Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Re-Defining The Ticket "After-Market"

With an innovation that I'm sure will give Frank McCourt endless glee, the Florida Marlins are selling "unused tickets" to last Saturday's game, the one where Roy Halladay pitched the 20th perfect game in MLB history.

The Florida Marlins will begin selling on Tuesday unused tickets to the game in which the Philadelphia Phillies ace pitched the 20th perfect game in major league history, a 1-0 victory over the Marlins on Saturday.

All tickets will be regularly priced at "face value" and on sale both online and through the Marlins' box office.

Paid attendance that night was about 25,000, a relatively large crowd for a Marlins' home game. By comparison, Florida drew a paid crowd of 10,115 -- its smallest of the season -- for Monday's game against Milwaukee.

This takes ticket stubs to a whole new dimension. Instead of a stub validating that one was there to witness the event, we now have allowed poseurs to have the same evidence, thereby de-valuing the stubs of the poor saps who actually did attend the event and witness history. Witness the Ken Griffey Junior Rookie Card scandal, for example.

What's more, the number of "new" tickets that the Marlins can print is basically infinite. They could probably repeat individual seats and no one would ever know. Or, they could make up phantom sections / rows / seats and just keep the money flowing in. This seems so wrong.

I can't believe that the ballclub that brought such innovations as the Marlins Mermaids is now doing this. Even more depressing is that I'm sure it's a matter of time before this maneuver is replicated elsewhere.

UPDATE 12:10p: Apparently, the Chicago White Sox did the same thing after Mark Buehrle's perfect game last year. So the Marlins aren't even original. But as SoSG commenter Mr. Customer points out, the tickets commemorating Halladay aren't even being printed by his own team--the Marlins are in essence expanding publicity of their own offensive incompetence. Nice.

It also makes me realize that the Dodgers can now go ahead and start printing up "unused tickets" to tons of past events with historic significance. Why not print unused tickets to Kirk Gibson's World Series home run? Or Orlando Hudson's Opening Day cycle? Or Casey Blake's balk-off win? The possibilities are limitless.

21 comments:

Josh S. said...

All the unused tickets should say "I WASN'T REALLY THERE." at the top.

Nostradamus said...

No mention of the fact that it was the home team that got pwned? Aren't they memorializing their teams complete failure to perform? I'm not about to go and buy a Denis Martinez perfect game ticket to remind myself how much the Dodgers sucked that day.

Paul said...

I am waiting for the Dodgers to require purchasing unsold tickets from the Brewers-Dodgers series in order to have a right to purchase Yankee tickets.

Paul said...

Like all Marlins tickets most of these will be purchased by the other team's fans.

Steve Sax said...

@Paul 12:25p: That would be pretty funny, if the Yankees "7-game plan" included tickets to two past games.

Or maybe come July, the Dodgers can start selling "unused" tickets to the Yankee series that they've spent so much time / $ promoting incessantly this year.

Josh S. said...

If I bought a 7-game plan, I'd sell the other 6 unused tickets to commemorate a milestone in fanbase dicking-over.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

So wait, if you want to buy the tickets for, say, the box section, you have to pay the price one would normally pay to actually sit in the box section? For a piece of paper? THIS IS MADNESS

Steve Sax said...

@Mr. LA SF: Exactly. So the $185 baseline ticket stub that you've got to commemorate the game that you didn't attend, is probably cooler than the $8 top deck ticket stub to commemorate the game that I didn't attend (either). Your phantom memories would be cooler (and likely more vivid) than my phantom memories.

Ticket sales should come with a page of key storyline points, so one can corroborate all of the key in-game moments he/she didn't see since he/she wasn't in attendance.

Steve Sax said...

"Hey, is that a Halladay perfect game ticket stub on your wall? Cool! Remember how beautifully sunny it was that day at the stadium?"

"AHA! It was partly cloudy that day, you frickin' poseur!" (proceeds to beat person to bloody pulp)

Paul said...

A Rivalary Renewed and ReSold.

Don't miss your chance to show that you missed your chance with Dodgers-Yankees tickets.

Act now and you will also get a 2009 Dodgers-Yankees T-Shirt* (xxxL and small only) to show your pride when the Dodgers almost won the pennant to face their rivals last year.

*Warning T-Shirt may contain asbestos

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Hell, I feel guilty when I tell people I saw A-Rod hit a homer (I was...preoccupied at the time).

Nostradamus said...

**Asbestos comes free-of-charge.

***The asbestos will also be cursed.

Josh S. said...

@MLASF: I was refreshing SoSG when Manny hit his 550th last night. I saw it go out, but I missed him making contact.

Paul said...

****Toxic transport fees for shipping the t-shirts not included

*****Manufactured in Jamie McCourt's basement.

Nostradamus said...

^That's bad!

Steve Sax said...

@Paul, you can't blame Jamie for those imaginary 2009 Dodgers YankMes shirts. She's doing asbestos she can.

Thank you Des Moines! Good night!

Nostradamus said...

What kind of a retardant pun was that, Sax?

Steve Sax said...

Mr C, of all people, I thought you'd appreciate my drywall sense of humor.

Nostradamus said...

I'm suppressant my urge to escalate the situation.

Steve Sax said...

Me so thelioma this series of puns, I'll stop here.

gcrl said...

the twins did this several years ago when cal ripken got his 3000th hit at the metrodome.