RealGM

Is it possible or are the ushers too strict ?

What kind of "techniques" do you use for successful seat hopping ?

Buy better seats.

i've done it but i'm sure that ushers do pay attention.

Nice thread. I find its important obviously to scope the seats first, make sure noone is sitting there.

has anyone ever been caught? if so were u just escored back to your seats or were you kicked out?

Relatively simple. So long as you're smart about it.

i tried this at the atlanta game. im sure it is more difficult at elite games and that is why i didnt try against the lakers. i sat at the upper bowl during the atlanta game and wathced the lower bowl looking for a seat. i then went to the section, easiest at the air canada club area where there are usually no ushers. just walk in go to a seat and sit down and hope not to be caught. unfortunately an usher came up and said are these your seats. i dont know how he knew maybe somebody saw us but we just said no we are in the upper bowl and walked away. very rarely will you get kicked out of the game it hink.

I've done it lots of times and never got caught. I just look for good lower bowl seats that nobody sits in the entire first half, if they aint there by half they aint coming. Got right behind the visiting bench once without an issue.

haha, i'm the right guy to talk to about this. I do it pretty much every game. This is how to effectively 'sneak down'.
Early in the 2nd quarter, find some open seats(however many are needed for you and your party). Keep an eye on these seats for the rest of the 2nd quarter to make sure that they are in fact open. It's preferrable if the seats are surrounded by people sitting in seats. If it's just a completely open row of seats, it looks suspicious, and good chance the usher will question your tickets. Also, it's preferrable if the seats are closer to the middle of the row, and not the last 2 seats in the row. Good chance the usher will have noticed those open seats, and being the last couple seats in the rown, it's extremely easy for the usher to question your tickets. If your sitting in the middle of a crowded row, even if the usher suspects you, he might not bother questioning you tickets. Now, you should go to the open seats at halftime, while a lot of people are walking in and out from each section. Get to your seats, relax, act natural, don't look at the usher, and you should be ok.

so during half time is the best time? do the ushers go on a break or something?

Thats the only problem I find. Knowing when the usher isnt gonna be standing there, checking tickets.

I go to Oracle Arena in Oakland on Thursday to see Bulls play Warriors. What I do is this: I buy a ticket in balcony & watch game from there in first half.

i observe which floor- level seats are empty - and just occupy one at halftime. In some cases, a person may come & say "That's my seat". If so, just leave & find another.

Ushers check tickets at various entrances before the game but they dont re-check before the third quarter

At times, the ushers in the lower bowl write down the empty seats that are in their section, and they check them throughout the game to make sure no one has come down.

I strongly dislike people not sitting in their proper seats. I have had numerous parts of games ruined because an entire row had to be rearranged.

But I am also nervous to break any kind of law, so that is where I am coming from.

I hate it when I get up at half time and come back to my seats and seeing 2 clowns sitting there looking at me like I did something wrong.....it happened once already this season, twice last year.

Alot of Ushers actually keep track of what seats are empty...

So after half time they know which seats to look for.
If its not a premier game and when you enter in the tunnel and head for the reds you prob wont get into trouble...but if you head as close to the court as you can..you most likely will get nipped.

best thing is to wait and see if anyone leaves at halftime and doesnt come back

I've got season seats in the Ice box, I have not gotten to my seats once this year when there was not someone in my seats....always the same "these are real seats?" some how they miss the number in front of their face!

peteyjones13 wrote:haha, i'm the right guy to talk to about this. I do it pretty much every game. This is how to effectively 'sneak down'.
Early in the 2nd quarter, find some open seats(however many are needed for you and your party). Keep an eye on these seats for the rest of the 2nd quarter to make sure that they are in fact open. It's preferrable if the seats are surrounded by people sitting in seats. If it's just a completely open row of seats, it looks suspicious, and good chance the usher will question your tickets. Also, it's preferrable if the seats are closer to the middle of the row, and not the last 2 seats in the row. Good chance the usher will have noticed those open seats, and being the last couple seats in the rown, it's extremely easy for the usher to question your tickets. If your sitting in the middle of a crowded row, even if the usher suspects you, he might not bother questioning you tickets. Now, you should go to the open seats at halftime, while a lot of people are walking in and out from each section. Get to your seats, relax, act natural, don't look at the usher, and you should be ok.

Are you going to tell us how to get kicked out of 6 separate seats during a Lakers game too? =)

CarpetMan500 wrote:I've got season seats in the Ice box, I have not gotten to my seats once this year when there was not someone in my seats....always the same "these are real seats?" some how they miss the number in front of their face!

Are those the stools in the bar? They're selling those as season seats? Which price color are they in?

DarkKnight wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Are those the stools in the bar? They're selling those as season seats? Which price color are they in?

I was wondering the same thing. I sat there a couple of years (when we beat detroit at the end of the season when Mike JAmes was our pg). And they're actually pretty nice seats.

Yeah, I'm an admitted seat-hopper as well. Though I mostly kept to the balcony, as I preferred the balcony prime view. I will say this was way easier to do a couple seasons ago when we quite frankly sucked.

peteyjones13 wrote:haha, i'm the right guy to talk to about this. I do it pretty much every game. This is how to effectively 'sneak down'.
Early in the 2nd quarter, find some open seats(however many are needed for you and your party). Keep an eye on these seats for the rest of the 2nd quarter to make sure that they are in fact open. It's preferrable if the seats are surrounded by people sitting in seats. If it's just a completely open row of seats, it looks suspicious, and good chance the usher will question your tickets. Also, it's preferrable if the seats are closer to the middle of the row, and not the last 2 seats in the row. Good chance the usher will have noticed those open seats, and being the last couple seats in the rown, it's extremely easy for the usher to question your tickets. If your sitting in the middle of a crowded row, even if the usher suspects you, he might not bother questioning you tickets. Now, you should go to the open seats at halftime, while a lot of people are walking in and out from each section. Get to your seats, relax, act natural, don't look at the usher, and you should be ok.

This is basically what we do when we have our season seats upstairs. I've also got season's downstairs and we usually move close to where my seats are. The ushers don't really question us as they see us regularly down there.

DarkKnight wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Are those the stools in the bar? They're selling those as season seats? Which price color are they in?

Ya they are, they sold out in 25 minutes end of last year....$25 a game.