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A Non-Refundable Deposit For Pirates Playoff Tickets? WHERE DO I SIGN!?

Jul 1, 2010, 5:35 PM UTC

â†µâ†µPortraying it as an opportunity for fans to make a proactive push for playoff seats for their favorite team, Major League Baseball has come up with a concept called Postseason Ticket Reservations. Basically, a fan can place a relatively small deposit on a specific playoff game. If the team does in fact play in that game, the reserved fan automatically gets to buy up to two tickets at face value for the game.â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥The cost for each transaction is $10 for the Division Series, $15 for the League Championship Series and $20 for the World Series. The maximum purchase for each game is two reservations per household per team per series. So it would cost $90 now if you wanted to reserve two tickets for one game of all three possible postseason rounds, for example.â†µâ†µOh, but there are a few critical catches at play here. â†µ
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â†µFirst and most importantly, if your team fails to make the postseason, you don’t get a refund. Nothing. Ditto even if your team makes the playoffs, but the series concludes before the game you reserved. For example, say you got a reservation to Game 6, but the series ended in five games, you get nothing.â†µ
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â†µAmusingly enough, the Yankees are the one team that this service is unavailable for. Not that it matters. I mean, c’mon, like they’re ever going to make the postseason.â†µ
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Also, there’s no mention of where exactly your reserved seat will be in the stadium, meaning you take on the risk but are possibly rewarded with the chance to pay out for a nosebleed seat.â†µ
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â†µThat makes all this sound like a bit of a money grab. Possibly because it is one. But MLB is far more content to fob it off as an investment in success, a duty-bound gesture made to show your bona fides as a true believer.
â†µâ†µâ‡¥Think of it as investing in futures. Sure, there is some degree of chance involved.â†µâ†µChance, huh? Why, that almost sounds like gambling. But that can’t be. Such exercises in moral turpitude would only serve to sully the game itself. Just kidding. Don’t worry. They’re couching it as an investment in playoff futures and as everyone knows, playing the stock market is nothing at all like gambling.â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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