Current state of ticket demand
Some of this is no doubt due to the M’s colossally annoying fan un-friendly ticket pricing scheme (”Hey, let’s go see a game tonight!” “Sure, I think we’re still above water on our home equity line of credit…”) but even online, home to jerks buying up center field bleacher seats and demanding $20/stub for them, I looked around and found some good seats at 25% discounts from original, early-adopter prices for this, a weekend (though not primo) game.
Note to the person who managed to get buy that super-great value set out from under me: I hate you.
And reports are that actual on-street scalpers are taking it repeatedly in the happy sack. I’m not proud of this, but such news makes me smile because over the last few years I’ve found them increasingly unreasonable.
I wonder what I’ll see wandering down Occidental tonight.
Anyway — any USSMers in attendance, feel free to wave or wear a bag over your head (I will bet, actually, that the Safeco Field staff will stop you on the entirely made-up grounds that wearing a bag on your head is a security threat) and I’ll buy you a beer or beverage of your choice (offer limited in quantity to the amount of cash I have on hand).
Of course, you have to find Derek. He’d like you to think he looks like this. But he’ll probably look more like this, except angrier, drunker, or more ponyrific, depending on whether the M’s are scoring any runs, if Vidro is in the lineup, etc.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pmI’ll be the one with the Fred Meyer bag. What brand will everyone else be wearing?
May 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pmwell, now the real chess game begins: how long can the M’s FO dupe the casual fan into thinking this team still has a chance, actually has talent and is just “in a funk”? I think we’ll be on the receiving end of a lot of denial and false promises. It should be entertaining in a morbid way.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pmI have no idea how to find Derek, but I’ll be wearing my bag.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:47 pmI bought tickets to Friday’s game against the Padres and the whole Red Sox series a while ago. I’ve already been to 9 games this year.
I was planning on going to a ton, but if the Ms are just dedicated to sucking it up, then I guess not. I’ll definitely go to most of the games against exciting teams with good pitching (Rays, Red Sox) and teams with players that I want to see (Adam Jones, Hanley Ramirez) but not too many outside of that.
Oh, and if you ever see a 19 year old kid wearing an alternate (black) Adam Jones O’s jersey, say hi.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:00 pmI’ll be scoring the game up in 300, or perhaps teaching my nephew to score. It’s easier to teach kids to score when they have a team with very little offense, so this Mariner team provides a golden opportunity.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:27 pmIf they won’t let me wear a bag over my head, I’ll just bring a towel.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:33 pmIn another sign of the current state of the ticket market, there is an internal mailing list at one of my customers (a large NW software company who shall remain nameless). Tickets there cannot be sold for over face by rule, but typically unless you’re selling less than 3 hours before the game you can always find a buyer at face value. Lately I’ve been seeing charter and diamond club seats going for anywhere between 25% and 50% off with parking passes thrown in for free.
My wife was once an employee at said company, and the only other time it’s been that bad in recent memory was in 2004 when she used to have to leave her season tickets taped to her door for free and they often failed to disappear…
May 10th, 2008 at 2:00 pm[ot]
May 10th, 2008 at 2:07 pmI accidentally bought two pairs of Radiohead tickets instead of one pair, and figured I’d sell the extra pair and swap the extras for a coupla M’s game pairs. At the rate the team is going, though, it’s looking like getting 3 or 4 M’s pairs is more like it. Bad for the team, but it does make attending games in good seats a heck of a lot more affordable!
May 10th, 2008 at 2:11 pmI’m going to predict that the seats in the row in front of me, that the team wouldn’t let us upgrade to during the winter trade-up event, will be empty yet again.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:15 pmRight, so, where are you sitting? I’d like to get an autograph for Cheater’s Guide!
May 10th, 2008 at 2:42 pmMy ticket for last night’s game…
Left field bleacher seat… $15, right? No.
+$1 because it was a Friday.
$4.25 - Total Convenience Charge
+$0.38 - Tax (Surprisingly, the government takes less of my money than the M’s)
+$3.82 - Order Processing Charge
Total charges: $ 24.45… for a $15 dollar ticket.
Needless to say, my fiance and I don’t feel one bit guilty for sitting in unused handicapped chairs on the lower level behind home plate.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:55 pmI would go to the game if I could be guaranteed that I wouldn’t be asked to remove the bag from my head.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:01 pmOh, I’m sure you’ll be asked to remove the bag. I mean, it could be Osama bin Laden under one of those bags.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:09 pmWhat’s on your list today?
A bag of runs would be nice!
May 10th, 2008 at 3:22 pmnah, they’ll tell you that you have to remove it as it is a safety issue, and they want you to have a happy and safe family-friendly visit to your baseball home away from home.
Derek will be the one with a carnation in his lapel, a copy of The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball” under his arm, and an anxious, yet hopeful, look on his face.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:22 pmmsb said:
The Shop Around The Corner?
May 10th, 2008 at 3:25 pmI got a buy one get one free coupon from one of them last night for $10 bucks, that allowed me to get two field seats ($44 value each) for one. I was happy to get two seats for roughly $26 each instead of $44 each… then got section 117, row 17, they were nice.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:29 pmnah, they’ll tell you that you have to remove it as it is a safety issue, and they want you to have a happy and safe family-friendly visit to your baseball home away from home.
And to that, say ‘Well, for the sake of the safety of everybody’s sanity in this entire stadium, i request that you make your way to the dugout and remove Mr’s. Vidro, McClaren, Bloomquist, and Cairo from the stadium immediately.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:39 pmLast night they handed out the gym bag things. Both my dad and I were wearing ours over our heads in the last two innings.
It would’ve been great if the scoreboard had prompted everyone to do so, in a “Wave those Shirts!” type of fashion. “Put those bags over your heads!”
May 10th, 2008 at 3:41 pmralphie81 said:
I bet they didn’t show that on the big screen.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:44 pmProbably not, but I couldn’t tell…I had a bag over my head.
May 10th, 2008 at 3:53 pmDon’t wear a bag, just bring a towel
#7 Thats one of the better ideas I’ve read in a while
May 10th, 2008 at 4:05 pmIf you’re going to go tomorrow let us know. If I can find you I’ll buy you a beer.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:08 pmI’ll be there tonight, depressed and sitting in some apparently pretty nice seats relatively near home plate. Where/when’s the meetup?
May 10th, 2008 at 4:13 pmSounds like I’ll be at home suffering from a Super Meat Nachos coma.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:23 pmSo when do the Mariners trade Ichiro? Obviously the guy is over the hill and his career is coming to an end.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:29 pmI’ll be taking my son to his first baseball game tonight. Can’t wait.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:31 pmpicture me waving.
we aren’t going until next sunday, when hopefully Randy Wolf’s left-handedness will give the Mariner hitters some hope, and they score runs in abundance for Bedard.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:37 pmHey msb, I think I’m going to next Sunday’s game too! (more free tickets). We must meet up! Do you have an e-mail address you’re willing to convey in such a public medium?
May 10th, 2008 at 4:43 pmAnd for those of you still convinced our major offseason need was a starting pitcher…please do not put plastic bags over your, or anyone else’s, head. Even for beer.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:48 pmYou might want to stage a unity protest by wearing said bag or towel during one inning. 7th!
May 10th, 2008 at 4:52 pmsounds like your source of free tickets is clahssier than our seats up on the 300 level
perhaps Derek (or Jeff if he wanders by) would act as a liason, and pass along the email addresses, were we to email the site address?
May 10th, 2008 at 4:54 pmI’ll be at home watching Extreme Celebrity Tiddlywinks. More exciting than the M’s right now.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:56 pmSo you guys want to email me your email addresses, and have me pass them along to each other?
May 10th, 2008 at 4:56 pmIn fact next Sunday’s tickets are Terrace Club tickets (ooOoOOh). I don’t know how my boss got them but he decided to give them to me.
Hopefully said seats are worthwhile.
I would suspect the USSM boys might be willing to link us up, in the name of encouraging female readership.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:57 pmWill do Jeff! Thanks.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:57 pmSure thing. jeffnye@ussm is the best address to use.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:58 pmWFB starts at SS, Cairo gets the start at 1b. Sexson is not listed as available on the lineup sheet I’m looking at.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:59 pmCairo at 1B? Pure comedy gold!
May 10th, 2008 at 5:03 pmWhoops, I already mailed ussmariner@gmail. Will that do?
May 10th, 2008 at 5:03 pmI’ll be sitting near first base tonight I think, maybe they’ll give me a turn! Do you think being afraid of the ball will matter?
May 10th, 2008 at 5:04 pmI can’t check that one, so no, it won’t do!
May 10th, 2008 at 5:08 pmwell, I couldn’t get the other address to reply, so
May 10th, 2008 at 5:19 pmjeffnye@ussm or jeffnye@ussm.something?
May 10th, 2008 at 5:20 pmpretend you are talking on your cell phone and stand & wave inanely, willya? maybe during some really tense moment in the game?
May 10th, 2008 at 5:22 pmussmariner.com! I didn’t want to make it TOO easy for spam bots.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:25 pmLauren, why don’t you carry a “I want Rally Fries” sign? You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:28 pmor dimbots. thanks!
May 10th, 2008 at 5:28 pmhow about:
what goes with free tickets and crap baseball??
Rally fries!!!!
May 10th, 2008 at 5:30 pmLooks like they dropped Sexson’s suspension to five games and he’ll begin serving tonight.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:31 pmMaybe they can suspend Sexson 120 games for sucking?
May 10th, 2008 at 5:51 pmI wonder how long it’d take me to get kicked out with a “Fuck Rally Fries, Bring Back Adam Jones” poster?
May 10th, 2008 at 5:52 pmI bet it would be just fine if it didn’t have quite such a Cynthia Rodriguez vibe
Tom Huytler says wear a coat, there’s a breeze!
May 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pmyou know Tom?
May 10th, 2008 at 6:07 pmWhat kind of bag are we talking here? ’cause plastic seems like the better option about now…
May 10th, 2008 at 7:31 pmCross-emails sent. Enjoy, you crazy kids.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:25 pmRe: # 8 - [Inability to give away tickets]
In the ’80s, the Mayor’s Office for Senior Citizens used to give away tickets to the Kingdome.
May 11th, 2008 at 12:20 amOne time they gave me two, and asked me if I could use two more. “No,” I said. A few other people didn’t want them either.
It’s soon going to be like that again.
Have you ever heard of the “smart circle card“?
My wife bought one from some guy who walked into her work and sold her on it. IT was $29 and includes two coupons for two view reserve, view box or field seats for $1 each (so a total of 4 seats for $4).
In addition there are six buy one get one free coupons for view reserve, view box or field seats.
Then there are two buy one get one free coupons for Terrace club outfield, field level, view box, or view reserve.
The first offer (the $1 seats) are only good for a very select # of games (4). The last two offers are good on a more select number of home dates (47) so you know they weeded out the big series. But there are plenty of weekend games included (including yesterday’s - Saturday - game).
I took my son to one of the $1 games and got View Box just off of home plate ($30 tix x 2) for $2. Paid for the whole package right there.
I just checked their website and don’t see this card on there anymore, but maybe look for it prior to next season. It really does save some cash…
And I am in no way affiliated and was very skeptical that my wife had been ripped off when she told me about it. But the guy at the MAriners team store raved about how good a deal this was when I redeemed my first coupon.
May 11th, 2008 at 8:37 amIn a typical season I give away (rather than finding a willing buyer for) my Mariners tickets once and maybe a second time in September if they’re way out of it. Already I’ve given them away three times. Part of it is not hitting ALL of the usual channels but demand is clearly in the crapper. My wife posted the tickets for sale at work (a very large, well-known non-software company) and couldn’t get a taker for Saturday night’s game.
May 11th, 2008 at 10:23 pmre: the price of tickets, I will say one thing in defense of the Ms: I just bought tickets to see the Yanks and R. Sox in Yankee Stadium (yay, made it before they tore it down!) and I was stunned. Of course all the games are sold out, so I went on StubHub. I had a helluva time finding anything less that 100 bucks a ticket. Maybe that was because of the Boston thing, but still…. we’re talking $120 for Bleacher Seat. I consider myself extremely lucky that I stumbled upon two tickets for $50 each ($60 once all charges are included). I’m just getting over sticker shock now. Maybe an Ms game won’t seem so pricey anymore!
May 12th, 2008 at 3:22 pm