10 Ways To Buy Cheap Chicago Cubs Tickets | Wrigley Field

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, the best ways to get there, 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 Gametime (full disclosure: they’re my affiliate), because they very often have the best deals, they curate all of their best offers, and they’re fantastic for last minute tickets, which I’ll talk about in a bit.

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 Gametime 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.)
 

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 Gametime, 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…they even offer deals after the game starts, great if you’re late anyway.

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!

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