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Phillies Fans Can't Get Off

bmfc1 Oct 08 2009 11:11 AM

From a Phillies blog (which I swear I got to from a Mets site, not directly). What a bunch of cry babies! Didn't the Mets have a playoff game in Arizona that started at 10 PM our time? At least they can see or hear the game at work. (bolding added, below): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The baseball gods threw hard-working Phillies fans a buzz-killing curve this week. But they sure were smiling on those with free afternoons or a propensity to fake a sniffle in the heat of a pennant race. The defending world champions play the Colorado Rockies today and Thursday beginning at 2:37 p.m., a time slot that has created a rare buyer’s market for the opening round of the Phillies’ latest playoff march. Ticket-holders with job commitments are scrambling to sell. The ticket-less with time off or no qualms about playing hooky are capitalizing. In one case, 10 — count ‘em, 10 — tickets were available for $75 a pop, a bargain compared with those going for hundreds. ”My friend and his family were supposed to go, but because the game is so early they can’t,” said Lisa Moise of Philadelphia, who advertised those 10 tickets on Craigslist for a friend who was stuck in the office Tuesday. ”Literally, no one can get off. And I know they’re not the only ones.” That appeared to be an understatement. Tickets that have been hard to come by all season — the Phils broke an attendance record this season by selling out 72 of their 81 home games, including the final 41 — suddenly are ripe for the buying. During lunch hour on Tuesday, StubHub.com had 1,096 seats available for today’s game and nearly 1,200 for Thursday’s game. Prices were starting around $51 and went up to $2,000. One shrewd Craigslist poster was looking to take advantage of the unexpected supply: ”Don’t have a lot of cash so looking for best ticket at lowest price.” For some, the early start times were a sobering blow to business. Take Gino Capobianchi. Following last year’s title run, the Philadelphia man bought season tickets for this year, specifically to sell them and make some money. He also guaranteed himself playoff tickets, which normally translate into a big payday on the open market. Capobianchi, who is 48 and unemployed, put a pair of tickets up on Craigslist for $400 apiece Saturday. By Tuesday, the asking price was down to $280 and heading south. ”So far, nobody called because it’s a bad time,” Capobianchi said. ”I’ll just lower the price until somebody calls.” He finds himself in an enviable win-win situation . If he doesn’t sell, he’ll make the 20-minute trip to Citizens Bank Park for the game. ”I can still go,” he said. ”When you’re out of work like half the city, you don’t have a schedule.” Brian Michael, the 28-year-old founder of http://www.philliesnation.com , has a schedule he has to keep. He had to reluctantly turn down offers for tickets to today’s game because of his job as a Web site manager and political fundraiser. He said some Phillies Nation followers were voicing their displeasure over Major League Baseball’s perceived mistreatment of the Phillies. ”Obviously, because people can’t go, they feel the Phillies have been disrespected as the defending world champions,” he said. Faust Ruggiero, executive director of The Phillies Fan Union, a fan club that says it has 140,000 members, said he was getting mixed reviews on the game times and ticket sales. ”Most of our members feel that the reigning World Series champions should have a prime time start for the first game,” he wrote in an e-mail. ”We’re not hearing that very many are selling their tickets, though. Phillies fans tend to be more hard-core than that.” Mike Smith, a 25-year-old banker from Wilmington, Del., has eight tickets for today’s game and put six up for sale, four on StubHub.com and a pair on Craigslist. As of noon Tuesday, he sold one pair for $70 apiece — face value was $50 — and was expecting to get more bites on the others. ”I couldn’t find any friends to go because they’re all working,” he said, adding he made more money on last year’s tickets. ”Whoever is making the decisions is making the decisions based on viewership in the whole United States. I don’t think [the Phillies] deserve anything better just because they’re the World Series champions.” So what happens if sellers don’t get any takers? ”I have no idea,” Moise said. ”We’ll probably start giving them away.” http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/ ... g-to-sell/

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Oct 08 2009 11:17 AM Re: Phillies Fans Can't Get Off

Take Gino Capobianchi. Following last year’s title run, the Philadelphia man bought season tickets for this year, specifically to sell them and make some money. He also guaranteed himself playoff tickets, which normally translate into a big payday on the open market. Capobianchi, who is 48 and unemployed, put a pair of tickets up on Craigslist for $400 apiece Saturday. By Tuesday, the asking price was down to $280 and heading south. "So, normally I wear protection. But then I thought, 'When am I gonna make it back to Haiti?'"

metirish Oct 08 2009 11:20 AM Re: Phillies Fans Can't Get Off

Jeez , I wish we had this problem to bitch about.

Frayed Knot Oct 08 2009 12:43 PM Re: Phillies Fans Can't Get Off

There will be as many as 20 first-round games each year in MLB which need to take place in approximately one week's time, a condition which dictates that SEVERAL of those will need to be played in mid-week daytimes. That it might happen to your team should come as no surprise to fans. And as for those "fans" who buy tickets specifically in anticipation of re-selling them for a profit I have no sympathy when/if the market doesn't fall in your favor.

Nymr83 Oct 08 2009 12:48 PM Re: Phillies Fans Can't Get Off

sympathy for scalpers? thats about as likely as me showing sympathy for pedophile film makers evading prosecution by hiding in europe.

Fman99 Oct 08 2009 12:59 PM Re: Phillies Fans Can't Get Off

[quote="Frayed Knot"]There will be as many as 20 first-round games each year in MLB which need to take place in approximately one week's time, a condition which dictates that SEVERAL of those will need to be played in mid-week daytimes. That it might happen to your team should come as no surprise to fans. And as for those "fans" who buy tickets specifically in anticipation of re-selling them for a profit I have no sympathy when/if the market doesn't fall in your favor.

It's a novel concept but they could always play multiple games at the same time. They do it all spring and summer!

MLB=dopes

Benjamin Grimm Oct 08 2009 01:01 PM Re: Phillies Fans Can't Get Off

They did do that (have two games on at once) in the first year or two of the wild card. It didn't go over very well. Back in the day when I would try to watch every post-season game that I could, I wouldn't have liked it either.

Frayed Knot Oct 08 2009 01:29 PM Re: Phillies Fans Can't Get Off

it's a novel concept but they could always play multiple games at the same time. They do it all spring and summer! But all spring and summer long those games aren't being televised by the same network. Nor do I think that Selig wants to go into the next owner meeting and tell the assembled masses that he's just figured out a way to cut the playoff rights fees in half! Plus, I also remember when they briefly tried 'regionalizing' the coverage of the early rounds only to be mocked by virtually every media outlet in the country with cries of 'only baseball would be so stupid as to schedule playoff games against each other'.