Whether you’re going to your first Cubs game at Wrigley Field, or you’re a Cubs fan regular, it’s always a challenge to find cheap Chicago Cubs tickets. Actually, maybe “cheap” isn’t the right word. Cubs tix are often among the most expensive in baseball, so I’m here to help you find the best deal, and save money on your next visit to the Friendly Confines.

(Plenty more great Wrigley Field tips on this site…check out my complete seating guide, what you can eat at Wrigley, and this useful parking guide. More coming!)

Saving money on Cubs tickets takes some effort. You should plan ahead, know your ticket avenues, and be patient. I’m going to list all of your options for buying tickets here, and a few strategies to use, all of which have their own merits.

It’s a lot, so I’ll break this down for you.

The Chicago Cubs Website
The Wrigley Field Box Office
Third Party Sites
Ticket Agencies
Facebook Forums/Craigslist/Scalpers
Choose The Right Game + Opponent
Wait Till The Last Minute, Maybe
Use That Weather
Bring Your Friends
Use The Cheap Seats

So read through this post, know your options, plan ahead, and shop around. Let’s get started after this quick and applicable word from our sponsor…

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Unfortunately I can’t help you pay 2015 prices for Cubs tickets. But trust me anyway.

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #1) The Cubs Website. The team website is your first and easiest option, but it’s not always the cheapest of course. The Cubs do not sell paper tickets; you’ll need the MLB Ballpark App to access them.

The Cubs apply “dynamic pricing” to ticket prices, meaning prices rise and drop by demand. They have a very nice virtual map of the ballpark on their site, and you can click on the seating and pricing chart to see ticket prices for every section.

When buying tickets, you can also enter the opponent you’d like to see, the section you’d like to sit in and the day of the week you can go, and the Cubs will show you all of your available options. This is quite helpful for reasons I’ll explain.

The most important advice I can give you for finding deals on Cubs tickets is to sign up for the Cubs’ ticket alert emails. The Cubs will let you know what day regular season tickets go on sale (a very important thing to know), and what sort of bargain nights they’ll have. In addition, if tickets for an upcoming game get released, you’ll be the first to know.

It doesn’t hurt to follow the team on Facebook or X (Twitter) either; sometimes the Cubs offer exclusive deals on X especially.

Or wherever you get your important news!

Knowing when tickets go on sale for the season is very useful…on occasion the Cubs will have pre-sales exclusive to email subscribers, where you can get high demand tickets at face value, which is often the best price for such games. Incidentally, the Cubs only accepted MasterCard for pre-sales in the past, so I would order one if you don’t have one.

Should I mention that you should already have an MLB account before you order? I didn’t think so. You can also order tickets by phone (!), but you’ll still be paying all of the fees.

One last piece of advice, and this applies to any outlet you use…always go all the way to the checkout screen to see what you’re really paying for Cubs tickets. There isn’t just fees, there’s a Chicago “entertainment tax” too (sigh), and the fees can be very different in the final price.

Even in the early days of Cubs baseball, there were “fees”.

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #2) The Wrigley Field Box Office. If the Cubs box office is where it was in my last visit, it’s on Clark Street north of the iconic Wrigley marquee. As I write this, it’s open from 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM on weekdays, and 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM on weekends. They also open two hours before each game.

You need a credit/debit card, no cash. Since tickets are paperless, the Cubs will be putting them on your Ballpark app. They’re very helpful and will show you how to do it.

The Cubs don’t charge the service fees at the box office, so if you’re going to pay face price you might as well try at the box office, especially when tickets first go on sale. It’s good if there’s still tickets left for a high demand game, but you’d do well to check the third parties first.

But remember, there will be fees with the third parties too. Compare with the Cubs website, and remember, go to the checkout screen on both. You will still pay that Chicago entertainment tax at the box office.

In other words, if you’re already at the ballpark, and the Cubs are offering the best or close to the best deal online for tickets, go to the box office rather than buying online. You’ll save yourself the considerable fees.

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Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #3) Third Party Sellers. The Cubs allow season ticket holders to sell their extras on SeatGeek, so in theory that should be the first third party site for you to try when searching for the best price on Cubs tickets.

In reality, you can find Cubs tickets on a variety of third party outlets like StubHub and Vivid Seats. My favorite is TickPick (full disclosure: they’re my affiliate), because you know up front what you’re paying for tickets and don’t get surprised by fees. (I’m like you…I intensely dislike ticket fees.)

Here’s a pro tip buying from third parties: remember bleacher seats are general admission (except in the postseason), so you don’t need to buy the exact quantity. If you’re looking for four tickets, try searching for the best deals on two or even one ticket and use a combination of them.

The policy of when third party sites must stop selling tickets changes frequently, but currently you can buy them right up until game time, which is the best time for great deals. I would check the policy though; sometimes it’s two hours before game time, and it’s been as much as five hours.

I’ll talk more about it in a bit, but buying as close to game time as possible is usually when you find the lowest prices on third party sites.

Remember, go to the checkout screen to see the actual price!

You can just call on the phone too.

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #4) Wrigleyville Ticket Agencies. Ah, the ticket agencies…they were once a fixture in Wrigleyville. Many of them closed up their brick and mortar stores when Cubs tickets went electronic.

However, many of them are still selling Cubs tickets, and you might actually find some sweet deals through them. A few of them are: TicketsAlways (a.k.a. Box Office Tickets), Gold Coast Tickets, Ticket Chest, and Sitclose.

I reached out to a few of them to ask about their process these days. Steve Buzil at Sitclose got back to me and explained it. Sitclose carries a stock of tickets, and will put the tickets on your Ballpark app for you.

Buzil told me that this can actually be your best route for finding Cubs ticket deals…many of his clients are corporate entities who buy tickets in groups, so Sitclose has built a reputation that way. I’m not sure about the rest of the agencies, but Buzil assured me that Sitclose won’t be undersold, so there you go.

Serving Cubs fans since there were actual tickets!

Some of the agencies don’t sell tickets directly through their website, but if you’re looking for a deal, try calling Sitclose or another agency and see what they can do for you.

TicketsAlways (Box Office) also got back to me and said that they do set up a game day location near Rizzo’s bar, across from Gallagher Way. Again, if you have time, you can check with them and see what they offer; they told me they source tickets at wholesale prices, which could be a great deal.

Most of the agencies have their own websites, so if you’re using TickPick or another outlet in your search for tickets, and the seller has the agency’s name, check their website. I’ve read that some agencies will list their tickets on both outlets, but it will be cheaper on their own site.

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“Let me hear ya, who’s got tickets?”

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #5) Facebook Forums, Scalpers, and Craigslist. There are in fact several Facebook groups where people unload their Cubs tickets. Here are a couple: Chicago Cubs Tickets *Verified Sellers*, and Chicago Cubs VIP Bleacher Season Tickets. They have thousands of members, who resell their season tickets without the fees.

I hope these folks don’t get mad at me for mentioning them in the same section as scalpers. I probably shouldn’t, since they do a lot to verify things. They seem very much like they simply want to help Cubs fans avoid the fees everyone hates. There’s many more forums, by the way, and you can search them.

You do have to join the groups and they’re private, which you would want obviously. So it might be better for frequent Wrigley attendees, which I wish I were.

“Look for the yellow ice cream truck. I’ll have my hat on backwards so you can find me.”

If you love the thrill of a non-guaranteed ticket, you might be able to score a great deal through scalpers or Craigslist. Wrigleyville isn’t crawling with aggressive scalpers like it once was, but I’m told they’re still out there. I’m guessing they can email you tickets or transfer them to you some other way.

Scalpers are tough here, but once the game starts they’ll likely drop the price. I know, I hate missing baseball too, but by about the third inning you can find a sweet deal. Not every game sells out, in case you are intercepted before you get to the ticket window and told as such.

I’ve written more about buying baseball tickets on Craigslist here; basically treat Craigslist sellers like you would scalpers. These days, I would have a backup plan in case the tickets have been voided somehow, which does happen to people, but there are plenty of legit sellers too.

The fewer tickets you’re looking for, the better; a single ticket is your best chance for a bargain.

Get ’em while they’re cold!

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #6) Choose The Right Game + Opponent. I can’t stress this enough, dear baseball fans. It’s key to finding the best deal on Cubs tickets. The difference in average ticket price between high and low demand games can sometimes be in the hundreds of dollars.

If all you want is to see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, don’t pick a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers or New York Yankees. Choose a game against the San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies or another distant opponent whose fans don’t travel well. (Usually that’s any bad team, but there’s other factors.)

Similarly, it’s easier to find the deals on Cubs tickets during colder months, especially April, than it is for July and August games. Weekend games are in more demand than weekday games, but if you must go on a weekend, go for a Sunday. Most baseball travelers are gone by then.

A weeknight game in April against the Athletics can cost a third as much or even less as a summer weekend game against the Cardinals. Remember what I’ve told you about dynamic pricing. Even through the Cubs, picking the right game can save you a lot of cash.

Again, Rockies or Marlins over Cardinals or White Sox, weekdays over weekends, and April and May over July and August, if you can deal with the cold. (This is one reason the sunny bleachers are very popular here.)

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When you’re at this point, it’s pretty close to go time on getting tickets.

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #7) Wait Till The Last Minute. This is a tip that a lot of Cubs fans will pass on to you; ticket prices for low demand games especially will drop as game time gets closer, especially on third party sites. If you’d like to see this phenomenon in action, check ticket prices starting a week out on TickPick, up until game time. You’ll see.

With so many ticket sellers having their own apps, you can literally just buy a ticket on your phone as you get off of the train at Addison Station. I saw a lot of Redditors recommend the Gametime app for this, I’ve never used it so I can’t say for myself. I still prefer TickPick but that’s me.

As valuable as this tip is, don’t go this route if a) the game is high demand and very important to you, b) you need a larger quantity of tickets, say more than four, or c) you want to sit in the bleachers. Remember the Wrigley bleachers are general admission and extremely popular. For a good seat you are looking at arriving three and a half hours before game time at the least. Not kidding.

Waiting till the last minute also probably affords you less time to shop around, but if you can, remember…go all the way to the checkout screen! (Have I said that enough?)

Note the absence of shade for bleacher seats. A key thing.

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #8) Use That Weather. This one’s for locals, of course, or at least people within a couple hours of the ballpark (e.g. Brewers fans!). If you have flexibility, check for tickets on days where the weather doesn’t look great.

If you live there, I don’t need to tell you that Chicago weather isn’t always conducive to enjoying live baseball. But what that also means is that season ticket holders sometimes will unload tickets if the temps drop. Or, honestly, if the temps are through the roof in the summer, which does happen.

You can always duck out of the elements temporarily in the team store, the concourses or even the bathroom. (True…I found the men’s room at Wrigley to be an excellent place to warm up if you don’t mind the social discomfort).

Shoot for the bleachers on cold days, which face away from Lake Michigan wind. Or at least avoid the shaded seats. My complete guide to Wrigley Field seating should help here.

Heck, you might even find a season ticket that includes some club access very cheap.

Shout your Cubs fandom from the rooftops! (Just not the Wrigley rooftops.)

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #9) Bring Your Friends. The Cubs offer sweet deals on group tickets. Best of all, you only need to find 14 friends or co-workers interested in going to a baseball game. If you can’t pull that off in Chicago, find a new place to work without such killjoys.

The Cubs include a group discount calendar on their website. You can choose the cheapest games of course, but best of all, (pay attention here) the Cubs waive the ticket fees! According to Megh, the nice Cubs rep that informed me of this, that works out to a discount of about $10 per ticket on average. If you can get 250 fans to go, they’ll even throw in tickets to a future game. Bet you weren’t expecting to learn how to get FREE Cubs tix here!

The Cubs’ newsletter (remember to sign up!) should tell you what discounts for groups are happening. Find out well in advance.

Incidentally, the Cubs will help you if you’re doing a Cubs game as a fundraiser too. They’ll donate $4 back to your organization for each ticket you sell through a dedicated link. It’s not technically a way to get cheap tickets, but it’s something to consider for your non-profit.

Unfortunately, the “amusement tax” is still included, but it can still be a heck of a deal.

If you just sit between those poles over there, you’ll be doing all right!

Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets, Tip #10) Use The Cheap Seats. If you only care about getting into the ballpark, you can try SRO or seats on the outer edge of the upper deck. Not great seats of course, but they go cheap, especially for low demand games.

The Cubs sometimes offer steals on the cheap seats for low demand games (check your newsletter). Use the box office if you can and avoid the fees.

I don’t endorse people moving into seats that they haven’t paid for (even though I sometimes do it). But even if I did, Wrigley isn’t an easy place to improve your lie during the game. The ushers can be pretty tough from what I’ve read, especially in the lower level.

At the Friendly Confines, you’re never far from the action!

That said, for cheap seats, the Friendly Confines does offer some of the better views in MLB. You could sit at the top and not be as high as in Milwaukee or the South Side. Yes, the views tend to be not so great further into the outfield. But there’s far fewer acrophobia-level seats at Wrigley.

Other cheap seats at Wrigley include those infamous “obstructed view” seats…and there are ways to minimize that. Here’s some helpful tips.

The Cubs say that they will make a limited number of standing room tickets available on game day. You could try the box office early.

You’re in? Great! No need to thank me, it’s all in a day’s work for Ballpark E-Guides!

There you go friend, all my valuable advice for finding deals and saving money at your next Chicago Cubs game. Be sure to check out my complete guide to the Friendly Confines. By the way, I have a lot of tips for the White Sox ballpark too, if you’re out this way.

I hope this post saves you enough for at least a Wrigley hot dog at the concession stand. Please pass the word and support our sponsors, and thanks for reading!

(Note: this article contains affiliate links. If you use an affiliate link to make a purchase, Ballpark E-Guides earns a commission. This is at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!)

Cheap Red Sox tickets? Really? Yes. Believe it or not, you can find them. Especially with all the tips I’ll be sharing with you in this complete and helpful guide. I’ve used several of these tips to save money on Red Sox tickets, and you can too…and have money left over for a Fenway Frank!

If you want some help choosing a great seat at Fenway Park, check out my very detailed seating guide for Fenway here. If you’re going all in, check out my complete guide to Fenway Park here. But wherever you sit, read on to find out how to get the best deal on Red Sox tickets.

My friends at TickPick have cheap Red Sox tickets – they offer a best price guarantee, a buyer’s trust guarantee, and NO service fees. Sounds like a no-brainer to me!

Click here to order your Red Sox tickets on TickPick!

Ah, to be among the privileged…people with Red Sox tickets.

Believe me, it really helps to know ALL of your options, but here’s the table of contents for you, in case you want to skip some bits (but don’t):

My Best Tip For Cheap Red Sox Tickets
Buying From The Red Sox Website
StubHub, TickPick, ACE and Other Third Parties
Choose The Right Game AND Opponent
The Red Sox Box Office and Game Day Tickets
Red Sox Nation and Kid Nation (Get a FREE Red Sox ticket!)
Cheap Red Sox Tickets in The Scalp-Free Zone
The Red Sox Community
Red Sox Ticket Scalpers
Finding Cheap Red Sox Tickets on Craigslist
To Sum All This Up…

“Get ya wicked smaht Red Sox news heah!”

If You Want Cheap Red Sox Tickets, Do This Now

Anytime you’re planning to go to a game, it’s always a smart idea to subscribe to a team’s ticket alert newsletter, and the Red Sox ticket alert is no exception.

It’s not so much that the Red Sox offer a lot of ticket deals, although there are some. But in many cases buying Red Sox tickets at face value is the cheapest way to get them, and the newsletter will help you with that…you’ll know about pre-sales, Sox Pax, Christmas at Fenway events, group tickets, fan clubs, military and student discounts and much more. Students get standing room dirt cheap at most games, for example.

The e-mail newsletter is especially useful if you want to see a game against the Yankees. You can jump on pre-sales and get tickets at face, which is usually as cheap as you’ll find, especially for weekend contests. The newsletter will also alert you to Green Monster ticket sales well ahead of time, and it’s probably the easiest way to get your hands on those too.

It doesn’t happen often, but on occasion, the Red Sox waive ticket buying fees, and that’s a considerable amount of savings. That also saves you the time and boredom of waiting in line for Game Day tickets (more on that in a bit). The newsletter will let you know about this too.

So be sure to subscribe!

A color-coded Fenway Park seating map, with appropriately red-colored “sunburn sections”.

Buying Tickets On The Red Sox Website

The Sox have a nifty 3-D seating map on their website, featuring a scale picture of Fenway with clickable sections, panoramic views and prices from each section…but just so you know, they don’t reveal obstructed views.

Remember there are fees for buying on the website, and they’re ridiculous. For high demand games you might be better off using the box office if you can, even on game day…for low demand games you’ll probably find a better deal with a third party.

The Sox website is best for when you don’t live close and want a high demand game. Typically the cheap Red Sox tickets sell out fast, so the Sox make lower demand games available first, such as April and May weekdays. Again, get on any pre-sales you can for Yankees games or July or August weekend games. Remember, subscribe to the Red Sox newsletter first.

You can now enter Fenway by scanning the tickets on your phone, if you have MLB’s Ballpark app (and you should). If you don’t like your seats…and at Fenway, that’s a distinct possibility…you can upgrade them through the app if something is available.

They outsource their ticket sign holding, and pass the savings on to you!

Cheap Red Sox Tickets From 3rd Parties – StubHub, SeatGeek, Ace, Etc…

I’m a big fan of TickPick; they have a best price guarantee, there’s no fees (and no one likes the fees), and they even offer a buyer’s trust guarantee if your event gets cancelled. That’s why I’ve made them an affiliate…click here to try them out, and let me know what you think!

In the past, I went through a third party site and got a pair of Right Field Box seats for $26…and the list price for this was $87! Full disclosure, this was a weekday May game against Oakland. I’m not claiming you’ll always find cheap Red Sox tickets with TickPick or another third party. But always check, especially for low demand games, because you may find a steal like I did.

Here’s a key tip: being MLB’s official ticket reseller, StubHub usually has the biggest selection of third party tickets, and you may find a deal there. But in some cases, you may find the very same or similar seats offered through another third party. This was the case in the game I just described…and the third party I used offered me a slightly better price.

“Our ticket selection is huge!”

As far as Ace Ticket…they’re well known in Boston, and are actually pretty good as ticket resellers go. One great advantage of Ace is their prime location, in the path from the Kenmore station to Fenway. You can pick up tickets that you’ve ordered there at no extra charge. ACE makes a point that they don’t add a StubHub fee, which isn’t chump change. If you’re there on game day, you might be able to haggle closer to gametime.

Your best bet with third parties, usually, is to get tickets at the last minute (up to two hours before game time, last I checked). But I wouldn’t always count on this. If the game is really important for you to attend, keep checking for a deal you can live with starting about a week out.

Finally, if you have the luxury of comparing third party sites, be sure to go to the checkout screen on each one and see the full price you’ll be paying…the difference in fees can be significant.

You may need the Ballpark app on your smartphone to scan your tickets, so be sure you have that.

In 2014, the Royals were pretty popular. Even in Boston.

Use The Red Sox Schedule: Choose The Right Game AND Opponent

If you only care about visiting Fenway Park, and you’re visiting Boston on a budget, picking the right contest makes a world of difference in your ticket price. Obviously, you shouldn’t pick a game against the Yankees on a July weekend.

Like most teams, the Red Sox offer dynamic pricing. Opening Day, all Yankees games, and Saturday games in June and July are the most expensive. Second to that are weekend games in June, July and August; then weekends in April, May and September, etc. In the bottom tier are “Sox Saver” games: weeknights in April, May and September. If you can handle the weather, you can often find a great deal. For afternoon games the weather might not be bad at all.

But again, check third parties on these too. If the Sox are having a disappointing season, you could find some steals in September.

O’s fans don’t see this very often, so maybe it is worth the trip.

Your choice of opponent makes a difference too. If, say, the Orioles are good (OK, I’ll wait till you’re done LYAO at that one), it can drive up demand for Orioles games at Fenway. The Mets and Phillies can also draw sizable crowds, regardless of their fortunes.

Save for the Angels and East Coast hero Mike Trout, West Coast opponents usually draw the smallest crowds and offer the cheapest tickets.

But hey, you might be reading this because you want to find cheap Red Sox tickets for Yankees games, right? Even if “cheap” in this case is relative. And Ballpark E-Guides never backs down from a challenge!

To see the Yankees at Fenway (or the Cubs, when they visit), you’ll save a lot by planning ahead.

Does this really even need to be said in Boston?

If I lived in Boston, I would visit the box office the day tickets go on sale, and get tickets at face price with no fees. If you live elsewhere, visit the Red Sox website that day, and get your tickets at face value with the fee…which will still be cheaper than the third party markup in almost every case. You can also try the game day ticket option (more on that shortly), but you may be waiting in line for a very long time.

Or plan ahead even further back in time, and get Sox Pax tickets in December…maybe show up for Christmas at Fenway. Sox Pax include a Yankees game and one or more low demand games. Good if you can do the other games…or give the tickets as Christmas presents…but I wouldn’t do this one if you plan to resell the low value games, since you probably won’t get what you paid for them.

As always, pay attention to your newsletter…

Never Drive To Fenway Park Without A Plan…

Book Your Parking Spot NOW With My Friends at SpotHero!

With a helpful mini-jungle gym for the kids to play on while they’re waiting.

The Red Sox Box Office and Game Day Tickets

As I’ve said, for cheap Red Sox tickets for Yankees and other high demand games, if you or someone else can go to the box office for you on the on-sale date, do it…there are no fees at the box office.

At the box office you can actually talk to a person about what seats are available, including seats in front of each other, which isn’t something you can yet find on the Sox website. It also doesn’t hurt to ask for ticket specials, especially for military members.

Then there’s that popular game day tickets option that savvy Sox fans use.

The Red Sox make a handful of tickets available a few hours before each game. These are usually tickets that the visiting team or someone else can’t use—a player may have brought his wife and can’t sit her next to his Boston girlfriend, for example.

So a few hours before each game, a line of folks forms at Gate E on Lansdowne Street to buy any extras the Sox have lying around.

It’s tough waiting in line just steps away from the smell of sausage vendors.

I’ve talked to a few Sox fans about this; they say it’s generally best for one person, since you can only buy one per person and must immediately enter the ballpark after buying them. Lots of folks claim to have gotten very good seats for face value this way.

The Sox allow the line to start forming five hours before game time, but people do line up sooner than that for big games. Fans camping out before playoff games is common.

I can’t guarantee that you’ll get into the park this way, but no one has yet told me they were turned away. As long as you don’t arrive an hour before a Yankees game you should be fine. Keep in mind that you’re looking at a total of maybe 11 hours at the ballpark should you choose this option. I don’t mind that myself; just saying.

The best part? You may land a great seat at face price. With no online fees. Face value with no fees = relatively cheap Red Sox tickets.

Sure, it’s great to get ticket deals. But a secret entrance is even better!

Join The Nation – A FREE Red Sox Ticket!

Red Sox Nation is the team fan club, and gives fans chances to score the hard-to-get seats like Monster seats at face price or lower. There are several levels of membership, some of which cost a nice chunk of change, but even the lesser ones still might offer you cheap Red Sox tickets for decent contests.

Nation membership also includes discounts on gear and nearby restaurants, so it should pay for itself fairly easily. The Red Sox even offer a kids’ membership that includes a free ticket (!), and they may have a free ticket-included membership for adults by the time you read this.

If you plan on going to a few Red Sox games in a season and want something resembling cheap Red Sox tickets, have a look at Nation membership. Could be well worth it for you. Again, check your newsletter and grab a membership when it’s available; these sell out too.

The trick is actually finding this sign.

Cheap Red Sox Tickets – In The “Scalp-Free Zone”

A little known option to Fenway newbies is the scalp-free zone set up by the Red Sox, which is currently at Gate C on Lansdowne Street, although the location does get moved on occasion. Here fans with extra tickets are permitted to sell them at face price or less; a Red Sox official will monitor the transaction and escort you into the park so that you don’t try re-selling the seats.

There aren’t many tickets sold here—the Sox estimate it to be about 30-50 a game—but it’s definitely worth a shot before you try a scalper. It’s also a nice legal place where you can get rid of your own extras if you have them.

The Red Sox deliberately keep this option low-key, because they don’t want it to attract too many buyers. That’s why you need this blog my friend.

With the help of the Green Team!

Help Your Fellow Bostonian

Just putting this one out there.

In happier times, the Red Sox don’t offer a lot of discounts or deals on tickets. But they do have contests and events you can participate in, like Christmas at Fenway or the Picnic in The Park, that could get you entered in drawings for tickets. They’re usually in the Community or Fans sections of the Red Sox website, so it’s worth the trouble to have a look.

If you’re a conscious student and will work for baseball, there are universities that work with the Sox to keep the ballpark clean and the trash sorted out in recycling. You get entry into the park (standing room), a T-shirt and a food voucher, and you can see a game just for doing some cleanup between innings. Save the planet and see a Red Sox game for free. Win-win!

Check out the Fenway Park Green Team program here.

This gentleman is holding up the universal symbol for “I didn’t read this post”.

Red Sox Ticket Scalpers

There are always plenty of scalpers at Fenway, even though scalping is illegal in Massachusetts. Like with brokers, you could be paying well above face value for tickets depending on demand—you might as well use TickPick.

If you try this, bring a seating chart to get an idea of where your seats are, and check the ticket for the correct date and opponent, and that there isn’t an “OV” stamped on the ticket. OV means Obstructed View…you definitely don’t want that.

Ticket prices plummet after the game starts, but that’s no fun unless you’re late to begin with. Brokers generally line up near the Kenmore MBTA station, and in the path from there to the ballpark. You can haggle, but these guys are tough, so you may be dealing with a few of them if you walk away. If you’re lucky, you may find someone with extras, especially for a rainout makeup game. Hold up the number of fingers to show how many you need.

“I’ll text you when I’m at the face painting station. Look for a guy with a misspelled word on his shirt.”

Finding Cheap Red Sox Tickets on Craigslist

I’m sure there are fans that can tell you stories about the deal they scored on Craigslist for any baseball tickets, and I’m sure probably 98% of those cases are legit. But you don’t want to be in that 2%.

I talk more about buying baseball tickets on Craigslist here, but basically the same rules apply that you would use buying from a scalper: meet with the seller in person in a public place, check the tickets for smudged ink, scissor marks or other anomalies, and bring someone with you for the transaction. Get as much information about the person as you can, and especially find out if they are season ticket holders if possible.

Trust your gut…just as with a scalper, if something doesn’t seem right, walk away.

And congratulations on scoring Red Sox tickets!

To Sum This All Up…

…for cheap Red Sox tickets, plan ahead as much as possible. Subscribe to the Red Sox ticket alerts, and pay attention to their e-mails, choose the lowest value contest you can, and compare prices with TickPick and other third parties. You can score great deals on Red Sox tickets, but it takes a little work.

Hopefully what you’ve read helps…take advantage of all your ticket buying avenues! Bookmark this and review it next time you’ve got a Red Sox game at Fenway in mind.

Hope you enjoyed these tips. Thanks for reading, and for supporting my sponsors!

Planning a trip to Boston? Save a bunch of money on hotels, flights and rental cars…book your trip with my friends at Hotwire! (It’s still Kurt’s favorite!)

Click here to start booking your trip to Boston and Fenway Park today!

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The Reds are pretty good about making the majority of seats at Great American Ball Park affordable for fans. But it also helps to save money by planning ahead…so here are three tips for scoring cheap Reds tickets:

Imagine all this news in your inbox!

Cheap Reds Tickets, Tip #1) Use The Newsletter. The Reds‘ e-mail ticket alerts offer some truly great deals for fans, and I can tell you the Reds put more offers in their newsletter than most teams do, even when they’re competitive on the field.

Deals include half-price tickets for kids on Sundays, added concessions value and discounted tickets for members of the local library or other Cincinnati institutions. The Reds are very generous to newsletter subscribers, so be sure to sign up.

My friends at TickPick have cheap Reds tickets…they offer a best price guarantee, a buyer’s trust guarantee, and NO service fees. Sounds like a no-brainer to me!

Get $10 off your first purchase with email sign-up!

Of course, if you applied online, you could have gotten a cheap ticket to get to this booth.

Cheap Reds Tickets, Tip #2) Join The Club(s). The Reds have three fan clubs for kids of varying age levels; you can find them on the Fans page of the Reds website. Membership includes ticket vouchers that are alone worth the price, but you also get a lot of privileges and gear to go with it.

For adults, if you’re early enough, you can join the Rosie Reds Club, which is a separate entity but also offers ticket deals for members.

The Reds reward good deeds.

Cheap Reds Tickets, Tip #3) Help Your Fellow Cincinnatian. In the Community section of the Reds website are several opportunities to score Reds tickets through being a good citizen. The Reds offer tickets to fans for donating blood, participating in the “Redlegs Run”, or recycling your electronics.

Nothing like getting ballgame tickets for helping your fellow human.

Cheap Reds Tickets, Tip #4) Bonus Tip: Try TickPick! TickPick is my favorite third party website for Reds tickets, and I’m not just saying that because they’re an affiliate of mine. Anytime I’m looking for deals on baseball tickets, I check TickPick first.

There you go, four great tips for finding inexpensive tickets to see the Cincinnati Reds. There are plenty of other ways to save money for a game at Great American Ball Park. Click here for some more great tips for your next Reds game, and Follow Ballpark E-Guides on Facebook for tips, tricks and hacks for your favorite ballpark!

Never drive to a Reds game without a plan…

Book your parking spot now with my friends at SpotHero!

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If you’re looking for cheap seats at American Family Field, you’re in luck…there are a lot of them. The Brewers have a good amount of even really good seats that are affordable, but here are two options you can get with just what’s in your pocket.

My friends at TickPick have Brewers tickets…they offer a best price guarantee, a buyer’s trust guarantee, and NO service fees. Sounds like a no-brainer to me!

Get $10 off your first purchase with email sign-up!

These poles actually go all the way to the ground. Or so the tour guide said.

Cheap Seats at American Family Field, Tip #1: The Uecker Seats. The Brewers offer their fans an opportunity to see a game for one dollar, in the humorously named “Uecker Seats”.

I’m dating myself with this, but I remember the Miller Lite commercial featuring “Mr. Baseball” Bob Uecker, in which he gets ousted out of his seat (to which his reaction is “I must be in the front rooooow!”) and placed in the worst seats in the ballpark, where he screams at the umpire.

It was funny, and the Brewers picked up on it when they opened American Family Field in 2001, declaring the highest seats behind home plate the “Uecker Seats”. These seats are blocked by pillars that hold up a portion of the ballpark’s massive roof, so sitting here closer to the aisles means a partially obstructed view.

But the seats are just four quarters. You can’t beat that.

In order to get a Uecker Seat, you have to get in line and buy them at the box office, pay cash, and enter the ballpark directly after buying the ticket. If you have a group they need to be with you.

For a buck, you can see two-thirds of the field.

But once you’re in, you can stand just about anywhere, and many people simply move to a better seat during the game. But if you’re not close to the aisles, the view from the Uecker Seats can be perfectly acceptable (better than in the above photo, obviously).

The only caveat with the Uecker seats I have is this: for a high demand game, and the Brewers have quite a few of them, you will need to get in line early. This means you might not be able to enjoy the tailgating, and the smell of the sausages cooking may get to you.

Incidentally, the Brewers just added a statue of Uke sitting in the seats named for him. A great photo-op.

Don’t wait till you get to the ballpark to get your Milwaukee Brewers gear…
Order your caps, jerseys, and more now at MLBShop.com and save!

Click here to order your Brew Crew gear today!

Great view of the slide though.

Cheap Seats at Miller Park, Tip #2: Bernie’s Terrace. You should actually avoid Bernie’s Terrace, unless, of course, you just want to get into the ballpark cheaply.

The Bernie’s Terrace seats are so named for their proximity to the platform where mascot Bernie The Brewer sits. Bernie stands there during the game, waiting for a Brewer to knock one out of the park (or hit an inside-the-parker, as happened my last trip there).

When this happens, he slides down his slide onto the lower platform. It used to be into a vat of beer, but the Brewers became concerned about their image when moving into American Family Field (?) and cleaned it up a bit.

So sitting in the Bernie’s Terrace sections (441 and 442), you’d think you’d get a good close up view of Bernie sliding. Depending on where you are, you might or might not. But your real concern will be that the affable mascot’s platform creates a ridiculously obstructed view. Sitting in the upper rows of Section 442, you will lose almost half of the entire field to this.

Not to mention that you will be about as far from home plate as seats get at a Brewers game. Not a great way to watch a ballgame, so if you’re serious about seeing the game, you’ll want to avoid Bernie’s Terrace.

The nice thing is that next to the Uecker Seats, they are the cheapest tickets in the ballpark, cheaper than standing room even. And you can order the Bernie’s Terrace seats ahead of time from the Brewers’ website or box office.

Many people buy the cheap seats at American Family Field and just find a better place to sit. For lower attendance games, this is fairly easily done, so long as you don’t try to sit in a Field Level seat behind home plate. But you’ll have a much harder time doing this for a Cubs game or a weekend game.

Planning a trip to Milwaukee? Save a bunch of money on hotels, flights and rental cars…book your trip with my friends at Hotwire! (It’s still Kurt’s favorite!)

Click here to start booking your trip to Milwaukee and American Family Field today!

That’s just two great deals at Brewers games; there are a whole lot of other ways to save a few bucks.  Check out some more Brewers game tips here, including tailgating tips, parking tips, what to know bringing the kids, and this amazing list of Brewers game shuttles!

And be sure to Follow my Facebook page for great ballpark tips!

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When the Pale Hose struggle at the gate, there are numerous ways to find yourself some cheap White Sox tickets. Here are a few of my favorite tips.

They’re very nice people here, but check your inbox first.

Cheap White Sox Tickets, Tip #1) Get Team Ticket Alerts. I recommend this for every team, but the White Sox in particular offer very nice deals to their e-mail subscribers: monthly ballpark passes, flash sales of 200 or so tickets at a very nice price, and a “Sox Save of The Week”. No need to pay face price, especially when you can be flexible about when you go. Click here to sign up…

“I don’t know about the window with no line. What if it’s for farm vehicles?”

Cheap White Sox Tickets, Tip #2) Use The Box Office. Except for Opening Day and Cubs games, most White Sox games don’t sell out, and there’s no online fee for buying tickets at the box office. If you’re buying multiple tickets especially, the online fees add up, and they’re not necessary. Just go on game day and get tickets there.

You don’t have to work quite so hard to get in the ballpark.

Cheap White Sox Tickets, Tip #3) Donate Blood Or Something. The White Sox hold community events and they offer free or discounted tickets to charitable groups…more so than most teams. Check the community and group tickets section of their website, because you may find a great deal for philanthropic sorts.

My friends at TickPick have White Sox tickets…they offer a best price guarantee, a buyer’s trust guarantee, and NO service fees. Sounds like a no-brainer to me!

Get $10 off your first purchase with email sign-up!

Cheap White Sox Tickets, Bonus Tip!) Try TickPick! My friends at TickPick usually have great deals on White Sox tickets, and I’m not just saying that because they’re an affiliate of mine. Click here to check out their inventory of White Sox tickets…but remember that you can’t print them now. 

There’s three ways to save money on White Sox tickets, but there’s plenty more deals out there…stay tuned. If you’d like to know some things about seating here, check this out.

Planning a trip to Chicago? Save a bunch of money on hotels, flights and rental cars…book your trip with my friends at Hotwire! (It’s still Kurt’s favorite!)

Click here to start booking your trip to Chicago and Guaranteed Rate Field today!

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Here is my best Tropicana Field seating tip: Don’t pay more than you have to.

OK, let me start this by saying I don’t necessarily condone moving into a seat that you didn’t pay for. It really isn’t fair to people who did pay for those seats, especially when they are the premium seats that cost a second mortgage.

However, I don’t recall ever minding someone keeping a good seat warm that belonged to me, so long as they get out of it immediately and didn’t break wind too much.

My philosophy on moving to a better seat is this: it’s okay so long as you don’t get greedy. If there’s 10,000 people in the ballpark, and you move from a seat that’s in the upper level in the outfield to an upper level seat behind home plate, that’s not going to bother me.

If I paid for the Legends seats at Yankee Stadium and someone who bought a bleacher seat distracts an usher enough to sit next to me, I might not be too happy about that. And there are some premium spots on the Tropicana Field seating chart.

(continued below)

Chance of catching a foul ball: Excellent.

Anyway, to my point. The Rays average about 15,000 a night for most games. When the ballpark is barely half full on a good night, and if I wasn’t planning to sit in a premium seat, I would just get the cheapest ticket in the ballpark (which, at present, is for the tbt* Party Deck in left field) and move somewhere behind home plate out of everyone’s way.

In my last trip to the Trop my seat was behind home plate anyway, and it wasn’t too expensive. But the three of us moved around and checked the ballpark out from different perspectives (all part of the job) with no problem whatsoever. By the end of the Tampa Bay loss we were sitting in seats that probably cost three times what I paid.

My guess is that by the second or third inning, you can improve your lie to a much better seat, so long as you’re not trying to get the field level seats in the infield. Just be ready to move if the nice usher asks you to.

More about Tropicana Field:

Visiting Tropicana Field – Five Tips For Newbies

Free Parking at Tropicana Field

Three Foods to Try at Tropicana Field

The MLB Playoffs are here, and of the six division winners that have already punched their tickets to the postseason, only one…the Boston Red Sox of all teams…have seen a World Series championship since 1988.

Four of these teams haven’t even won a World Series in the ballpark they currently play in…that includes the Cubs…and two teams still haven’t grabbed a World Championship ring in their history. So playoff tickets will be in high demand.

Actually that’s a bit of an understatement. Cubs World Series tickets, should they make it, are starting at $2,000 for standing room.

It may be a little late for some of these tips to be useful, but file this away for next year, because if you’re seeking playoff tickets you can save a boatload of money by planning ahead:

1) Pay attention to the team newsletter.

You should always be signed up for a team’s ticket alert newsletter for any ballpark you plan to visit, of course, but the newsletter will let you know a) when season ticket holders can buy playoff tickets, since they will get first crack at it, and b) when the rest of us can buy tickets through the team, which will most certainly be cheaper than going through the markup.

Most teams give playoff ticket opportunities to folks who put down a deposit on a season ticket plan for the following season. This might be worth considering…you may want to get a friend or two in on it or sell your unwanteds on StubHub. If a team that hasn’t been good in a while suddenly goes deep into the playoffs, chances are good that tickets for the following season will go for much dough on the third party market.

But even if you have no season ticket aspirations, there will be some tickets still available through the team, and you’ll get an e-mail letting you know when they go on sale. You’ll have to be ready to jump on it as soon as they do, but the markup especially for teams like the Cubs will be significant…count on it being at least double the face price.

By the way, the team might hold a contest or an auction for playoff tickets, as the Cubs are doing…

2) Keep checking with the team.

It does happen; players and officials return their extras. Maybe not as much for critical games, but you never know. The point is to remember that playoff tickets especially will almost always be cheaper going through the team than through an agency or a third party.

3) Go for the “if necessary” games.

In my searches I noticed that when teams are making division series tickets available, the tickets for the first two “necessary” games go far more quickly than the game five or whatever tickets. So look into this option if you don’t absolutely have to go; you’re more likely to land a better seat at face price.

The team will refund whatever amount you pay for games that don’t get played (I presume that includes the fees), small consolation for missing the playoff game, but at least it’s safe.

4) Remember the third party market rules.

If you have to go through StubHub or TickPick rather than through the team, you’ll be paying more, obviously, but you at least don’t have to submit to the team’s season ticket demands.

Remember basic rules for using third party sellers: wait until about 2-5 days before the event to pick up tickets, or till the last minute if it isn’t that important to you, and be ready to snap up a good deal if one appears (hard to gauge, I know, just be realistic).

Also, be sure to go all the way to the checkout screen to compare prices; TickPick includes the fees in the displayed cost, but StubHub does not, and you may be very surprised at the difference between ticket prices in similar sections.

You can set alerts on StubHub, but thus far that hasn’t worked very well for me recently. Couldn’t hurt though.

5) Be extra wary of scalpers and Craigslist.

I’ve written before about buying tickets on Craigslist and the potential for fraud, and how it’s generally not worth worrying about being scammed. It’s the same with scalpers. There are some things to know dealing with both, but the large majority of the time they are legit.

During the playoffs, though, when the stakes are higher and the costs of tickets skyrocket, you will occasionally read stories about scalpers and people on Craigslist selling fake tickets. I’m betting we may hear a story about this in Chicago. Just be extra careful.

6) Consider going on the road.

Let’s say you’re a die-hard Cubs fan who can’t put a second mortgage on their house to see a postseason game at Wrigley. Why not look into a trip to D.C.? Or L.A.? Or for that matter, Detroit? The Tigers could still make it as I write this, and we could see a World Series between two teams that are just a four-hour drive apart.

Since you’re reading this now for next season, if you think going to see your heroes on the road might actually be cheaper than seeing your team at home, sometime in mid-August…mark August 15 on your calendar…you should subscribe to the team newsletters of any team you think might make the playoffs. Remember, tickets will almost always be cheaper through the team.

Again, these tips may probably only be slightly helpful now, but if you want to get playoff tickets without losing your shirt, most likely you’ll have to plan well ahead anyway (I’ll re-post this earlier next time). So look into splitting a season ticket deal with a friend (you should probably share the postseason tickets too, just saying), subscribe to team alerts, and get your best practices on with StubHub.