What is the best way to procure red sox tickets?

March 31, 2005 8:27 AM

I need to get four Red Sox tickets for a weekendish game in July. Anyone have experience with online vendors? Is it a rip off? Is one better than another? Comments and ticket acquisition suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I have a friend in Boston getting married, and he wants to go to a sox game with a few friends as a psuedo bachelor party ; Ideally, we'd like to sit together; I am in Chicago, so it would be nice if I everything could be handled "remotely," but if there is a better deal, I could find someone to act on my behalf locally. Thanks!

posted by AllesKlar to sports, hobbies, & recreation (10 comments total)

I often buy Yankee tickets at the last moment, when family is in town from Ireland etc. I've used stubworld.com and found them helpful and efficient - but yes, extremely expensive. Private eBay sellers have been my best experience in terms of cost and choice of dates and seats (just check the feedback!) and I've learned my lesson being royally ripped off once using craigslist.

You may still be able to get tickets from the Sox official site, of course, depending on the opponents that weekend.
posted by dublinemma at 8:41 AM on March 31, 2005

I'm in the same boat. Looking for Sox tickets for a game in August. Everything from the official site is sold out. :(
posted by xmutex at 8:57 AM on March 31, 2005

I've used online ticket vendors a number of times, and haven't been ripped off yet.
posted by mosch at 8:57 AM on March 31, 2005

mosch: Any URLs?
posted by xmutex at 9:18 AM on March 31, 2005

Go with ebay. All Sox ticket resellers are rapists, but there are lots of small-timers on Ebay. I have never bought from a scalper, but I have heard that you will actually pay less from a street scalper than his more sophisticated cousins.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:24 AM on March 31, 2005

If you can, wait until the last minute and keep an eye on Craigslist. Last season there were always tickets, and while still expensive they were cheaper than ticket agents/ebay.
posted by bobot at 11:42 AM on March 31, 2005

As a frequent purchaser of "hard-to-get" Fenway Park tickets, I suggest TicketsNow.com. They are fully-bonded and members of the National Association of Ticket Brokers. Boston-based AceTickets.com is also reputable. Good luck and enjoy the "pahk"!
posted by ericb at 2:34 PM on March 31, 2005

You may still be able to get tickets from the Sox official site, of course, depending on the opponents that weekend.

There's nothing online -- there was hardly anything at all for 2 seats together, nevermind 4. Understandably, this was the absolute worst year to get tickets, especially through the redsox.com site. We usually get in on about a bunch of games, but this year was a toughie to score tickets to just 2 games that we really wanted to go to.

Unfortunately, AllesKlar, if you were in town, you may have a slight chance of scoring some tickets at the Yawkey Way box office. I don't know if any of your group can give that a try, but save for eBay, I'd say that's your best bet without breaking the bank.

There are some reputable brokers, but I know mark-up on seats this year is at an all time high through them.

Good luck. Enjoy the game and the park, they made some subtle - but neat - little changes to the park this year.
posted by jerseygirl at 3:52 PM on March 31, 2005

I second the recommendation for Ace Tickets -- a little pricy, but not moreso than any other third-party vendor, and they are right around the corner from me! They're nice people, too. I've bought from them a half-dozen times, and never had a problem at all.
posted by delfuego at 4:57 PM on March 31, 2005

In the northeastern area, I've used SelectATicket and tkt.com. I decided to try both of these companies since they had legitimate business addresses. I figured that a scam artist is unlikely to have a storefront in a mall, or an office in fairly nice part of Connecticut.

Sorry I didn't post them initially, I needed to check credit card statements to get their names.
posted by mosch at 8:32 AM on April 1, 2005