443 replies to this topic

[TheoShmeo]

Here is a side question since so many people have posted about tickets. Are you finiding stubhub prices to drop dramatically day of/day before?

I have a friend coming into town next Friday and she wants to go to the game so I'm curious as to whether I'm better off waiting. I will probably have to wait until Monday at least anyway.

My experience is that it's almost always better to wait. Except for really HUGE games, tix prices decline as the event draws nearer and sellers get more desperate. Stub hub actually offers a program that reduces the price as the game nears automatically when you sell tix there.

Also, I would recommend checking at fansnap.com before buying on Stub Hub or Ace. That site aggregates many of the on line brokers, including Stub Hub and Ace, so if there is a deal out there to be had, you wont miss it.

[savage362]

My experience is that it's almost always better to wait. Except for really HUGE games, tix prices decline as the event draws nearer and sellers get more desperate. Stub hub actually offers a program that reduces the price as the game nears automatically when you sell tix there.

This.

I picked up a pair in section 162 for the 5/31 Thursday night game vs the Tigers for $35/ticket + fees. These are regularly $95 seats and I paid a total of $84. I ordered them around 2pm, hopped in the car in Central VT, picked up my dad, and we made it to our seats just as the National Anthem started.

I'd recommend waiting as long as possible to grab tickets as long as you're not real picky on where you sit. Generally during the last few hours the prices will drop signficantly as people get desperate to atleast make some of their money back.

[Harry Hooper]

The Jordan's Furniture banner ad up on redsox.com right now reads:

"No Interest Up To 48 Months"

[tonyandpals]

Put me in the wait camp as well. I need 8-10 tix for Monday 6/25 against the Jays. Just need to get in the ballpark as we'll be mingling in the SRO. Cheapest last week was around $18, now they're $14 and change. I am expecting to get them for under $10 at the end of the week.

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

I just bought two tickets in the infield grandstand on Aug. 1 (a wed. night) for $75 each. That's $20 over face, but wanted to take my dad that day and you can't get two together at Redsox.com and I wanted at least semi-good tix. Anything "good" ticketwise on weekdays seems to be sticking to at least face, and maybe $10 to $30 over face depending on the opponent. But the bleachers are often $9.99 during weekdays and you can find some really cheap week of if the weather looks bad. I haven't seen really any change in the "good" tickets as the games approach, but I haven't been monitoring day of changes.

Edit: To be clear, I wanted to give the tix to him for Father's Day and the farther away games weren't much different in price than the closer games. I agree with above posters that I'm sure everything gets at least a little cheaper in the last 48 hours or so, and probably a lot cheaper if you're willing to get right down to it and they're offering digital delivery.

Edited by MyDaughterLovesTomGordon, 18 June 2012 - 04:24 PM.

[behindthepen]

I would point out that right now there between 900-1000 tickets available on stubhub for tonight's game. For previous Tuesday nights, that would be well over 2,000. The lowest price is $13, when normally there would be a few at $5 or so.

So some of the price weakness was probably as much weather-related as anything.

[The Allented Mr Ripley]

School vacations have already started, too, which makes it easier to bring kids to weeknight games.

[behindthepen]

Right before sales are shut off for tonight's game on stubhub, there are 422 tickets listed, the cheapest are 2 SRO's at $19. A handful between 20-25 and the rest higher. Very few in the lower bleachers available at any price, mostly higher bleachers and grandstands.

[smastroyin]

Also, I would recommend checking at fansnap.com before buying on Stub Hub or Ace. That site aggregates many of the on line brokers, including Stub Hub and Ace, so if there is a deal out there to be had, you wont miss it.

Great site, thanks for that TS!

[tonyandpals]

I've been watching the 6/25 game. I need 12 tickets, just to get in the park. Right now I can get them at 12.50, and have a second option around 14.50. I don't think they're going to get much lower and will probably buy tomorrow afternoon. Unless it looks like rain for Monday, then I will hold off as they drop.

[CaptainLaddie]

It's really really telling how empty the park is when the all-star voting is going as poorly as it is:

Pedroia is 3rd at 2nd base, Ortiz is 1st at DH and Ellsbury is 14th. While there is online voting, this is just hilarious compared to previous seasons.

[Rudy Pemberton]

To be fair, Pedroia has had a lousy season, and Ellsbury has played 7 games.

[BoSox Rule]

Ya, I'd have to say a fair amount of idiot Sox fans are doing their part if Pedroia has managed to crack the top 3 and for Ellsbury to be so insanely ridiculously undeservedly high.

[behindthepen]

At the close on stubhub today, there are about 1,034 tickets left. NOt bad for a night when it was pretty obviously going to see rain. 2,000 available for Thu night.

Tuesday's official attendance was 37,771. The only Tuesday so far this year that was better was way back in April, vs Texas. Monday's game (Youk's return) was actually the highest attendance of the season, at 38,334.

[Lose Remerswaal]

"Biggest crowd of the season" says the game story in today's Globe. I was in the bleachers in the 3rd inning, and there were vast tracts of empty seats. Not 2s and 4s, as in no shows, but entire rows, as in no sells. Top half of sections 37, 38, 39, and 41 were mostly empty (other then the last few rows where the tix are $12), I didn't look at 42 and 43. A total of 3 people sitting in the Dunkin Dugout (did they even show it on the broadcast like they usually do?).

I didn't get a chance to check out the grandstand and standing room, but the bleachers couldn't have been 80% full, and were probably closer to 70%.

[sittingstill]

I was in the bleachers in the 3rd inning, and there were vast tracts of empty seats. Not 2s and 4s, as in no shows, but entire rows, as in no sells.

Doesn't mean they weren't sold to brokers. StubHub alone right now has listings for tonight for 21 seats in RF Box 92, 20 in BL 38, 18 in BL 37, 17 in RF Box 92, 13 in OF GS 5, 12 in BL 38, and 10's in BL 36, RF Box 88, RF Box 90, OF GS 6 and OF GS 32. Ebay has more.

[Lose Remerswaal]

Stubhub (as far as I know) isn't buying tickets from anyone, and I'd be surprised to find out that all the original sellers are reselling through Stubhub. Unless the original buyers are Ace Tickets, et al.

But is Ace buying out rows 31 to 47 in the Bleachers, and selling them from front to back so only 41 to 47 end up (virtually) empty?

[behindthepen]

On stubhub, for a normal game, 500-1500 tickets are listed for sale right before gametime (they stop selling when the gates open).

I'm guessing the geniuses who have tickets in those high rows are pretty good at finding the unsold seats.

[Lose Remerswaal]

On stubhub, for a normal game, 500-1500 tickets are listed for sale right before gametime (they stop selling when the gates open).

I'm guessing the geniuses who have tickets in those high rows are pretty good at finding the unsold seats.

I thought that, but none of the people from the $12 are moving down? I mean the seats under the scoreboard were PACKED.

[Hendu's Gait]

looks like a lot of unsold seats for next week:

"Deal Details:
A ticket, hot dog and soda included for each member of the family!
Join us at Fenway Park and enjoy the "Red Sox Family Pack" during the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins series July 30 - August 2. This special includes free concessions with each ticket purchased. With every ticket purchased, you'll receive a complimentary Fenway Frank and complimentary soda!
Receive two great items with each ticket purchased:
• 1 hot dog
• Choice of 1 regular fountain soda beverage"

[Lose Remerswaal]

In related news, the Philadelphia Phillies consecutive sellout streak ended at 257 games last night as they only had 41,665 tickets sold (CBP holds 43,651). That's the 3rd longest streak in MLB history (Sox, Indians 1995-2001, Phillies).

Just shy of 2000 seats unsold. I'm sure they could have figured out a way to distribute those tix if they had wanted to keep their streak alive.


If the Sox miss the playoffs this year, I expect Home game 2 of the 2013 season to be the end of the streak (assuming it's not a Yankee or interleague game).

[Hokie Sox]

The sellout streak will continue at Fenway because of Aaron Cook. That's right, I said it.

http://www.fangraphs...season-is-like/

EV, people will come EV. They'll come to Iowa Fenway for reasons they can't even fathom (quite literally true, at this point). They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 $120 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they Bobby Valentine they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines behind one of the pillars, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes played with their parents' phones. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters beer. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come EV. The one constant through all the years, EV, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, EV. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come EV. People will most definitely come.

[Lose Remerswaal]

Too bad they haven't updated that chart. 2 K's and 3 BB's last night will skew the hell out of those numbers

[Hendu's Gait]

anyone know why today's game is so (relatively) expensive on stubhub? (I'm ashamed to say I've been out of the hometown loop for last 10 days due to Olympics)

Edited by Hendu's Gait, 07 August 2012 - 02:29 PM.

[bloodysox]

anyone know why today's game is so (relatively) expensive on stubhub? (I'm ashamed to say I've been out of the hometown loop for last 10 days due to Olympics)

Rangers fans

[sittingstill]

Games in this series have had 1800-2000 tickets available over the last couple of weeks; looking ahead at the Anaheim series (4500-5000 per game) and KC (3500-5800) you can see the difference in demand.

[Hendu's Gait]

Rangers fans

I got that part. Compared to yesterday.

[Lose Remerswaal]

Globe says last night's crowd was the biggest of the season. I can confirm that the "day of game" ticket line was as long as I've seen all year -- about 2/3 the way to the bleacher entrance and the "scalp free" zone, where I had no trouble buying two $25 SRO seats (first base pavilion). We paid face, as we wanted to get in. Most folks were selling for 20% or so below face.

Park looked pretty full by the 4th inning (it was a very quick first few innings, 4 1/2 were over in barely 1 hour), and fans were still entering the park at 8:15. Some empty luxury boxes (those last two down the first base line don't seem to do too well), but the bleachers and RF were pretty packed, as was standing room.


Note to those hitting the "scalp free zone": It's exact change, so don't take $50's and $100's unless you're planning to spend that much. And don't expect the sausage guy to change a $100 bill when you buy one sausage.

[Green Monster]

Fenway Sold Out Again !!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by Green Monster, 08 August 2012 - 09:18 PM.

[Lose Remerswaal]

Not directly related, but there's a Groupon for the Futures At Fenway. $10 gets you a loge or grandstand ticket (worth $20). AND, they're tarting up this year's FAF by making it Star Wars Themed.

Ugh.

Whose idea was this whole "let the minor leaguers play at Fenway" thing, anyway?


I wonder if there will be a Groupon for Bruce?

Or Sir Paul?

[drtooth]

The sellout streak will make it through 2012 (tickets already purchased by brokers) but next year could be a different story. In looking at Ace Tickets site, there are only 2 games the rest of the year where they have less than 500 tickets available. They are the final Yankees game ( the first tow of the series have close to 1000 for each) and the final Saturday game vs Baltimore. I am guessing that Ace took a bath this year as many seats have been available under face value on their site for a large number of games this year. I have to wonder if they will be willing to make that sizable an investment in 2013. I have also been able to find good seats on redsox.com the day of games. If the secondary market brokers do not buy up as many seats, the streak might not make through 2013. It will be interesting to see how the FO reacts if the early ticket sales show that the streak may be in jeopardy.

[sittingstill]

For what it's worth, the few times I've bought from Ace they've been season tickets. One thing I wonder is how many folks will decide not to renew season tix. It's been something of a no-brainer for several years now, because even if you weren't going to games you could reliably sell tix for over face value on StubHub or through Ace. Heck, Stubhub has a button to list your entire season in one click; I see a lot of the same seats available for every game. Often the same tickets are listed on multiple sites well in advance of the game date--then, say, if you buy them from Ace, Ace will tell you they'll have the tickets for you the next day. I've bought the same field box seats via StubHub for a couple of games this year where the pricing strategy (i.e. the day-of-game desperate slide toward half-price) leads to me believe that ticketholder might think long and hard about hanging onto them. (The field boxes might be a bad example--you give those up, you're probably never getting them back. But if doling out and getting rid of tickets is a money-losing hassle instead of a profitable enterprise, and your seats are less prime, it might be better to buy games as you want to go to them.)

Forbes, IIRC, said that about 21,000 seats per game are season tickets.

[JimBoSox9]

I'll agree that there may be some increased STH attrition, but in my opinion it's HIGHLY unlikely to matter. Last I heard, there were about 7000 people on the waiting list and attrition of 400 per year. Even if attrition doubles and there is increased waiting list attrition as well, even worse case scenario you're looking at 5-6 years before they need to worry about fillin their season tix limit. If they can't turn things around in that time, they have much bigger problems.

[Jordu]

I did a longish magazine piece on ticket scalping about a dozen years ago, and what I learned is that the ticket business is all about laying off risk. The promoter/ballclub wants to limit exposure to fluctuating demand, so it looks around for someone to sell to, ideally in large blocks -- season tickets, discount sales to charity, brokers. I have no doubt the Red Sox sold 90+ percent of this season's tickets to the above groups well before the season started. That's just being a smart promoter. The other 10 percent or so they can give away, sell as discount packages, whatever it takes to stretch logic to the point where a game can be called a sell-out.

There is going to come a cold night in late September, though, when there will be so many empty seats so visible on TV that management is going to get singed by the last tiny ember of shame it has left and will have to call an end to the streak. Late September is the perfect time to do it, since hardly anyone will be paying attention to the Red Sox. Then there will be congratulations all around looking back at the pro-franchise-sellout-streak record and fulsome thanks to the world's greatest fans in America's Most Beloved Ballpark.

Several folks in this thread have remarked upon the late arrivers, but what has struck me this year is how many people leave EARLY. It's been years since I've seen so many paying customers leave early, even during close games on Saturday nights and on sunny summer Sundays. I walk to the ballpark, and I understand getting out of Kenmore Square in a car or on the T after a game is no fun, but still.

[Hendu's Gait]

If the rumors are true, looks like this mirage of a streak is coming to end. Hope Jim Holzman and the rest of the ticket CEO people have extra underwear and toiler paper on hand. Next year looks to be a bumpy ride.

[Rudy Pemberton]

At this point, it seems quite likely that payroll could be reduced next year with a younger more dynamic roster. If so, I wonder if they'd proactively reduce ticket prices (slightly, of course) to try to win fans back after the last year or so.

[Lose Remerswaal]

If the rumors are true, looks like this mirage of a streak is coming to end. Hope Jim Holzman and the rest of the ticket CEO people have extra underwear and toiler paper on hand. Next year looks to be a bumpy ride.

Monday is a day game, that's an attendance figure I'm curious about. Good chance, though, that it and the rest of the season are effectively sold out (for purposes of The Streak), which points to Game 2 of next season as being The End.

[SoxScout]

Sunday Night Baseball said something about the streak ending tomorrow at 781. Anyone hear?

edit

Jared_Carrabis: ESPN is reporting that the sellout streak at Fenway Park will officially end tomorrow. Streak dies at 781 consecutive sellouts.

Marc_Bertrand: If you are wondering why I am tweeting about the streak, ESPN is reporting that it will end tomorrow.

Edited by SoxScout, 26 August 2012 - 10:15 PM.

[DaveRoberts'Shoes]

Sunday Night Baseball said something about the streak ending tomorrow at 781. Anyone hear?

Tomorrow is Tickets for Troops day, so I'm sure the park will look fuller than it would otherwise. Pretty clever move on their part, it would seem (although this date was decided on months ago).

[Lose Remerswaal]

And they had players signing autographs on the field before Sunday's game -- can "seat cushion night" and "Nick Punto Bobblehead night" be far away?

[behindthepen]

Sunday was Maine day at the park, and the Sunday afternoon games are traditional bring your kids games, so the park was as full as advertised. Interestingly, there are relatively fewer tickets listed on stubhub for this close to gametime (~1100), so it looks like demand for today's game is roughly where the other games have been for the last couple of months. Which of course means lots of tickets being sold below face.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Dave O'Brien was desperately pitching tix for today's game on the radio yesterday. No way can today's game be sold out. Let's see if they continue to insult our collective intelligence with this nonsense.

[SoxScout]

TomCaron
Fenway sellout streak will not end today. Told by team officials game was sold out prior to today, per MLB guidelines for sellouts.
TomCaron
As for sellout streak, don't shoot messenger. Just sending along update after hearing numerous reports it would end today.

[sittingstill]

FWIW, I poked around the order form for tickets for today's game yesterday and didn't turn up much outside of the bleachers. Obstructed view grandstands, loge singles, about three field box singles, etc. I wish they hadn't deactivated the function that let you choose seats from the seating chart, because that would have allowed a count of unsold seats. But there didn't appear to be as many unsold as I'd expected.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Jesus F Christ. They're really going to keep the charade going. Shameful.

[NDame616]

For my "real job", I run political campaigns.

I was looking for billboards for the candidate I'm working for, and when I was checking out clear channel's website with what they offer, one of the "benefits" to choosing the Boston market was the sellout streak at Fenway.

I chuckled.

[biollante]

What are the MLB guidelines for sell outs ?

I wish the Red Sox had promotions.

My son went to the Mets game on Saturday and got a Mike Piazza bobblehead ~ I think kids like that stuff (at least I do).

The sell out streak is both mythical and mystical at this point.

Edited by biollante, 27 August 2012 - 10:55 AM.

[JimD]

It's a nice day, some people are still on vacation and fans are hearing in the news media that the sellout streak is over - it's not inconceivable that the walkup crowd was big enough to buy up all of the remaining tickets.

[Max Power]

It's a nice day, some people are still on vacation and fans are hearing in the news media that the sellout streak is over - it's not inconceivable that the walkup crowd was big enough to buy up all of the remaining tickets.

YES IT IS!!! SHAMEFUL!!! CHARADE!!!!

Kids get to run the bases after the game today and it's the last game before school starts. My buddy was thinking of snapping up a pair of tickets over the weekend and bringing his daughter. I'd guess a bunch of other parents had the same idea.

[PedroKsBambino]

I'm not clear why people are so sure the streak is a farce---many of the comments I see are about 1) tickets on secondary market (which are 'sold' by the team before they reach those markets and 2) no-shows in the park, which is absolutely a big number but not necessarily clear evidence the tickets weren't sold, either, given the dynamics of the Sox ticket sales (where a gigantic percentage of seats were sold last January/February).

Is there an aspect to this that I'm missing---eg have there been a lot of nights people walk up and are able to buy seats, or something? Could be, as I haven't followed this issue all that closely.