# baseball strike. season tickets??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2002, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389 "2002-07-11T09:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/1 "2002-07-11T09:47:42Z")
What happens to season ticket holders if there’s a strike? Are they refunded money for the games that are not played? Are they stuck with tickets and no recourse? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/2 "2002-07-11T12:24:05Z")
Refunded? Are you smoking something? 🙂 As far as I know, no - although it’s certainly up to the club, as opposed to MLB as a whole. They would already be losing money on a daily basis with no games played, so I’d have to think they’d be loath to give money back to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/3 "2002-07-11T15:16:51Z")
I pretty sure that you are refunded. You’re also refunded for games that we cancelled due to weather or something and not relplayed. Haj ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/4 "2002-07-11T15:22:30Z")
According to this [rec.sport.baseball Usenet posting](http://groups.google.com/groups?q=1994+strike+season+ticket+refund&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=3c7r23%24gej%40gazette.bcm.tmc.edu&rnum=1) from 12/8/1994, Houston Astros season ticket holders were offered refunds or credit toward games in 1995. While I don’t have proof, I’m willing to bet the other teams did something similar. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/5 "2002-07-11T15:27:25Z")
I just emailed the Phillies. With any luck, I’ll get an honest answer. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/6 "2002-07-11T15:40:40Z")
They get refunds. Promise. Every team. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be season ticket holders for much longer. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/7 "2002-07-11T17:25:44Z")
They would have to give refunds. You can’t charge somebody for something and then not deliver the product. You bought a ticket for a baseball game. If there is no game, the other party didn’t hold up its end of the bargain. If you paid money for a concert and the band didn’t show up and the concert was cancelled, you would get your money back. I don’t think baseball uses it, but I don’t think you would necessarily get refunds if you had to pay one of those “personal seat licenses” that football is fond of. Those aren’t tickets per se, so the teams may pocket that money, although refunds on those might be given for PR reasons. ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/8 "2002-07-11T19:28:24Z")
Peronal Seat Licenses (PSL) are a one-time expenditure, meaning you pay a fee once and you “own” the PSL for the rest of your life, and can sell it or even bequeath it if you wish. So I doubt you could get a refund for that, without giving back the PSL. ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/9 "2002-07-11T19:30:02Z")
Saying “the rest of your life” was going a bit far; I’m sure the contract states some term like the active life of the stadium or whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/10 "2002-07-15T19:12:48Z")
Well, I contacted the Phillies, cause that’s the kinda nice guy I am, and here’s the response: > [@](#): > > If there was a strike, we would make the decision regarding tickets if and when there was a work stoppage. In 1994, the Phillies did refund customers. The refund policy would be at the individual team’s discretion and is not a Major League Baseball wide policy. > > Mike Ryan > Phillies Phone Center > (215) 463-6000 x553 > [mryan@phillies.com](mailto:mryan@phillies.com) So you were right in saying they had done so before - chances are they’d do it this time too, if it came to that. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/11 "2002-07-15T22:43:38Z")
How 'bout if the team goes under completely (as Bud Selig has been intimating is possible this season)? “Go to the back of the creditors’ line?” or is it not quite that bad? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/12 "2002-07-15T23:08:30Z")
> [@](#): > > How 'bout if the team goes under completely…? I’d imagine that you’re SOL. Season tickets are a contract with the team, right? If the Devil Rays, for example, go broke this season, then I don’t think that the Tampa Bay players could sue Major League Baseball for unpaid wages, because their contract is with the Devil Rays Baseball Company (or whatever the team’s legal embodiment is called). ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-strike-season-tickets/118389/13 "2002-07-16T00:29:10Z")
If a baseball team filed for bankruptcy, the resolution of the players’ contracts and salaries would depend upon whether or not the team filed for Chapter 7 or 11. If Chapter 11 were opted for, the team could keep operating and most likely the players would still get paid. If a team misses payroll by 10 days, then the players become free agents and then the team has fewer assets. In a Chapter 7, the players would have to line up with all the other creditors to get their money I assume.