Planning a short-notice trip downtown for an evening of baseball at the Jake, sorry, “Progressive Field” is not as easy as jumping in the car. Last minute Cleveland Indians ticket purchase is a nightmare. You can go to the box office ticket window and try to purchase the strays, but they are seldom together. You can try the paranoid whisper technique to those shady scalpers where again it’s tough to get two seats together without paying $70.00 each for mediocre seats. Worse, is the guy that won’t show you the tickets until you pay him, then he hands you two obvious counterfeits that look like they were drawn with a crayon by a 4 year old. Desperate, it’s been done, but I always hold my breath, waiting for the police to swoop down on me.
Wikipedia chronicles the cause of the ticket dilemma, “The ballpark set a major league record between June 12, 1995 and April 4, 2001 by selling out 455 straight games. Demand for tickets was so great that they sold out all 81 home games before opening day on three separate occasions. The Indians “retired” the number 455 in honor of this outstanding record.” Today, thanks to the internet and other services, the procrastinating or spontaneous Tribe fan has other options.
If you can get down to the park a couple of hours before the game, the box office is worth looking into. According to the Indians’ official website, ticket sales are cut off 2 hours prior to game time, but I’ve gotten them later than that. The following Box Office hours apply to home games: Monday through Sunday – 9AM to 1/2 hour after game. You can also pre-purchase other game tickets here and avoid the giant list of service and shipping fees associated with TicketMaster and online services. The Box Office does accepts cash, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express and checks, where the scalpers only take your cash and never have change.
Last minute, literally minutes before the game, tickets can be bought legally through the StubHub.com online service and picked up at their “Last Minute Service Center. Unfortunately, there is no permanent service center in Cleveland, so you may be running around town if it is even available. Also note, only tickets listed with this last minute service are available for this type of purchase. In combination with the MLB, StubHub is working to deliver the tickets electronically, but you still need a printer in order to get in the gate. There is also a $15.00 fee to help cover the expense of the Last Minute Service Centers.
If your leery of online sales and internet credit card transactions, you can visit a neighborhood Giant Eagle grocery store, the For Your Entertainment, or FYE store in Tower City Center, or the Ticket Master counter in Quickens Loans Arena. Eastside Giant Eagles with Ticket Master counters are Legacy Village Giant Eagle, 25105 Cedar Road and South Euclid Giant Eagle, 4401 Mayfield Road. Westside Giant Eagles with Ticket Master counters are Edgecliff Giant Eagle, 15325 Edgecliff Avenue, Lakewood Giant Eagle, 14100 Detroit Ave and the Lorain Avenue Giant Eagle at 13820 Lorain Avenue. For additional Giant Eagle stores, check out their store locator.
If you are a brave and trusting person, you can try CraigsList. Although 90% of the sellers are legitimate honest people, there is always the bad egg. On this site, it’s up to you to negotiating directly with the seller. You will have to work out all of the details associated with payment and delivery of the tickets. I have purchased comic books through CraigsList and even found a writing job thru the service, so I have no complaints. Buyer beware, if things go wrong with your purchase, there is little recourse other than law enforcement and the legal system.
If you use eBay, there is a system for complaint and resolution in place. I have bought Indians tickets through eBay, but it was for tickets a few days in advance. I also waited until the auction was nearly closed and got four tickets in the nosebleed section for $10.00 with an addition shipping fee of $4.00, totaling $14.00. The seller express mailed the tickets to me that day and I received them the next day. I was so happy, I would have bought that guy a $6.00 Progressive Field beer. Ebay is your best chance of getting decent seats for a decent price.
“No problem” ticket purchases are for the organized pre-planning type of personalities. Through the Indian’s official website and their affiliation with TicketMaster, tickets are often still available a week before the game and delivered right to your desktop. Purchase and print, these tickets can be taken to any gate for a quick scan and it’s all “play ball”.
The Indians website also offers the Indians Ticket Auction. Here you can participate in an auction where prices start at $20.00 per ticket in groups of four for bleacher seats. Pricey, but the auction can also get you better seats in the Diamond Box for $320, Club Seats at $460, or Pronkville areas just $80. There are also opportunities to pickup 4 tickets into the Prime Terrace Club Seating and Buffet $320 and Batters Eye Bar overlooking Center Field $140.
Just as reliable as the TicketMaster system is Major League Baseball and ESPN’s relationship with StubHub. StubHub is like a dating service, matching up a seller with a buyer. They do offer the FanProtect Guarantee to ease your mind when purchasing, with a number of delivery options including: FedEx Shipping from $11.95 to $24.95, eDelivery for $4.95, Will Call at the park 48 hours required but free, and the Last Minute Services for $15.00.
Naturally, there are always friends, family, and coworkers who bought either season tickets, twelve-packs, or six-pack ticket deals who are willing to trade, sell, and barter tickets. It’s not really easy to plan a sick-day, but if you have the time, you will save yourself a lot of frustration by sticking to the traditional outlets for Cleveland Indians Baseball tickets.
