Open Thread for Ticket Discussion

Let's see if this works...if you're looking to trade out of tickets, post a comment and we can go from there.

For Diamond Box and Field Box trades - I can transfer tickets via email and you print yourself.  This renders the hard copy tickets void and null.
I cannot do that with Legends Club tickets, sorry.

What I know that we're trying to move at this time (4/9/12 9:45 AM)

• Thurs 4/12 - LA - Noon - 2 Legends Club
• Sat 4/14 - Texas - Noon - 4 Field Box
• Wed 7/18 - Baltimore - 7 PM - 2 Diamond Box
• Fri 9/28 - Detroit - 7 PM - 2 Diamond Box
• Fri 9/28 - Detroit - 7 PM - 2 Field Box

Open Tickets as of March 1

I'd like to try to sell these off without adding too many new people to the group.

Want to take some more games in 2012?
Maybe you can get above the 30-ticket mark to get bonus picks (see below)
Maybe a friend of yours wants tickets without buying the 10-ticket minimum to get into the group.
Maybe you're looking for a good gift for someone.
Maybe you can help out by buying a few tickets as an investment and resell them via StubHub.

Available as of 3/1/12 7 AM:
8 Legends Club tickets @ $58 each (Section G, Row 5)
6 Diamond Box tickets @ $40 each (Section 121, Row 3)
22 Field Box tickets @ $31 each (Section 103, Row 7)

2012 Game Picking - Process Recap - March 24

A reminder that we meet on Saturday March 24 at Park Tavern in St. Louis Park.
1:30-5 PM

Below, there are two posts about changes in the game-picking process in 2012 - See information about bonus picks for people who take afternoon games and for people/groups with large accounts.

Here's the full process for picking games March 24:
Reminder - a "Game" is 2 or 4 tickets in one section however you choose to break it out.

I'll pre-draw the random names (at least through Round 4) and send them out to you ahead of time to make the day go faster.

1. Place people in selected weekday afternoon games.
2. Random drawing for people who took weekday afternoon games.  1-game bonus pick.
3. Round 1: Random drawing - everybody gets 1 game
4. If necessary, 2nd bonus pick for afternoon games.
5. Round 2: Random drawing - everybody gets 1 game
6. Bonus Pick A for people who have 30+ tickets
7. If necessary, 3rd bonus pick for afternoon games.
8. Round 3: Random drawing - everybody gets maximum of 2 games
9. Bonus Pick B for people who have 30+ tickets
10. Round 4: Random drawing - everybody gets maximum of 2 games
11. Round 5 - Full random - we pick until we run out of people who need games.

There's also a slight variation in the number of games per round.
By comparison, 2011 was:
Round 1 - everyone gets 1 game
Round 2 - everyone gets 1 game
Round 3 - everyone gets 1 game
Round 4 - everyone gets 2 games
Round 5 - everyone gets 2 games
Round 6 - full random

Quick recap of how many people are picking in each seating section
You're not competing against the entire group during the selection process.
Legends Club: 18 (after the 2 seat owners take out their tickets)
Diamond Box: 25
Field Box: 26

Keep in mind most of the bigger accounts are crossing sections, so that full number will almost never be picking in the same seat category as you in any given round.

2012 Game Picking - Incentive to Take Weekday Afternoon Games

Some changes upcoming in how we pick games this year.

First -
There were a lot of leftover weekday afternoon games last season and short of forcing everyone in the group to take one or more of those games, I've set up some incentive to entice you into taking one of them...

If you take one of these games, you'll get a bonus game pick before we start the picking process:
Thur Apr 12 vs LAA
Tue 5/15 vs Cle
Wed 5/30 vs Oak
Thur 7/19 vs Bal
Thur 8/30 vs Sea

All 5 games start at 12:10 PM.

Afternoon games are usually easier to fill in the middle of summer, but I've thrown in Baltimore since it's a 4-game series.  The Yankees game on September 26 is not included in this offer.

If you take tickets to one of these games, you'll get a pick of another game before anyone else chooses in Round 1 of the picking.  We'll draw names randomly to choose the order of that bonus pick.

If you take tickets for more than one of these games, you'll get an extra bonus pick before the start of each round to match the number of games you take.

More details coming if you decide you want to do it - I'll send out an email in a couple weeks to ask for your response/plans.

2012 Game Picking - Bonus Picks for Large Accounts

Second change in game picking.

People who had large amounts of tickets were stuck with limited choices in filling out their final games.  This isn't about people with 40+ tickets having to see KC instead of New York - but avoiding them needing to repeatedly squeeze 2-3 games in the same series and with multiple weekday afternoon games.  In one case at least, the only way I could fit somebody in was that he had to get 6-8 tickets on the same day in different sections.

Also with the "new car smell" off of Target Field, April and September games were hard to fill in 2011 leaving it up to final 3-4 people to fill many of their games then.

As it stands now, we have 37 people/groups picking games in 2012 and it was 34 last year - and it's much more skewed this year to people getting only 3-5 games.

So - Anyone who has 30+ tickets to use will get 2 bonus picks during the process.  This is also incentive to sell the remaining tickets without adding any new people to the group (and thus more pickers).

Round 1 - everybody gets 1 game
Round 2 - everybody gets 1 game
Bonus A - people with 30+ tickets get a bonus pick of one game
Round 3 - everybody gets 2 games
Bonus B - another bonus game pick for people with 30+ tickets

And then we keep going with additional rounds...

I'm attempting to find middle ground here.  Everyone will have 2 games before the first of the bonus picks take place.  Everyone will have 4 games - and several people will already be done picking, before the 2nd bonus pick.

Anyone who has fewer than 30 tickets who wants to pick up some of the extra slack to get above 30 can do so.  Maybe you give them away, maybe you sell them on StubHub if you can't use them yourself.  Or create your own mini-group...maybe you have a friend who wants in but doesn't want to buy the 10-ticket minimum to get into the group.

8 Legends Club, 6 Diamond Box, and 22 Field Box tickets remain as of 3/1/12 7 AM.

Close to 30:
Brad - 26
Garrett - 28
Jacob - 28
Jon Taxdahl - 28
Tom - 26

There are several people in the 20-24 range too.

Over 30 and eligible for the bonus rounds:
Jon Swanson - 44
Andy - 58
Dave - 30
Jamie - 38
Jeff Webb - 56
John Schultz - 34
Josh - 38
Mark Caspers - 32

2012 Legends Club Seat Availability

If you have Legends Club seats in 2012, these are the available seats to start off with after Ray and Andy took out their games.  Please use this as a guide in your game selection - don't ask for a game that's already gone or 4 seats where only 2 are available.


It's fully your choice and not mandatory - but if you're in a situation where you're looking for only 2 tickets and don't care about a specific date, think about taking a game that already has 2 seats gone as we have a number of people trying to fill 4 seats at a time.  For example, if you want to go the weekend of April 28-29 and you don't care whether it's Saturday or Sunday, consider taking the 2 tickets available on Saturday rather than blocking the Sunday game 4-ticket opening from somebody trying to place 4 together.


Date     Team   Time     # of Club Seats Available  Promo
Mon 4/9  LAA    3:10 PM             2               Magnet Schedule - All fans
Wed 4/11 LAA    7:10 PM             4               Magnet Schedule - 20K
Thu 4/12 LAA   12:10 PM             4               Magnet Schedule - 20K
Fri 4/13 Tex    7:10 PM             4               Poster Schedule - 20K
Sat 4/14 Tex   12:10 PM           None              Poster Schedule - 20K
Sun 4/15 Tex    1:10 PM           None              Poster Schedule - 20K / Jackie Robinson Day
Mon 4/23 Bos    7:10 PM             4               Umbrella - 10K
Tue 4/24 Bos    7:10 PM           None
Wed 4/25 Bos    7:10 PM             4               Drawstring Backpack - 20K
Fri 4/27 KC     7:10 PM             4               Fishing Lure - 5K Adults
Sat 4/28 KC    12:10 PM             2               Energy Efficient Light Bulb - All fans
Sun 4/29 KC     1:10 PM             4               Ben Revere Bat - 5K 14 and younger

Date     Team   Time     # of Club Seats Available  Promo
Mon 5/7  LAA    7:10 PM           None
Tue 5/8  LAA    7:10 PM             2
Wed 5/9  LAA    7:10 PM             4
Thu 5/10 Tor    7:10 PM             2
Fri 5/11 Tor    7:10 PM             4
Sat 5/12 Tor    6:10 PM             2               Cap - 20K
Sun 5/13 Tor    1:10 PM             4               Mother's Day Pink Pashmina - 10K Female
Mon 5/14 Cle    7:10 PM           None
Tue 5/15 Cle   12:10 PM             2
Fri 5/25 Det    7:10 PM             4               Fireworks
Sat 5/26 Det    1:10 PM             4               Cowboy Hat - 10K
Sun 5/27 Det    1:10 PM             4
Mon 5/28 Oak    1:10 PM             4
Tue 5/29 Oak    7:10 PM             2
Wed 5/30 Oak   12:10 PM             2

Date     Team   Time     # of Club Seats Available  Promo
Fri 6/8  ChC    7:10 PM             4
Sat 6/9  ChC    1:10 PM           None
Sun 6/10 ChC    1:10 PM             4               Joe Mauer Kids Jersey - 5K 14 and younger / Hope Week
Tue 6/12 Phi    7:10 PM             2               Hope Week
Wed 6/13 Phi    7:10 PM           None              Hope Week
Thu 6/14 Phi    7:10 PM             4               Hope Week
Fri 6/15 Mil    7:10 PM             4               Hope Week
Sat 6/16 Mil    1:10 PM             2               Hope Week
Sun 6/17 Mil    1:10 PM           None              Mascot Softball / Father's Day Golf Club Head Cover - 10K Male
Mon 6/25 CWS    7:10 PM             4
Tue 6/26 CWS    7:10 PM           None
Wed 6/27 CWS   12:10 PM             2
Fri 6/29 KC     7:10 PM             4
Sat 6/30 KC     6:10 PM             4               Turn Back the Clock / Mpls Millers Pennant - 20K

Date     Team   Time     # of Club Seats Available  Promo
Sun 7/1  KC     1:10 PM             4               Armed Services Appreciation Day
Fri 7/13 Oak    7:10 PM           None
Sat 7/14 Oak    6:10 PM             4               Twins HOF Camilo Pascual Induction / HOF Pin - 5K
Sun 7/15 Oak    1:10 PM           None              Cap - 20K
Mon 7/16 Bal    7:10 PM             4
Tue 7/17 Bal    7:10 PM           None
Wed 7/18 Bal    7:10 PM             4
Thu 7/19 Bal   12:10 PM             2
Fri 7/27 Cle    7:10 PM           None              Fireworks
Sat 7/28 Cle    6:10 PM             4
Sun 7/29 Cle    1:10 PM             4               Bike and Walk to the Ballpark
Mon 7/30 CWS    7:10 PM             4
Tue 7/31 CWS    7:10 PM             2

Date     Team   Time     # of Club Seats Available  Promo
Wed 8/1  CWS   12:10 PM             2
Fri 8/10 TB     7:10 PM           None              Fireworks
Sat 8/11 TB     6:10 PM           None              Back to School Item TBD
Sun 8/12 TB     1:10 PM           None              Back to School Item TBD
Mon 8/13 Det    7:10 PM             2
Tue 8/14 Det    7:10 PM             2               Beach Towel - 10K
Wed 8/15 Det   12:10 PM             2
Mon 8/27 Sea    7:10 PM             4
Tue 8/28 Sea    7:10 PM             2
Wed 8/29 Sea    7:10 PM           None              Celebrate Diversity / Twins Territory Mug - 5K
Thu 8/30 Sea   12:10 PM             2

Date     Team   Time     # of Club Seats Available  Promo
Fri 9/7  Cle    7:10 PM             4
Sat 9/8  Cle    6:10 PM             4               Tom Kelly Day
Sun 9/9  Cle    1:10 PM             4
Mon 9/10 Cle    7:10 PM           None
Tue 9/11 KC     7:10 PM             2
Wed 9/12 KC     7:10 PM             2
Thu 9/13 KC     7:10 PM             2
Fri 9/14 CWS    7:10 PM             4               Outdoor Bomber Cap - 10K
Sat 9/15 CWS   12:10 PM             4               Roberto Clemente Day
Sun 9/16 CWS    1:10 PM             4
Mon 9/24 NYY    7:10 PM           None
Tue 9/25 NYY    7:10 PM             2
Wed 9/26 NYY   12:10 PM             2
Fri 9/28 Det    7:10 PM             2               Fan Appreciation Weekend
Sat 9/29 Det   12:10 PM             4               Fan Appreciation Weekend
Sun 9/30 Det    1:10 PM             2               Kids Appreciation Day