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.

Live Game Selection? Making Sausage...

In the past, I've collected game requests, compiled them, and sat down over a weekend to dole out the results and that's worked pretty well.

This year - with more people and the added complication of different seat locations, this is starting to look a lot harder.  The initial choices aren't so bad, but there's a whole new level on moving to alternates (is the seat location more important or the game date?).

I'm contemplating trying to organize a gathering for seat selection to allow you to request and adjust on the fly - and to save me from making those types of decisions.  I'm thinking maybe a Saturday in March (maybe the 2nd week of the NCAAs so there's something on the tube too) - and have started scouting around for places with a meeting room (my place definitely won't hold us) - I've already found at least one that's free.

There's a little bit of "do you really want to see how the sausage is made?" aspect to this...like when people are flexible on dates, they might get shifted around a little bit after I first put them into a game to help me fit everything in later on...or when someone says "that Sat. night is my kid's birthday" they might get a little "help" in getting that date.  But if you're up for sitting around for...I have no idea how long this will take...it might be fun.

For now, I've posted a poll on the blog - look in the upper right corner.  Instead of replying to me on this via email, vote Yes/No/Maybe on the poll to give me a feel for what people want to do.  You can add any comments or suggestions to this blog post too to give me some ideas.

Exhibition Games at Target Field

There are 2 exhibition games on April 2 & 3 vs. St. Louis that were "included" in our season ticket plan.

"Included?"
"Wow," I thought, "we got something as a bonus!"

Not so fast...I finally figured out that the invoice totals didn't quite match what I had been expecting.  They aren't free (but they're 8-10 bucks cheaper than normal).

The official home opener is spoken for already...but these tickets will go up for grabs in a random draw sometime over the winter.  I'll be in touch with more details when the time comes.