Ticket Renewals for 2010

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

I'm a current nine pack holder, thinking about upgrading to a 20 pack in 2010. Just got a notice from the ticket office that if I put down a $300 deposit (per seat) for next year by August 5th, I am guaranteed that number of seats for a playoff strip for this year and next.

For those with a 20 pack this year...

1) If we get a fans choice pack, can we pick the 20 games before single game tickets go on sale?
2) If we get the fans choice pack, can we pick any 20 games we want without restriction?
3) If we buy a ticket pack very early (pre-Novemberish), can we get a similar ticket to our 20 games for opening day (same section?)

Clearly, the major bonus to getting a 20 pack is playoff tickets, and a guaranteed decent ticket for opening day. I can't remember if there was much of a ticket discount, but i don't recall getting much off. I'm learning towards NOT getting the 20 pack, as it seems to have few advantages (i'm willing to pay a higher price for playoff/opening day tickets), but i'm considering it because a good buddy wants to do this and i think we have a decent shot at the playoffs in 2010.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Also interested in knowing if most people plan on renewing their current ticket packages

TBWS

[dadofandrew]

I am not current, but I am all but positive the answers to 1 & 2 are yes, and at regular price. As for 3, they seem to fill the fan's choice 20's after the others, so Opening Day is unlikely.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

I should add, that we plan to purchase the $48 Field Infield Box tickets. I saw in some other blogs that people in Field level tended to have better luck than the more popular 20 game packs in the logel level and terrace box. But based on the info above, i'm probably leaning towards NOT purchasing any pack.

 

Probably attend all three MIN-MIL games, opening day, and probably 5-6 weekend games. Coming from a distance, the games I miss (and have to sell or eat) creatly outweigh any cost savings of a 9/20 pack versus getting 6-7 great games and paying top dollar for opening day.

 

To be fair to the Brewers however.... they are averaging 38k fans per night, and offer a ton of marketing promotions in season. I can see how locking in business early is huge, but its not like there isn't significant demand for tickets.

[bani1717]

1) Yes.

2) Yes, assuming you do it early enough.

3) My girlfriend had a terrace reserve FC 20-pack this year and her Opening Day tickets were in 422, directly behind home plate, in like the 17th row or something. (If your question is about extra tickets in addition to your 20-games, you don't even have the option to buy extra OD tickets if you have the FC 20-pack.)

 

20-pack ticketholders pay the regular season ticket price, so you do get a decent discount.... it will be less than twice as much as a nine-pack costs for sure.... plus if you pick the right games, you can easily sell some of your tickets here/on stubhub for profit/whatever and make some money back...

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

if i'm going to sell tickets back, that defeats the whole purpose. I think in general my goal is to limit my initial cash commitment. I might get shut out occassionally, but it seems like even sold out games (aside from maybe OD) have good seats available from secondary sources for a decent price.

 

I just think $300 deposit/ticket when we don't know what the cost of a 20 pack will be for next year is a huge ask by the Brewers. If they do something significant to improve the team, i'll buy, otherwise, i'll take a wait and see approach until next March

[lodiness]

We've had tickets on the field level for a couple of years, and although we do get bounced around, all of the seats are comporable, we just might get bounced from section 126 to say 108. The only part that sucked is that we got bounced all the way up to the 400 level for the playoffs last year, but at least we were in the building.

[pretendastronaut]

This is my 3rd year on a Fan's Choice 20 pack and my seats bounce around a lot more than usual, but they're all in one of two sections in all but one game, where I was moved to the other side of the stadium.

 

Before that I was on a 10 pack fixed, and then a 20 pack fixed. The fixed was nice in always knowing where my seats where every game, but I like the flexibility to pick the games I'd rather go to or that fit my schedule. However, it seems that I'm being moved further back, and more down the left field line every year. My first 20 pack fixed had seats in 1 of 2 locations, and one of those locations was in row 4 on the field level. This season most of my tickets are in rows 15+.

 

I view the Fans Choice as a blessing and a curse. Next year I might move up to the loge level since I'm moving into the corner of the stadium now.

 

But, you do get a good ticket discount, especially this season. My seats cost $38/seat normally, but I believe I paid $29/ticket on my package.

 

For the playoffs last year, I was moved up to the loge level, which was good. The season before my tickets for the playoffs were still on the field level, but tucked barely into the right field corner.

[Baldkin]

If you get a fan's choice pack, you will be pushed outwards from where your set 9 pack is.

Everyone who gets a set pack (even 4 game packs) will have better seats than yours.

[beno78]

For me it comes down to preference. Depends on if you want better seats (9-game pack or 20-game pre-picked plan) or flexibity to pick your games (fan's choice).

 

As noted before you will get worse seats (as if there are bad seats @ MP) if you get the Fan's Choice 20-game pack, but you are gaining the flexability to get ALL of the games you want including marquee games at the same "season ticket hodler" price.

 

A quick call to the Brewers office this morning revealed that for this season Field Infield Box tickets were $42/ticket for new season ticket holders. You would save $6/ticket for getting the 20-game plan (like getting 2.5 games free when you factor the savings for 20 games) plus you get FULL POST SEASON TICKET rights as a 20-game plan holder. If you are willing to commit to the 20 games over the 9-game pack there are lots of benefits. If you do not want to attend all or sell off extras then maybe it is not for you.

[Brew City Baseball Fan]

20 game pack is the way to go. We got Loge infield box and picked all the marquee games and bobblehead days along with one other random game. The brewers sent us free tickets for a weekday game in the 300 level. After selling 10 of the tickets (not opening day) we will have gone to the other 10 games for free and will have the right to full postseason. And that is with a real sluggish ticket market right now as Cubs tickets have went for far less this year than last year. In my mind its a no brainer.

[ClubLevel]

A quick call to the Brewers office this morning revealed that for this season Field Infield Box tickets were $42/ticket for new season ticket holders. You would save $6/ticket for getting the 20-game plan (like getting 2.5 games free when you factor the savings for 20 games) plus you get FULL POST SEASON TICKET rights as a 20-game plan holder. If you are willing to commit to the 20 games over the 9-game pack there are lots of benefits. If you do not want to attend all or sell off extras then maybe it is not for you.

Club Level is an awesome deal for 20-packs as well. I think I paid $28 this year for tickets (new subscriber is $30) with a face value of $40 for regular games and $60 for marquee games. Huge discount there. Plus the fact that the Brewers very rarely offer any ticket promotions in the Club Level (most are in Terrace & Loge) means your "investment" is pretty secure as you won't have people sitting around you who consistently paid less than you did through some promo.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

Follow Up Question, if I get the 20 choice pack, when can I get my actual seats for the games? i don't mind moving around as long as i have those seats in hand before the season starts. I imagine with a 20 choice pack they give you 20 vouchers, or do they send you tickets for games after the other promos have ended...

 

For example, if i bought a 20 pack January 1st... why couldn't i pick from the available seats that are available on January 1st?

[pretendastronaut]

You get all of your tickets before the season starts, so you know where you're sitting at that point, it's just that, when the ticket office goes to fill ticket orders at that point, they seem to fill pre-set packages first, and fan's choice after that.

 

And you don't pick seats, you pick a price section and preferred side of the stadium. Although when I bought my first 10 pack, I did get to actually pick my seats from those available.

[Baldkin]

They mail your tickets at the same time they mail all other season ticket holders seats... this year I believe it was mid-March. So even though you're renewing early, or picking your seats in October or November, you don't "lock in" your seats at all with the fan's choice.

[nate82]

Selling the Cubs series tickets or even the Twins series tickets can sometimes pay for your whole 20 pack. I sold my Twins tickets this year because I wasn't able to go to the games and I knew in advance and sold them and it paid for about 1/4 of the 20 pack that I paid for. I will probably sell some of my Cubs games tickets this year also.

[hawing]

Follow Up Question, if I get the 20 choice pack, when can I get my actual seats for the games? i don't mind moving around as long as i have those seats in hand before the season starts. I imagine with a 20 choice pack they give you 20 vouchers, or do they send you tickets for games after the other promos have ended...

If you have a section or row preference, or wanted aisle seats or something, it wouldn't hurt to say so to your ticket rep. It may not help if season ticket packages remain as popular as they've been in 2009, but given the team's current slide that may not happen. If you go for the fan's choice, the sooner you indicate your preferred dates, the better.

 

We've had a fan's choice package in TB 417 since the 2002 season (we were in Terrace Reserved for 2001). The Brewers just assigned us seats in row 2 for 2002; then on one low-attendance September night, I checked out almost all seats in our box section, wrote down the locations that we thought gave the best view (no railing obstacle, etc.) and in the 02-03 offseason, emailed our rep with the pairs of seats we liked the most. Several of the pairs were aisle seats. Every fall since, we've sent our rep a friendly email restating our preference to sit in seats X and Y (or as near as possible).

 

Now, we established that preference during the low-attendance years, and just by requesting family section seats we have all but guaranteed our section. That strategy does not work for fans who want to imbibe at games, but it does work for us. This year our fan's choice seats moved around more than ever before, but we're still in the same section and we have rotated through only a few different pairs of seats. We are considering switching to the Opening Day Plus preset package for 2010, but we'll wait to decide until the plan dates are released.

 

Another thing to consider is that there is some leeway for exchanging tickets for different games and different seat locations. One of the ticket windows outside MP is reserved for season ticket holder business, and the line there is often long early in the season, as people make tweaks to their various packages.

 

As for renewing in 2010, if we had to decide today, I expect we'd do it. I would not feel deterred by the Brewers' current skid. If bad on-field results were enough to drive us away, we'd have been turned off long before this. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Heck, I would have probably stopped being a fan in 1984, and would never have reached the point of buying season tickets.

[tristarscoop]

I got a Fan's Choice this season and it was our first season having them. We chose our section and have been in that section for every game. We did not get Opening Day. We have moved within about four rows, but have had the same two seat numbers for pretty much every game.

 

We are in Terrace Reserve and are behind home plate and actually decided to buy our tickets fairly late in the process - basically right before single seats went on sale.

 

We were told that fixed packages are filled first and then Fan's Choice are filled, so that accounts for most of the movement.

[John Brew]

Do 20-pack holders get to go the the season ticket holder lunch that I believe just happened? Or is that only for full season? Did anyone go? Just wondering what that's like - seems like it might be a nice perk.

[hawing]

20 pack holders are eligible to attend the season ticket holder luncheons. We've never gone because the luncheons are always on weekdays, which is understandable but not very workable for out of town fans.

[ewizabeff]

For those of you that have the Terrace Ticket Treat package, I spoke with my ticket rep last weekend and he seemed fairly certain that the Brewers would be offering that package again. Yay!

[beno78]

You also get better "ticket exchange" privilages with the 20-game pack. Which for someone out of town might be especially good. With 9-game you get 1 exchange (I believe), with 20 game you can exchange as many as you want (with some restrictions), even unused tickets from past games. Both have a small fee IIRC ($1/tic).