Bars and Restaurants - After the game

The bars in Target Field stay open an hour after the game.  Although alcohol sales cut off in the park in the 8th inning, what they told me is that they still serve beer, etc. after that...it's just that you can't take it out of the bar after that time.  (As long as you don't mind still paying the $7 for a beer...it saves you fighting the crowd, but the better prices would be in the Warehouse District).

Until that time, you should be able to buy a beer and take it back to your seat.  And so far, it looks like Hrbek's may be the best location from the Diamond Box seats to find a Summit tap. (And no line)

Metropolitan Club

A reminder - holding a season ticket (any of our tickets) for a game gives you access that day to the Metropolitan Club.  This is different from the Legends Club...this is the large 2-level glass-enclosed area in the RF corner.

See the Twins website for more details.

Note - if you're looking to try out the buffet, you'll likely need reservations.  And you'll need the account number for the season ticket account to place them.  That number is printed on the tickets.  It looks like after the 4th inning, the menu becomes ala carte and I don't think you need a reservation for that? (may need to ask...it looks like the 2nd seating reservation is good for the remainder of the game).

For in-game dining, the 2nd seating, there are some seats that allow you to see the field (including some outside), but otherwise there are monitors for the other seats.

If you're not eating, you should be able to walk in and look around...and go to the bar for a drink.  I guess if it's completely full they may not allow that.  But on Sunday, Steve and I went up there and got in with no problem.

If you're just planning to go to the bar and there's a big line...don't walk away immediately - that could be the line of people waiting for their dinner reservations.  Walk up and see if they'll let you in.

Suggestion - due to the crowd choking point of people entering the stadium at the 2 gates coming from the Target Plaza area, if you're sitting in the 3B seats you might want to go up the escalators on the 3B side and work your way around that way.

What Happens on a Rainout?

If a game is rained out, what do you do with your tickets?  Couldn't really find any specific information until it actually happened...this is kind of what I assumed:

• There are no refunds or exchanges.  The ticket you hold will be good for the rescheduled game.  Only that game.
• If there's a doubleheader, the plans are for there to be 2 separate admissions - a "day/night" doubleheader.  Gone are the days when you get 2 games for the price of one (until they stop getting near sellouts for each game, I imagine).
• In a doubleheader situation, your ticket is for the added game, the people who had tickets to the originally scheduled time keep that original game.

If a game is completely cancelled and not rescheduled, then there are refunds, but it looks like it may just be a credit to the season ticket account...or maybe to my credit card.  We'll work that out if it happens.  I did hear some murmurs about working out a policy for refunds if you couldn't use the ticket on the rescheduled date...at this point I wouldn't count on that.

Here is the press release for the rainout of May 7 that describes this.  The Twins website is probably the best place to find this info, but it will also get out in the media once a postponement occurs.

And the general listing of the policy

Photos from Target Field

We had a limited number of tickets to a Target Field open house this weekend - this is going to be so cool...

Too bad that grass was covered, but here are views from our seating locations...
(Click on photo for larger image)

Legends Club - Section G, Row 5, 14-17

Diamond Box - Section 121, Row 3, 1-4

Field Box - Section 103, Row 7, 21-24

Game Selection - How it Works

This is essentially how seat selection has worked since about 2002 or 2003, but always behind the scenes when you submitted me your lists.  With live game selection, it will work the same way - the idea is to give people who have bought the most tickets a better chance at being picked, but to cycle through everyone so that everybody can get at least 2-3 of their top priority picks for the summer.

The Basics:
You get one "name in the hat" for every ticket you've purchased for the season (although it's done using the random number generator in Excel).

In a simplified example, say we have 60 tickets.

• Jon has purchased 20
• Andy has 30
• Mike has 5
• Kate has 5

Jon has 20 of the possible 60 chances for being picked - a 33% chance
Andy has a 50% chance of his name being selected
Mike and Kate each have an 8% chance.

For our group this season, we have about 846 tickets in play (we're not counting the Legends Club seat owners).  If you've purchased 20 tickets, you have a 2.4% chance to be selected at any time...The top purchaser is 60 tickets, who will have a 7.1% chance.

Cycling through picks:

• We pick a random name and that person gets to choose his/her desired game, seat location, and number of tickets.
• We pick another random name, but if we pick the same person again, we ignore him/her until everyone in the group has their first game.

In the example above, let's say we pick Mike first and he chooses his game.  But Mike doesn't get another chance to pick a game (even if we pull his name again) until Jon, Andy, and Kate get their first selection.

So that the people who have the most games are not left with the dregs of the schedule we:

• Do 3 rounds where everyone gets one game before we move on.
• 2 rounds where everyone gets a maximum of two games before we move on.
• From there on, it's strictly random.
• (I may adjust this slightly before 3/27, but I played around with this for awhile with the big group and I think it will work OK.)

Though there are many more people this season (around 40 or so in the selection process), the reality is that you're not all competing for the same sections of seats, so I'm guessing it's going to work pretty close to past years.  People with low-percentage chances are often picked early in rounds.  Very few people are left with tickets that they just can't use.  And most likely, the people who will have the toughest time filling out their selections are those who run out of listed choices (and are not present) or are looking specifically for one section only and/or all 4-ticket games.

Some minor details on the mechanics of this can be explained next Saturday.

Target Field Open House - March 27

Saturday March 27th
Tickets $2 on sale at Target Field starting at 8 AM
Gates open at 9 AM

Our ticket selection meeting is at noon.

Limited to 25,000 tickets.
Twins Press Release

Legends Club Ticket Availablity - 2010

If you have Legends Club Tickets....

Twins Schedule
2010 Promotional Schedule

A reminder that 2 people in the group put up the money for these tickets and so they get first shot at the games.  Use the list below as a guide for what's still open as you decide which games you want.

Date      Opp    Time      Seats Available
Wed 4/14  Bos    12:10 PM    2
Thu 4/15  Bos    12:10 PM    4
Fri 4/16  KC     7:10 PM     4
Sat 4/17  KC     12:10 PM    4
Sun 4/18  KC     1:10 PM     4
Tue 4/20  Cle    7:10 PM     4
Thu 4/22  Cle    12:10 PM    2

Date      Opp    Time      Seats Available
Mon 5/3   Det    7:10 PM     4
Tue 5/4   Det    7:10 PM     2
Wed 5/5   Det    12:10 PM    2
Fri 5/7   Bal    7:10 PM     4
Sat 5/8   Bal    12:10 PM    4
Sun 5/9   Bal    1:10 PM     4
Wed 5/12  CWS    12:10 PM    2
Fri 5/21  Mil    7:10 PM     4
Sat 5/22  Mil    3:10 PM     4
Sun 5/23  Mil    1:10 PM     2
Tue 5/25  NYY    7:10 PM     4
Thu 5/27  NYY    7:10 PM     4
Fri 5/28  Tex    7:10 PM     4
Sat 5/29  Tex    3:10 PM     4
Sun 5/30  Tex    7:05 PM     4

Date      Opp    Time      Seats Available
Tue 6/8   KC     7:10 PM     4
Thu 6/10  KC     7:10 PM     4
Fri 6/11  Atl    7:10 PM     4
Tue 6/15  Col    7:10 PM     4
Wed 6/16  Col    7:10 PM     4
Tue 6/29  Det    7:10 PM     4
Wed 6/30  Det    12:10 PM    2

Date      Opp    Time      Seats Available
Fri 7/2   TB     7:10 PM     2
Sat 7/3   TB     3:10 PM     2
Sun 7/4   TB     1:10 PM     4
Thu 7/15  CWS    7:10 PM     4
Fri 7/16  CWS    7:10 PM     4
Sun 7/18  CWS    1:10 PM     4
Tue 7/20  Cle    7:10 PM     4
Wed 7/21  Cle    12:10 PM    2
Fri 7/30  Sea    7:10 PM     4
Sat 7/31  Sea    3:10 PM     2

Date      Opp    Time      Seats Available
Sun 8/1   Sea    1:10 PM     4
Fri 8/13  Oak    7:10 PM     4
Sat 8/14  Oak    6:10 PM     4
Tue 8/17  CWS    7:10 PM     2
Thu 8/19  CWS    7:10 PM     4
Fri 8/20  LAA    7:10 PM     4
Sun 8/22  LAA    1:10 PM     2

Date      Opp    Time      Seats Available
Thu 9/2   Det    7:10 PM     4
Fri 9/3   Tex    7:10 PM     4
Sat 9/4   Tex    3:10 PM     4
Sun 9/5   Tex    1:10 PM     4
Tue 9/7   KC     7:10 PM     4
Fri 9/17  Oak    7:10 PM     2
Sat 9/18  Oak    12:10 PM    4
Sun 9/19  Oak    1:10 PM     4
Mon 9/20  Cle    7:10 PM     4
Tue 9/21  Cle    7:10 PM     4

Date      Opp    Time      Seats Available
Fri 10/1  Tor    7:10 PM     2
Sat 10/2  Tor    12:10 PM    4
Sun 10/3  Tor    1:10 PM     2

2010 Game Selection - Send me your lists!

Twins Schedule
2010 Promotional Schedule

Game selection will happen on Saturday March 27.  If you're unable to attend, you'll need to send me the list of games that you want.  As a backup, even if you're coming on the 27th, you still might want to send me a list in case something happens and you can't make it at the last minute.

Even if you don't send me a list and intend to be there on March 27...come prepared with a list so that we can get through the selection process more quickly!

Please send me lists no later than Friday March 26.  I will likely print out the emails and take them with me.  It's better if you send to me earlier than 3/26 so that I can follow up with questions if I need to.

Please consider at least one weekday afternoon game - particularly if you have Club or Diamond Box seats (we have some flexibility in Field Box).  These were typically the toughest to get rid of in the Dome, and maybe now that they are outside, that won't be a problem.  But we no longer have the luxury of trade ins.  I used to trade in unused day game seats for handicapped access seats to other games or other games for myself, but that's not happening this season.

I had thought about making everyone liable for at least one day game - and if you couldn't make it you'd need to sell the tickets, but let's see how it plays out this season.  But it's not going to be fair if the people with the most ticket requests - and thus still picking games after you might be done with your 5-6 games - to be on the hook for all the remaining day games if they don't want them either.

Reminder - the Home Opener is not available

How to ask for games -

• It's pretty free form - you can ask for specific dates or something like "one game in the final series of the season" or "one Sunday game each month"
• The more specific information you give me the better.
• If you'd like to see Cleveland any game April 19-21, and you have a top preference for which day, you can list the days in the order you want them.
• Put them in priority order.  If you list them in chronological order, that's the way you'll get placed (though I may try to get you into a high-demand game first).
• You can list an alternate selection for a pick.  Perhaps you list Wed. May 26 vs New York as your top pick and if you don't get that, your next choice would be Saturday May 22 vs. Milwaukee.  (But if you get the Yankees, I'd ignore that Milwaukee pick the next time your name came up).
• In lieu of a specific alternate for a game, you can list more games than you have tickets.  So, if you're getting 5 games, maybe you send me 10 games in priority order.  When it's your turn, I take the top game still left on your list.
• Make sure you check game times - so if you are asking for a Thursday afternoon game, that's what you really want.
• Please list the number of seats you want for the game - we have up to 4.  If you're flexible for a particular date, you could list "2 or 4" (or "4 or 2", if 4 is the first preference).
• If you're getting only blocks of 4 tickets, keep in mind that as the games start getting picked over, it begins to get harder to place you in your preferred games.

An added point of difficulty this year.  Many of you have tickets in more than one section.  You're going to have to tell me what section you want...and if the tickets are gone in the section you want, is it OK to put you in a different section for the same game?  If you are saying "4 tickets, but 2 if that's all that's available" you'll also need to signify if getting 2 in your desired section is more important or getting 4 in a different section.  (This is why being there live is such a good thing).

I'll reiterate that it's much better for you to list more games than you have tickets.  If we run out of your game selections, I stop trying to place you in games...you'll need to submit another list after I send you the remaining open games when we're done.

Yankees, Red Sox, and Brewers are historically the highest-demand games.  If you're listing them, you should definitely have alternates and/or extra games listed.  It will be even tougher for Red Sox tickets because it's the opening series.

Let me know if you have questions - good luck.

Seat Selection Meeting - March 27

Park Tavern - St. Louis Park
Sat 3/27: Noon - 4?

More details about a week before

Some Tickets Open - but group closed

We have some Field Box tickets still open, but I decided not to add anyone else to the group for the time being - I think I reached my limit (or maybe a bit beyond!) in the overhead needed for so many people.  Plus, this gives us some flexibility during game selection and also when we come back to giving numbers for 2011 tickets.  (I had a friend or two wavering on joining...I'll let them in if they decide).

If anyone wants to add to their previous purchase, I can do that.  And then at the end I'll have extra tickets that I'm sure I'll have no problem selling.

We are fully paid...we were on a 5-month payment plan and I needed every bit of that as we found buyers for tickets all the way through January (plus the extra for the unsold tickets I had to kick in).

UPDATE: 2010 Availability - Field Box Seats Remain for Target Field

Original Post 1/6/10 - Updated numbers 1/27/10:

Our group has 3 sets of seats in Target Field - all in blocks of 4.  See the original post for a description of all the seats, but right now, we only have availability in one section - Field Box.  If you get into the group this season, you will be able to get seats in the other sections in future seasons and it's possible that there will be some shifting around that opens up some this year.

Prices listed are season-ticket package prices, which in the Dome were $5-10 below face value.  You will save money by purchasing into the group.

Current availability (1/27/10): 55 Tickets     31 tickets
You can request them in groups of 2s or 4s for games.
We pick actual games in March - just need total number of tickets now.

Master seating chart - and see photo below in the Sept. 2 posting.

Field Box Seats

$29 each
Section 103, Row 7, Seats 21-24
On the aisle closest to home plate
Right field line - faces the video scoreboard.  In the sun for early afternoon during mid-summer.
3-D View simulation from the seats


Just across the aisle, tickets in "Diamond Box" cost $38
Here we're 7 rows from the field down the right field line. The seats are turned toward the infield.

99 Days

Thanks to the Twins Calendar from Fan Appreciation Weekend and the handy "Countdown to Target Field" on each day, we're 99 days away from Boston vs. Minnesota.

So, time to deal with 2 things:

Remaining Tickets:
There are still some open tickets: 6 Legends Club seats ($55) and 67 55 Field Box tickets ($29 each).  I'll probably put another ad up on Craigslist soon, but I'd rather go through the current group:

• Do you want more tickets?
• Do you have friends/family who would like to join?
• Do you want to buy extras as an "investment"?

Contact me for details.

Game Selection:
See the posting below from 11/26 about getting together in person to pick games in March.  There's a poll over on the right side of this blog that lets you answer "Yes/No/Maybe" if you think you would participate.  I'm definitely leaning toward "Yes."  If there appears to be enough interest, I'll start working on setting up a date/location later in January.  We're probably looking at either the weekend of March 19-21 or March 26-28.  If you already have a preference, let me know (though I'll probably end up asking again).

Note: If we do it live and you aren't interested in attending or can't make it, that's not a problem - you can just submit a list of desired games to me and I'll handle it as we've always done it.  The benefit of attending would be to make adjustments on the fly when your original choices get filled by someone else first.