavy request volume, and many ask for several weeks' notice before an event — some programs describe review windows that stretch longer during busy parts of the season. Submit early and follow the form's instructions exactly; incomplete requests are easy for a busy community relations inbox to skip. Our guide on how far in advance to request donations covers planning your ask backward from your event date.

A few practical notes for team requests:

• Ask for what the program actually lists. If a page describes memorabilia, request a signed team item; don't ask for playoff tickets.
• Mention your local connection. A youth league, school, or community group in the team's market is the core audience for these programs.
• Have your paperwork ready. Nonprofit documentation and a short, specific event description cover most of what forms ask for.
• Ask one team at a time per event where you can genuinely claim a fan connection. A generic message sent to every club in the league reads as exactly that.

Sports items are a great anchor prize, but they work best alongside a broader ask list — gift cards, restaurant certificates, and experiences round out a raffle or auction table. For the full cross-category picture, start with our router of companies that donate products to fundraisers, then browse the entertainment category, where most team pages in our directory live, and check each team's donor page for current program status before you send anything.