Venting about playoff tickets
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Venting about playoff tickets
- evildallas
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Venting about playoff tickets
As a season ticket holder, I was given 3 options to keep my seats in the playoffs:
1) renew season tickets by sending in 15% payment and pay for playoff tickets later
Personally, I didn't want to commit to season tickets yet because up in the air is the coach, the GM, Josh Smith, Josh Childress, and any off season moves to complete roster. While I might trust that Josh Smith is re-signed, everything else is murky. Some possible courses of action for the team are truly unacceptable to me (Larry Brown for instance). If things don't go horribly I could be getting tickets again, I just wasn't ready to commit at this time to ultimately paying thousands of dollars.
2) pay for 2 rounds of playoff tickets (total of 8 games) without committing to next season
While I would get a refund for unrealized games sometime down the road, it is a bit silly that I have to loan the team money for games that can't possibly occur. The most home games we can have is 3 in round 1. The only way to get 4 in round 2 would be to finish 6th or higher in the standings and win round 1 while the team finishing 7th wins round 1 also. BTW with playoff prices this is greater out of pocket right now than option 1.
3) let my seats go.
This is where I landed. I've purchased a ticket to game 4 (home game 2) so far. Until it becomes more certain we're in I won't consider scalped.
I'm not saying any of this is grossly unfair, I just wanted to share my feelings about the system. I probably would have paid for my tickets for the playoffs if I wasn't charged up front for 2 games that are not possible to occur. And if their wasn't so much in flux for the team I'd gladly have renewed my season tickets. As things have played out the franchise is expecting season ticket holders to take a lot on faith. Between the way tickets were pre-sold and that tickets are now publicly available I'm expecting a lot of Celtic fans in the stands rather than Hawks fans relishing our first playoff trip this decade.
I'm done with my rant.
1) renew season tickets by sending in 15% payment and pay for playoff tickets later
Personally, I didn't want to commit to season tickets yet because up in the air is the coach, the GM, Josh Smith, Josh Childress, and any off season moves to complete roster. While I might trust that Josh Smith is re-signed, everything else is murky. Some possible courses of action for the team are truly unacceptable to me (Larry Brown for instance). If things don't go horribly I could be getting tickets again, I just wasn't ready to commit at this time to ultimately paying thousands of dollars.
2) pay for 2 rounds of playoff tickets (total of 8 games) without committing to next season
While I would get a refund for unrealized games sometime down the road, it is a bit silly that I have to loan the team money for games that can't possibly occur. The most home games we can have is 3 in round 1. The only way to get 4 in round 2 would be to finish 6th or higher in the standings and win round 1 while the team finishing 7th wins round 1 also. BTW with playoff prices this is greater out of pocket right now than option 1.
3) let my seats go.
This is where I landed. I've purchased a ticket to game 4 (home game 2) so far. Until it becomes more certain we're in I won't consider scalped.
I'm not saying any of this is grossly unfair, I just wanted to share my feelings about the system. I probably would have paid for my tickets for the playoffs if I wasn't charged up front for 2 games that are not possible to occur. And if their wasn't so much in flux for the team I'd gladly have renewed my season tickets. As things have played out the franchise is expecting season ticket holders to take a lot on faith. Between the way tickets were pre-sold and that tickets are now publicly available I'm expecting a lot of Celtic fans in the stands rather than Hawks fans relishing our first playoff trip this decade.
I'm done with my rant.
- JoshB914
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The fact that the Hawks can turn off a loyal fan and season ticket holder like Evil shows how incompetent they are. I know some people who held season tix for almost 20 years and gave them up because of the way they were jerked around. The Spirit Group sure seem to expect fans to cut them a lot of slack, especially considering the product they have been putting on the floor.
- evildallas
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Retrovision, what price range are you trying to stay in?
I've been checking ticketsnow and empiretickets for scalped options, but I won't do that until we clinch a spot for sure. Right now they are far from selling out so I advocate Ticketmaster. In fact, I will only purchase from Ticketmaster to be safe until we clinch. I've played with Ticketmaster site trying out different combos of tickets and price levels. I can't guarantee what will be available when you search but these are the prices I found. I added in fees to get a real price estimate.
Center court is about $136 each if still available
Section 113 is about $97 each (still available when I posted)
Section 120-122 (or opposite end) is about $77 each - I don't like these because the non-permanent seats have less leg room.
Section 222 is coming in at around $62 per. I can't seem to get the combination to get 200 on the side.
Section 312 is coming in at around $52 per (that's mid-court).
Section 306 is about $37 (on the end corner).
Also among resellers be aware that stubhub add its fees onto the listed price in addition to shipping. I figure stubhub is at least $20 higher than what they list just to be safe.
Personally, I splurged on a single ticket in 115 for $136 (on the aisle) for game 2. I've not found a combination I like for game one. I'm a real big guy and leg room is a major concern for me. Also, I'm hoping that some club seats show up in reseller lists just to get an idea of what the markup is, but I've not seen any yet.
Hope all that info helps.
I've been checking ticketsnow and empiretickets for scalped options, but I won't do that until we clinch a spot for sure. Right now they are far from selling out so I advocate Ticketmaster. In fact, I will only purchase from Ticketmaster to be safe until we clinch. I've played with Ticketmaster site trying out different combos of tickets and price levels. I can't guarantee what will be available when you search but these are the prices I found. I added in fees to get a real price estimate.
Center court is about $136 each if still available
Section 113 is about $97 each (still available when I posted)
Section 120-122 (or opposite end) is about $77 each - I don't like these because the non-permanent seats have less leg room.
Section 222 is coming in at around $62 per. I can't seem to get the combination to get 200 on the side.
Section 312 is coming in at around $52 per (that's mid-court).
Section 306 is about $37 (on the end corner).
Also among resellers be aware that stubhub add its fees onto the listed price in addition to shipping. I figure stubhub is at least $20 higher than what they list just to be safe.
Personally, I splurged on a single ticket in 115 for $136 (on the aisle) for game 2. I've not found a combination I like for game one. I'm a real big guy and leg room is a major concern for me. Also, I'm hoping that some club seats show up in reseller lists just to get an idea of what the markup is, but I've not seen any yet.
Hope all that info helps.
Going to donkey punch a leprechaun!
- evildallas
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Josh, thanks for the kind words. I kind of feel a bit petty. I'm sure that the procedures they are doing are probably standard fare around the league for the most part.
What really set me off was the account rep telling me that I'm better off committing to season tickets because I would only have to send in around $300 now as opposed to $750 for just playoff tickets. I tried to reason with the agent that it would mean committing over $2000 to a big unknown for next year, but she seemed adamant that it was the better deal and I just didn't get it. Of course, if I sent in the $750 I would probably get over $500 back due to games that will never be, it would just take a couple months probably.
They're still getting money out of me, but less in the long run. Rather than taking someone with me to the game I'm just buying a single ticket (albeit a more expensive one) and I'm not necessarily going to every game unless I can find the right deal for me.
What really set me off was the account rep telling me that I'm better off committing to season tickets because I would only have to send in around $300 now as opposed to $750 for just playoff tickets. I tried to reason with the agent that it would mean committing over $2000 to a big unknown for next year, but she seemed adamant that it was the better deal and I just didn't get it. Of course, if I sent in the $750 I would probably get over $500 back due to games that will never be, it would just take a couple months probably.
They're still getting money out of me, but less in the long run. Rather than taking someone with me to the game I'm just buying a single ticket (albeit a more expensive one) and I'm not necessarily going to every game unless I can find the right deal for me.
Going to donkey punch a leprechaun!
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That's very nice info Dallas. I was going to get tickets for game 3 but thought the price was a bit too much. Does anyone know if "student" tickets will be available anytime ? I know for regular season games they're only available at the day games are played if there's any left, so I guess my odds of getting that deal for a playoff game are very low, right ?
GO HAWKS.
- Retrovision
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Evil thanks for the information but those prices are a little to high for a high school student. A couple days ago I saw ticket prices in the $ 12-15 dollar range in the 306-308 sections ( I dont remember exactly what sections). I dont know about the pricest now but I'm willing to pay up to around $30.00's
- Retrovision
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lunarblues wrote:well this is going to be the first hawks i've been to in over 5 yrs. so i didn't know what to expect.
i got 3 tickets on section 211 i think it's midcourt. can anybody tell me if those seats are good?
http://www.johnnyroadtrip.com/cities/atlanta/images/philipsarenabasketballseating.gif
Your sitting pretty. Nobody knows what to expect its been nine years. Still I myself cannot picture a wild arena, regular season fans have to be told to stand with two minutes or less in tight games muchless make noise. So dont expect Oracle Arena.
- evildallas
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Retro, sorry I didn't go far enough in the options.
You can get 400 level on the side about $16 per (ticketfast adds 2.50, but you can skip that by going to Publix or taking standard mail). Lowest dollar option to go with.
They also have tickets on the end, 300 level around $25 a piece. I think that covers all the price ranges with my earlier post. I just checked and you can get section 303 (304, 317,318) are the same for about $25 ($20 + fees).
You can get 400 level on the side about $16 per (ticketfast adds 2.50, but you can skip that by going to Publix or taking standard mail). Lowest dollar option to go with.
They also have tickets on the end, 300 level around $25 a piece. I think that covers all the price ranges with my earlier post. I just checked and you can get section 303 (304, 317,318) are the same for about $25 ($20 + fees).
- evildallas
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lunarblues wrote:well this is going to be the first hawks i've been to in over 5 yrs. so i didn't know what to expect.
i got 3 tickets on section 211 i think it's midcourt. can anybody tell me if those seats are good?
Lunarblues, go to
http://www.seats3d.com/nba/atlanta_hawks/
and click lower bowl, then 211 a popup will show the court in a panning animation. Those are sweet seats. The only drawback could be the row. If it's too high you will feel a bit claustrophobic because of the roof (bottom of 300 sections). First 4 rows (A-D) are about the best price/perfomance seats in the house.
Which game are you tickets for?
- evildallas
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Skyhawk1 wrote:That's very nice info Dallas. I was going to get tickets for game 3 but thought the price was a bit too much. Does anyone know if "student" tickets will be available anytime ? I know for regular season games they're only available at the day games are played if there's any left, so I guess my odds of getting that deal for a playoff game are very low, right ?
Sadly yes, don't expect any specials at playoff time. Also not to be negative, but it takes us surviving to Game 6 to get a 3rd home game. Teams in the first playoff trip often get a rude awakening. Game 1 (probably a Thursday) and Game 2 (probably a Saturday) are the only sure things to happen.
Edit: Hold on, you probably mean actual game 3, home game 1, right?
- Retrovision
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- evildallas
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- Retrovision
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- evildallas
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Retrovision wrote:cheapest price for either game is $30.00 in the TERRACE BASELINE (305-306)
Not true, don't worry about the Section selector or the print on the side. Just use the quantity drop down and price drop down under Full Price Ticket to select $20. Do a search and type in the stuff to prove you aren't a robot. It will bring up seats and give you 2:15 seconds to decide. If you don't want to buy just hit the search again link. It doesn't cost anything to search, but if you do it too often the site can put you in a timeout and block you from searching.
- evildallas
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- Retrovision
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evildallas wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
Not true, don't worry about the Section selector or the print on the side. Just use the quantity drop down and price drop down under Full Price Ticket to select $20. Do a search and type in the stuff to prove you aren't a robot. It will bring up seats and give you 2:15 seconds to decide. If you don't want to buy just hit the search again link. It doesn't cost anything to search, but if you do it too often the site can put you in a timeout and block you from searching.
Thanks for this information I found tickets in section 318 for $20.00's. The only question for me is game 3 or game 4? I dont want to go to game 3 because its during the week and I would have a lot of things to do. I dont want to go to game 4 because I dont want to be swept.