I arrived in New York yesterday for a week-long visit, and i decided that i wanted to catch some baseball while i was in town. I went and saw the Yankees when i came here last year, so this time i want to check out the Mets.
I have four games to choose from - a game against Philasdelphia tonight, and three against the Padres during the week. I saw San Diego a couple of weeks ago in Washington, playing against the Nationals, so i think that tonight’s Phillies game is the one i want to see.
I just went online to look for tickets, and found what seems to be a decent seat (Mezzanine Level, Section 2) for $29.
But, as any baseball fan (or sports and entertainment fan, for that matter) knows, the price of the tickets is not the price you actually pay. By the time the “Fee” and the “Order Charge” are added, my credit card is getting dinged to the tune of $37.50.
How such charges are calculated or jusitified is beyond my comprehension, but that’s a rant all of it’s own.
So i thought, given that the game is highly unlikkely to be sold out, i’d just go out to Shea Stadium tonight and grab a ticket at the game. Thing is, though, i’ve literally never purchased a ticket at the ground before; all my puchases have been online. What i was wondering is whether anyone can tell me if buying at the box office still incurs these service charges, or whether i might actually get to buy a ticket for the price shown on the ticket?
If i can save $8.50 by buying at the ground, i’ll do it; if not, i’ll just buy it online.
In my experience buying tickets at the gate at Yankee Stadium, you pay face value for the ticket. There is no additional fee. I assume the Mets are the same.
Are you sure the Phillies won’t sell out? I don’t know how the Mets are doing in attendence this year, but AFAIK games with the Phillies are generally popular, sinc e they are (nominally) division rivals. I would guess the Padres won’t sell out.
If you don’t want to pay all the on-line charges, you could pick up a ticket from a Ticketmaster outlet for a $5.00 service charge and guarantee yourself a reasonable seat. For Yankees games, I generally do this just to save the hassle of waiting on line.
I think you pay face value at the box office. But I suggest if you want to go tonight, you either order on-line or get to the box office very early. Shea has been pretty full on Sundays this year, and the Phillies are in second place in the division.
Also, if you’re planning to drive, parking is harder than usual this year.l
There is always a single seat available somewhere in any baseball stadium. the great majority of ticket demand comes in 2’s and 4’s. Somewhere, there is always one seat available.
True. I often go alone and get relatively better seats than if I needed a pair or more. But I’ve also ended up in pretty bad seats buying at the gate on a popular home stand.
Unfortunately, after i posted the OP i went out to Central Park, and then down to Greenwich Village with my wife, so i didn’t get a chance to see any of the replies before heading out to the game.
The tickets at the ballpark were indeed at face value. Also, despite the predictions of some folks for a full house, the stadium was no more than two thirds full. A friend decided to come with me, and in the end we decided to get upper reserve tickets. They were near the front of the top deck, and were perfectly good.
Mets won 8-1 on the strength of a Jose Reyes grand slam that capped a 7-run botton of the fourth.
The only downside of the night was some rather unsavory behavior by a few fans near us. A Mets fan, a Red Sox fan, and a Yankees fan all started with some good-natured ribbing, but as the game went on and more beer was consumed, things got more serious until there were accusations about people giving their own fathers blow jobs and other similar insults, followed by threats of violence (which were never actually followed up). I’ll never know why people need to engage in this sort of stuff over a game of baseball.