Author Topic: Advice on Season Tickets?  (Read 15151 times)

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Advice on Season Tickets?
« on: August 21, 2017, 03:38:05 PM »

Offline Jiri Welsch

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Thinking about going in 50/50 on some season tickets with my friend. Does anyone have any comments about their experiences as Season Ticket Holders?

Were you able to sell tickets when you couldn't make the game(s)? Were there any problems you experienced?

Thanks in advance,
Jiri

Re: Advice on Season Tickets?
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2017, 04:39:49 PM »

Offline smokeablount

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I have had season tickets for a year. A few things I'd share:

-You can sell them. The encouraged method is thru the NBA ticket exchange but there is usually more supply than demand.

-Our rep was solid, helped us out with whatever we asked and was quick to respond.

-I would image your choice of seats is limited at this stage, but after you have tickets for a year you have the opportunity to change seats. We waited until afternoon, when other people's upgrades had been processed, and were able to upgrade dramatically.

Hope some of this is helpful.
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Re: Advice on Season Tickets?
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2017, 10:59:33 PM »

Offline FatKidsDad

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I had a pair of tickets for many years before I moved out of state and had to give them up.

First year I bought in to a 3 way partnership. Worked great. Eventually one partner dropped out and we continued as a two way for a year. It got too expensive for my partner so we went to half season. He dropped out a year later and I kept the half season solo for a year and then went back to full year.

It was a good experience the whole time. Most years I went to between 15 and 20 games. When I had partners we split the tickets evenly and got first dibs on ecach other's unused Tix.  Sold the rest. When I was on my own I used what I used. I gave a few pairs as gifts and donated a few to charities. Sold the rest at face value. My son and I had a list of people we knew who would buy a pair or two. We sold the few remaining online. In all the years I don't think I got stuck with 4 or 5 games unsold.

We really enjoyed having regular seats and meeting up with the same people at games. We made some friends who we still keep years later. Also on a first name basis with Garden staff who recognized us. And every so often got special freebies like seat upgrades, team gear, meet and greet events, off season activities and more.
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Re: Advice on Season Tickets?
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2017, 10:21:55 AM »

Offline action781

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I haven't had any difficulty selling mine on nbatickets.com for face value mostly or a little over.  The key is to use the face value prices that the Celtics split the games up.  My seats are $74 each, but that is based on the average cost of my tickets that come in 5 tiers of prices - $56, $66, $74, $89, $111 - depending on opponent and night of the week.  That breakdown can be found in your myceltics.me online ticket manager and it ain't hard to sell them for those prices (this season at least so far since we're good!).  If I know I really won't want to go to a game (like the $56 ones) I even drop them down a bit lower to $40-$50 to make sure they sell.  Be willing to take small losses for unappealing games, especially like on a cold Wednesday in January against the Kings, or you'll end up having difficulty selling them for even $30 the week of the game and then the losses start to add up.

As long as you don't end up stressed about what to do with all games, have unsold games that you can't attend within days of the event, or feel like you're going to too many games which is costing you too much money then you will really enjoy being a STH.  Also don't underestimate that you'll be spending more money on things like food/bev and parking/trans if you go to a lot of games.  That started to add up for me this postseason.

I bought in 2007, took two seasons off after the Brooklyn trade (I was appalled they had the audacity to raise my prices after dismantling the team), but I've been very happy overall.
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Re: Advice on Season Tickets?
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2017, 10:41:56 AM »

Offline jbpats

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I'm a current season ticket holder and can attest that trying to sell the tickets on NBAtickets.com is pretty tough. As a previous poster had mentioned supply is always greater than demand, and the amount of fees NBAtickets.com charges is absurd.. and I have a pretty good price point for my current seats where i've been a STM for a while now.
You can try to hustle on Craigslist but personally it's more of a headache then it's worth. You'll get a lot of lowballers, a lot of people with intention to buy who never follow through and you also have to worry about whoever purchasing risking your season tickets from a behavior standpoint.

I will also share a bit of advice that I gave a few friends who were considering getting in this year. If your thought is to go into it with making a profit, you won't. At least not at the current prices they are demanding from new season ticket holders. When my buddies inquired a few months ago, the Celtics only had baseline loge seats left and wanted I believe something like $115-$120 per seat per game. You will not recoup your cost for these tickets for regular season games. Last year you could get comparable seats for most (non marquee matchup games) for $40-60 per ticket.
Granted the team is a little better this year, I still don't see people shelling out big bucks for mediocre seats for a regular season game.

It's also important to note that interest in the Celtics really doesn't pick up until the second half of the season or until the NFL is just about done.

If you're going into it with the intention of going to most games then it's great, and you get some nice perks. If you are going into it with intention to sell then you will take a bath with the current price points, I will pretty much guarantee it.

Re: Advice on Season Tickets?
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2017, 10:55:01 AM »

Offline action781

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To echo what jbpats said, I agree, don't expect to make profit off this endeavor (I hear some do, but it takes work and hustle).  But jbpats, I've found this season particularly easier than any season past to sell tickets on nbatickets.com.  I've sold 20 tickets already this season on nbatickets.com.  My work selling for the season is pretty much already over with and only 5 of those sold for less my face value mentioned a couple posts up.  The rest for FV or a little above.  Compare that to only 9 I sold all last season on nbatickets.com (3 of which for less than face value).  I think NBA has done a better job marketing the webiste through commericals and also directing customers there that look to buy straight from the box office.

If you just want to go to a few games per year, honestly get yourself into the Garden area on game night, load up the StubHub or GameTime app on your phone, and check for tickets every 5 minutes.  You'll find a fantastic deal below face value just about every time within the hour before tip off.

A big perk of the season tickets is the camaraderie you will build with the other STH in your area like FatKidsDad mentioned.  It was something I never expected but ended up valuing a lot and made me not want to switch my seats for quite a while from '07-'12.
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Re: Advice on Season Tickets?
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2017, 01:19:32 PM »

Offline mef730

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Thinking about going in 50/50 on some season tickets with my friend. Does anyone have any comments about their experiences as Season Ticket Holders?

Were you able to sell tickets when you couldn't make the game(s)? Were there any problems you experienced?

Thanks in advance,
Jiri

Welcome to the club (potentially)! This is one of my favorite topics, so I hope you have some time. I'm going to echo a lot of what others have said, but here are a few of my thoughts:

Your desire to be a STM should be proportional to the number of games that you want to go to. Making a profit on your tickets is secondary. I've been a STM since the last year of the Big 3 (Rondo/Garnett/Pierce). After that, the team tanked badly and prices went down significantly. They've risen for the last couple of years (up 11% for me this year), but my tickets actually cost less per seat now than they did the first year, because I bought them at a cyclical high. My seats are also better. My tickets, though, are below face value because I've been a STM for six years. It takes a while before you fall into that category. Fun fact: In the three years that I've had my current seats, I've never actually met the person who owns the two seats next to me. They sell almost every game.

Also worth noting is that my rep told me that they were almost entirely sold out of season tickets last year. You'll still get a discount if you buy the entire season, but it's not going to be what it once was. I go to about 10 regular season games per year and the games that I sold last year covered the cost of the entire season, including the ones that I went to. In other years, though, it has only been 75-80%.

I wouldn't mind splitting my tickets with somebody (I own all 43 games) but there are some benefits to being a STM that would be hard to split. For instance, one game per year, you can go out on the court and play after the game. Sometimes, a current Celtics player will also come out and take photos with you (The picture of my not-quite 4' tall son with Amir Johnson is a funny one.). Also, if you have kids, they get to do the high-five tunnel once per year, where they high-five players as they come onto the floor. There are also occasional goodies, such as the chance to meet players, go to a practice or receive the occasional t-shirt or vest. The extras get better as you gain tenure and buy more expensive seats.

My rep is Alex and she is excellent. Emails and phone calls are always answered on the same day and requests are taken seriously. I had a problem with my seats when they moved a media desk so that it partially obstructed my view. I called Alex and the desk was gone the next day. I definitely feel valued as a STM and the Celts seem to take it pretty seriously.

Ticket resales: This can be the best or worst part of the package. NBA Tickets is the official resale site where you are supposed to list it. The problem is, not only does Ticketmaster charge the reseller 5% but they also charge the buyer a whopping 21.5% service charge! What makes it worse is that if you are buying tickets directly from the Cs, they only charge a $5 handling fee, making your tickets that much less competitive. I cannot say enough bad things about Ticketmaster. The site is incredibly user "unfriendly" and they mask a lot of information that would make it easier to price tickets. I hope that other resellers do to them what Uber is doing to cabs. They've had a monopoly for so long that there's been no need to innovate.

I have been selling more and more of my tickets through StubHub, which is way more user-friendly. SH charges me 10% and the buyer 10%. Still high, but consistent.

In terms of games, what you get absolutely depends on who we are playing and when we are playing them. This is where the tiered pricing structure that somebody else mentioned comes into place. Your tickets may average $100 per ticket for the entire season, for instance, but the Cleveland ticket will have a face of $120 and Sacramento will be $80. For a Tuesday night against Orlando, I'm happy to get back 80% of face. Of course, one Golden State game can make up for a lot of Orlandos. Currently, my tickets for the Cleveland weekend afternoon game in February when Paul Pierce's jersey will be retired are currently listed at a price several times face. It works for me because I'm relatively agnostic as to which games I go to. I have a mind-numbingly complex spreadsheet that tracks what tickets have sold and for how much. It makes my wife laugh at me, but it also helps to price tickets from year to year.

One benefit of ST is that you'll have first shot at playoff tickets. Prices for your seats in the playoffs are higher, but they're yours if you want them. In theory, you shouldn't have any problem unloading playoff tickets, but last year got kind of wacky.

In a worst-case scenario, you can give the tickets to the Celtics' charity until 11 am of game day (or the Friday preceding game day) and take a tax write-off.

I hate Craigslist. You'll get next to nothing for your tickets and some of the buyers can be a real !#@$@#. I do have one or two people that I've met on CL who come back to me every year for the games that I can't get rid of and have developed a pretty good relationship with them.

Each year, in the spring, they have a "move-up" day. Based on your seniority (cut-offs are every five years), you will have the option to move up to any seats that are available. I've only been doing it six years, so I get the leftovers of the 10-15 year people, who get the leftovers of the 15-20 year people, etc.). It's always fun to look, but the chances of my moving are slim. I'm in the first row of my section, two seats off the aisle on one side and a single seat on the other, which often goes vacant. First rows are nice: Not only do I have a couple of extra inches of legroom but the barrier in front of me makes a nice little spot to rest trays of food.

The bottom line is that season tickets will work best for you if you are going to go to a bunch of the games that you are buying. If you're only going to go to a few, you can always find tickets at a discount on game-day (Sellers really panic in the last two hours.), with the exception of the most popular games.

Mike