Tuesday, February 5, 2013

2013 Ballpark Pass Fiasco - A supremely annoyed photo essay

Any Blue Jays fan who was familiar with the Season Pass (Toronto Star Season Pass, the Fan Pass, or whatever you want to call it) probably also knows that the organization decided to rename it this year to the Ballpark Pass. 

What you're probably also aware of is that the organization decided to sell about half as many passes for the 2013 season, offering only 2 passes per registered buyer of a 2012 pass. This seems like a fair policy until you look at what the Jays did when selling passes for the 2012 season. They assigned seats to each pass, and made no guarantees that you could sit with friends, unless you bought with friends.

So we did what a lot of people did... Bought 8 seats together, under one account. Everybody paid the buyer, and we all had our seats in a row for the 2012 season. But... that meant there was only one buyer, and ONLY that person was entitled to tickets in 2013.

Well... that's just dumb. We had 8 people who paid for tickets, and used their tickets. We were not scalpers, we did not resell, or make any money on any ticket EVER. The worst thing you'd do was bring your friend to the game, and he'd buy you a beer to thank you (note: Jays make money on our beer).

So... today I'm going to show the Blue Jays that as a pass holder for several years prior, I am disgusted with the way I've been treated this year. I'm going to remind them that they're screwing over loyal fans... the ones who supported the team when they were awful, average, 'roided up, and irrelevant.

What follows is a photo essay... of things that are in my house. I'll remind you, the Blue Jays didn't reply to any of my emails regarding the pass, they ignored two phone calls regarding my pass, and very rudely told me that I wasn't getting one this year. Considering the amount of time, money, and love I've put into this team... I can't say I'm happy.


1988

1998

1992 - Fenway Park

1995

I have a few Blue Jays hats




Even the Steroid Era giant wing 2000 season "T" hat... NOBODY HAS THAT ONE




yes that's a '93 Starter Back2Back hat

And the '92 World Series Champs...
 and the 2011 DUNEDIN Jays. Did I mention I go to Spring Training?
St. Patricks Day Jersey - Spring Training


Of course the 2012 new/old look Bautista

And the 2004-2010 jersey

 And some t-shirts...
And some golf shirts... 
 And some workout gear...
 And some t-shirts.
 Autographed Frank Thomas bat
 25th anniversary book
 My first game back in Toronto after living in the US for 10 years.
 Some more tickets... including 2010 roadtrip to Cleveland
 Some tickets from my Fan Pass years...
 Oh look... old Fan Passes (including 2012!!)
 Hey neat!! 30 ticket stubs from 2012 when I had a Fan Pass!
 Needs no explanation.
 Yes, I hold my pens and pencils in a baseball card box.
 My fridge... 
 The helmet came from a Ground Round restaurant when I was 11. The ball was from BP.
 My grandmother made me a quilt/banner when I was 12, because I was so obsessed.
 Yes. This was on my lawn for a while.
 One day trip to NYC for Jays/Yankees (2007)
 This was a newspaper giveaway... I framed mine.
 2005 and 2006 Fan Passes (Name Misspelled) - And also a 1992 ticket from Fenway. Jays won.
 A random sample of tickets... including a couple 1998 Fenway tickets.
 Another Fenway ticket... they were giving them away in 1998.

 First game at SkyDome. 1993... I was living in NY at the time.
 1992-1993 collection...






 Untouched program from 1992 Game 3. I have the ticket stubs at my parents house. I didn't go, they did.
 1992 Sports Illustrated
 1993 Sports Illustrated
 Needs no explanation.
 My dad and I scored every game of the 1993 series at home... Game 4 was insane.
 Game 6... needs no explanation.
 I sent in boxtops from Corn Flakes to get this. I added the #9.
 Signed up for a credit card to get the scarf.
 Went to the Fathers Day game ALONE to get the helmet.
 My juice glasses.
 My replacement copy of this DVD... I let somebody borrow the first.
My mug.

But you're right, Blue Jays. I shouldn't spend any more money on you this year... Except for the Blue Jays trips I have planned for Spring Training and Chicago. Seriously, this is an abusive relationship. 

Oh wait...Speaking of relationships  I forgot to show you my engagement photos:




5 comments:

  1. My fandom is clearly nowhere near as extensive at yours, but this definitely rings true for me. I've been buying Toronto Star Season's Passes, then Fan Passes, now Ball Park Passes with 1 friend for a few years now. Just means that I am the only 1 registered ticket holder (hence he's dependent on me for them)

    Another 4-5 people wanted in this year, but as you know.... no go.

    It's obvious that they're basically phasing these passes out, and now reckon they can come close to selling out the dome because of the optimism in this town. And the moment they can, the Ball Park pass is dead. And fair play to taht I suppose, it's their money.

    But making this harder and harder (cant pick seats?) to buy has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth during an otherwise exciting offseason

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  2. I'm sorry but as someone who saves up and spends $1000.00 on OHL season tickets I have zero sympathy. Season tickets are the life blood of the franchise. If everyone had a season pass like the one you are complaining about, the Blue Jays would have a payroll similar to the Houston Astros. The team is good and the gravy train is over. Fork out $400-$500 and get season tickets. Then you can actually say you support the team instead of just paying lip service to it while paying peanuts to go to all the games.

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  3. Obviously you're a super fan - the whole 8 tickets down to 2 does suck, but we're also extremely lucky to have by far the cheapest season tickets in all of professional sports.

    They're trying to give that access to everyone they can - and honestly, in a business sense, you're probably not who the fan pass was aimed at - because you'd probably be the guy to spring for real season tickets ($600 instead of $100). I too have had a pass for close to 5 years.

    To be able to get into 81 games in the skydome for $100 is laughably cheap - we all know it. I was very happy when they phased out the physical tickets to stop the scalpers from going every morning, getting tickets, & selling them.

    I think it would have been better to price them at $250 or $300 and price some people out - in that situation it still would have been worth it for you going to 30 games, but not for most fans that go to 15. The going price on kijiji is $500 for 2, which I'd assume is the market value. This move is obviously addressed at the people who buy 8 and sell 6 - which happens all the time. $800 invested, $1500 back & 2 free passes. Yes, it screws you over, but it's a calculated business decision for them, not just out of the blue.

    I do hope you get more clarification and hope you & your friends do get tickets. Next year, if you're interested, check out getting real season seats - you get a lot of perks (BP with the team, bobblehead, jacket, gift card, state of the franchise, etc), and you can trade a number of the week day crap tickets for premium tickets, then scalp them all. I calculated that with out field seats I could come close to even stubhub'ing about 60% of my tickets and going to 20-40% of the games.

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  4. Don't get me wrong... I'm aware that this is an amazing (bordering on RIDICULOUS) deal. I'm aware that every ticket in sports is WAYYY more expensive. But I'm also aware that if any sports team offered a similar deal every fan would try to buy them... for OHL, NHL, or whatever.

    I took advantage of a great deal for many years. I also bought a ton of merchandise, food and drink, and paid full price for airfare and road tickets to support the team in NYC, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and Florida Spring Training.

    My complaint is that the pass is still available, but the system they used to choose who can get it is flawed. Raising the price would have done it. Cancelling it alltogether would have done it. But when the guy I sit with gets one, and I didn't even have a chance... that's what's unfair.

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  5. Disgrace what the jays are doing to their real fans. In the long run this decision is going to hurt them financially. Squeezing out loyal customers is never smart

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