Ok so I bought these baseball tickets to see the Giants and Cubs in Chicago. The game was basically sold out on mlb.com, so I had to resort to Stubhub, “where FANS buy and sell tickets!” or whatever. Lies.
The cheapest upper deck tickets I found cost $50 each.
I was like, what the fuck. Fifty dollars for lousy upper deck seats to see a hapless, loser club in their falling-down shitty old park that, according to people I know who have been there many times, reeks of piss and is mostly filled with drunk moron loser yuppies on cell phones and stupid bimbos in tube tops?
Yep.
So I was like, fine. It’s definitely the only time I will ever set foot in Wrigley Field, so if that’s how it has to be, okay. It’s “vacation.” So I paid up.
The tickets arrived today. The very first thing I noticed when I pulled them out of the envelope:
Face value: $18.
Yep, it is now LEGAL TO SCALP TICKETS, as long as you do it online through a third party. Oh and after the bullshit 10% commission taken by Stubhub, these tickets were $55 each. Also, Stubhub protects their sellers so I have no way of contacting this creep and saying thanks for ripping me off, asshole. You must be a real “fan.”
I am basically infuriated, but there is nothing I can do about it now. It’s mainly just a feeling of ickiness that people can be so openly greedy, and that this company allows it. That probably makes me sound naive, so be it. I feel like I just had my pocket picked.
Oh and by the way, like I said, $50 was one of the best prices I saw. There were also BLEACHER seats for $100 and up. God what a crock of shit. I bet the face on those is around $10. So, hey a 1000% markup to see your team lose ninety games. Swell.
I mean, this is the CUBS. A team that hasn’t won shit in almost a hundred years. I can get legitimate and excellent tickets to see the Oakland A’s, who are WINNERS, for $25. Most of the time you can just walk up to the park on gameday and do that.
Apologies to Jim, but seriously, fuck the Cubs, man.
you are in a fiery mood today! not that I don’t blame you…paying more that double the price for stinky seats would make me mad, too.
knocked up totally made me cry, but i loved it. mainly for the freaks and geeks guys + mr. and mrs. fake rudd.
Seriously, fuck the Cubs, man.
SERIOUSLY AND FOR REAL, YO.
I KNO RITE??
I’ve bought tickets online from actual fans before and not paid more than the face value. So not everyone is a dishonest scammer. I should have started with craigslist probably.
As far as I know, bleacher seats are more expensive as far as face value (off the top of my head I am saying $25).
also why blame the cubs? it’s just supply and demand, not their fault.
also bleacher seats are awesome. that’s why they are more expensive.
i think that this might be a cultural, “if you dont understand you never will” kind of thing? i dunno.
No I guess I don’t understand why it’s okay to charge $55 for an $18 ticket for the worst seat in the ballpark.
WHY COULD THIS PERSON NOT SELL THEIR TICKETS FOR $18? Or even $25? $30?
Like I said, I probably could have found more honesty on craigslist, where I have had success in the past buying baseball tickets and not been ripped off. And those were Giants tickets, at a park that, at the time, was indeed selling out every game, and the team was winning 100 games a year.
sorry. Wouldn’t you be upset if you ended up paying $350 for tickets worth $100?
i was misunderstood too–i meant that bleacher seats are understandably more expensive, which might only be understood by a cubs fan.
but yeah, scalped tickets will always be expensive. it was just supply and demand working here, which is crappy and not punk rock but totally how that site is set up. i’ve only used one of those sites once for tickets, but it was because i really wanted to go see northwestern play at ohio state university, and there was no other way it was going to happen (those seats were in the end zone and the only school i will never go back to again remains osu, but that’s because of the fans, not the ticket cost).
the best part of all of this for you is that you have paid a lot but you know that you will be able to go, and that’s pretty good stuff. sounds like the only alternative would have been getting seats from someone standing outside of the park, and though i’ve always had awesome luck doing that, someday i’ll end up getting burned by counterfeit tickets, i reckon.
you’ll appreciate the experience far more than someone who would be a jerk enough to sell them for that much. next time i see you i’ll buy you a shitty beer in a plastic cup as a way of apologizing for stupid cubs fans everywhere. i really do hope that you enjoy yourself–it’s a magical place. but then i remember the crowds chanting for jody davis. 🙂
Thanks J, you are a good pal. I will give a full report on how the game went. I will be wearing my Giants cap and will be surrounded by my posse of big tall boys so hopefully no one will give me any crap.
This will be my first time rooting for the away team at a game! Wow! (Giants/A’s does not count)
Wrigley
You definitely should have started with Craigslist. You can frequently get tickets for face. Especially when you wait until closer to game day.
Also, you would have had better luck outside the park paying cash to a guy selling on the street. Yes, that’s illegal, but chances are you would have done better than two upper deck seats for $100.
A lot of the upper deck seats at Wrigley are good seats, if it’s any consolation.
I think you’ll like Wrigley and you’ll find that the fans there are pretty solid. While there’s a drunken college student contingent for weekend games, you’re not going to get too much of that up top. There’s a lot of really solid baseball fans on the north side of Chicago. You don’t frequently here about them on the internet because they don’t fit into the simple black-and-white “Wrigley is full of drunk yuppies” categorization.
You’ll also find a lot of old ladies listening to headphones and keeping score.
It’s more expensive than an A’s game (and I love A’s games) because the ballpark doesn’t suck and the team has a fan base that is willing to pay a premium.
Plus, there’s the Barry factor– he’s getting close and people are paying to see him play and to be there on “that” moment.
Re: Wrigley
Thanks, and you are correct, anonymous person. And if you recall, I was feeling very punchy yesterday, which may explain some of my ranting.
Yes, A’s ballpark does suck. It’s sad. But the team makes up for it! Usually.
I will be going to a Monday night game, BUT it is being televised nationally, so I think that will make a difference. Also yeah, the Barry thing, sigh. I guess I can cross my fingers that he is on the DL by then because he isn’t hitting for shit right now.
Wrigley
I bought bleacher seats to the upcoming Brewers/Cubs series at Wrigley on the day their regular season tix went on sale, and while face value was (roughly) $35/each, after all the ass-fisting charges they came out to $46/each. And I know full well, I could turn them around for $75/ea if I wanted to. Wrigley tix are a total scam unless you buy from MLB.
BTW: NEENER NEENER BREWERS SWEPT THE GIANTS!!!
hi.
Re: Wrigley
Well, I mean, the Giants suck. They have decent-to-excellent (though inconsistent) pitching but awful offense (and that includes Barry Bonds). No aggressive at-bats, no productive outs, no smart baserunning. Just a bunch of garbage hitters. The GM refuses to go into rebuild mode because they think the fans won’t buy into it. Well they are WRONG. The fans would rather see exciting young hitters who have a future, than fucking Pedro Feliz or Ray Durham hitting into another goddamn double play to end the inning or striking out with the bases loaded. I think the Brewers are an excellent example of a team taking chances on young players. I don’t know why the Giants can’t do that. And our farm system sucks.
Why yes I do follow baseball.