There’s No Such Thing as Sold Out - Ch. 10 The Season Ticket-Holder Standby

I’m single.  Yep, it’s true.  Trying to make it as a writer is tough.  Getting jobs from Craigslists can be as hideous as finding a boyfriend.  One job I took was ghostwriting a book for this guy who had a great idea about getting tickets to concerts and sporting events at great prices.

Our styles seemed to jibe, and I agreed to take the drek he had tried to put together and make it into a real book.  Which is exactly what I did, using the pen name of Max Diehl (maximum deal - ha) and pretending I was a guy.  I think I did that fairly well, as you’ll see, since I’m going to post every chapter on this blog.  We weren’t able to work out a fair revenue sharing deal, so I returned his money.  Yet I can honestly claim I wrote the book, and I hope you’ll enjoy every chapter.

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This is my absolute favorite technique of all time.  Ultimately it has saved me thousands of dollars over the years.  It takes a certain amount of bravado to pull off, but once you do it a few times it becomes second nature.  Plus you’ll enjoy great seats all season long.  This technique is good not only for a team that plays an entire season at one venue, but for all events held at that venue.  Here’s how it works.  

 

Your favorite Major League Baseball team is just starting a new season.  At the stadium box office, you buy a single ticket or pair of tickets for a game much farther along in the season.  It’s important that you buy the tickets only at the venue box office, since tickets for all the games that season all look the same.  Because the date is so far in advance, the tickets you buy will be in a great section.  One you’d love to sit in all year long.  Feel free either to splurge on this ticket or spend the least amount possible just to be in that section.  Do not concern yourself with the cost.  You will have to pay this price only once.  Once you have the tickets, put them in a safe place and handle them with care.

 

For every other game you want to go to that year, buy the absolute cheapest seats possible.  Your only objective at this point is to get inside the venue.  The idea is to use your cheap tickets to get through the gates, and then to use your expensive faux season ticket when approaching the usher at the aisle.  How can this possibly work? 

 

Take a moment to look at your box office issued ticket.  Hold it in your left hand.  Check the ticket’s top left corner, where the section, row and seat number are listed.  In the middle of the ticket, the names of the home team and visiting team are printed with the date and time below that.  Once you’re inside, and as you’re approaching the usher, use your thumb to cover the name of the visiting team along with the date and time on the ticket.  Make sure you hold the ticket upright so he can get a good look only at the section, row and seat number listings.  As you approach the usher, point to the top left corner and actually speak the section information to him as if you know exactly where you’re going because you’ve done it a thousand times before.  Be confident and friendly.  Smile. 

 

The best time to do this is at the beginning of the event, when everyone is first going to their seats.  After getting into the more desirable section, find the row that has the most available seats.  If anyone shows up and tells you that you’re sitting in their seat, and that person is not accompanied by an usher, just move.  Make sure to collect all your belongings and don’t leave a mess.  If an usher is in tow and asks for your tickets, tell him you know these aren’t your seats but that you just stopped by to see some friends.  Exit the opposite side of the row where the usher is standing.  Don’t make any sort of fuss.  Simply move quickly and quietly. 

 

Depending on the size of the venue, you may have to move to a different section for a little while, use the Forward March technique, and then come back in through another entrance to the desirable section that’s being covered by a different usher.  Whatever you do, do not give the usher your ticket with the different date on it.  You do not want your ticket confiscated.  The worst case scenario is that for that one game, you sit in your crummy seat.  But that’s the worst that can happen.  The few times it did, I simply moved to an even better seat in a different section. 

 

For the 2007 baseball season, I was able to catch about 30 of my team’s home games.  The one expensive ticket I used was a $40 field level ticket, way out in the outfield.  But I had no intention of sitting in that seat.  All I needed that ticket for was to get me into that section.  Once I was “in,” the target was an empty seat in a better location.  Sitting behind home plate or between first and third base on the field level is for me the norm.  Those tickets go for anywhere upwards of $95 face value.  For the rest of the season, I simply buy the cheap $8 ticket on the day of the game and then use my carefully preserved expensive season ticket to get into the field level section.  And then I make myself comfortable in the $95 seats. 

 

This works not only for large stadiums, but for smaller arenas as well.  For the 2007 basketball and hockey season, both teams shared the same venue.  I applied the same Season Ticket Holder Standby technique as I did with the baseball tickets, except in this case it was good for two teams. Again, you must buy the tickets at the box office. With the smaller arena sports, tickets can get much pricier.  I was able to secure one great ticket at a face value of $90.  But I used the same ticket for twenty basketball games and ten hockey games.  With the cheap seats for basketball going for around $15, the hockey seats going for about $30, and the good seats going anywhere from $90 to $200, you can see how this translates to substantial savings.  For those of you who need to know exactly how much we are talking, allow me to do the math.

 

For the baseball season, I purchased one $40 ticket plus twenty-nine tickets at $8 each.  Altogether, I paid $272.  If you add up the face values of the seats I actually sat in ($95 per seat times thirty games equals $2800), we’re talking a $2,578 savings for the season. Add in the $15 per game that I saved by getting free parking—more on this later—and that’s an additional savings of $450.  Which brings us to a grand total to over $3,000 that I did not have to spend to enjoy a great seat. 

 

As for the basketball/hockey season, I bought one $90 ticket plus twenty $15 tickets and nine $30 tickets for a grand total of $660 (the cost of thirty games of basketball and hockey combined).  Face value of the seats I sat in (twenty tickets at an average of $150 and ten seats at $90) totaled $3900.  The total savings in this instance were $3,240.  Free parking—at $15 per event for a total savings of $450—again factored in at these games to run up a total right around $4,450.

 

How can I live with myself?  The way I look at it, nobody was sitting in those seats.  If anyone ever informs me that I am in their seat, I will happily get up and move elsewhere.  I am not taking anything away from anyone.  If ever I become blessed financially with the ability to shell out thousands of dollars, I will be happy to do so—who am I kidding?  Half the thrill is saving all that money.

 

Again, these are high risk/high reward techniques.  The possibility exists of your being ejected from the stadium or possibly worse.  But if you take your chances and play it cool, you have a very solid chance of sitting with the privileged people and reveling like royalty in the event.