In a digital era, where seemingly everything is purchased online, it can be tough for baseball fans to remember a time where the stadium was the only place they could purchase tickets for a Major League Baseball game. And so you may be wondering if the stadium gate is still an option. Can you buy MLB tickets at the stadium gate?
UPDATE: Most MLB Stadiums now use digital tickets. These tickets can be purchased through the team website/app or through online ticket brokers like Ticketmaster, StubHub, or Vivid Seats. I like to use Vivid Seats because they show me what my view from the seats will look like prior to purchase. Click here to purchase MLB tickets available at VividSeats.com (affiliate link takes you to vividseats.com).
If you need assistance, most MLB teams have their ticket windows open on gameday to assist fans in completing a mobile purchase.
You can also buy directly from a team by downloading the MLB Ballpark App to your mobile device. The MLB Ballpark app is MLB’s free, official app that makes it easy to access, manage, and use your tickets.
You should be able to go to your team’s website and find all the information you need, and possibly even connect virtually with a live representative to help you out. When you work directly with the team, you have a variety of options, including:
- Full season tickets
- Half season tickets
- Mini plans
- Single games
When purchasing tickets directly from the stadium, it’s often most beneficial to purchase them as early as possible in case they sell out. How important of a factor this is for you will depend on the popularity of the team you root for, and the magnitude of the game your are hoping to attend. If the team is hot, and it’s a big weekend game, a sellout is very possible.
One very important thing to remember is this: Prices stay firm when sold at the stadium, but timing is more important when you’re purchasing from the secondary markets. That means prices do not stay firm on the secondary market (which can work both for and against you).
Are MLB tickets cheaper after the game starts?
Purchasing tickets after a game has started is a clever way of scoring a potentially major deal. When you purchase on the secondary markets, most ticket owners would rather get some amount of money for their tickets rather than nothing.
Just to be clear, tickets from a secondary ticket market are tickets that were originally bought from a primary ticket marketplace (like from the team’s ticket office) and then re-sold again. For example, there are many ticket brokers out there who buy tickets from fans, then re-sale those tickets to other fans.
This secondary ticket marketplace is needed because sometimes (many times) professional sporting events are sold out (meaning the team no longer has tickets to sell to fans). The secondary marketplace offers fans another source to buy tickets from.
For example, John Doe has season tickets but can’t make the game because he’s on vacation. John Doe sales his tickets to a secondary ticket broker who then sells the ticket to other fans who are wanting to go to the game. Many fans actually prefer to use the secondary ticket marketplace over the team’s ticket office. Why?
The secondary ticket marketplace (including online ticket brokers) give fans a chance to see various price points that can move around, and even become cheaper than the original team ticket prices. Ultimately, the ticket brokers determine the price and adjust it according to demand.
This generally leads these ticket brokers to slash their prices significantly so that someone will buy them the closer it gets to the game (because they don’t want to lose money on a ticket that doesn’t sell). If you don’t mind missing a few minutes of a game, purchasing Major League Baseball tickets after the game has started can be a great way to catch a game on the cheap.
This same strategy can apply when purchasing from the many ticket scalpers that surround the outside of the stadium, however do practice extreme caution when purchasing tickets from stadium scalpers. It’s easy to fall prey to a ticket scam. It is important to note that secondary ticket brokers are legitimate businesses and are not the same thing as stadium scalpers, which have a long history of scamming fans.
There are several trusted online ticket brokers that have huge reputations in the ticket industry, and can be trusted.
Reasons Why Buying MLB Tickets at the Gate is a Bad Idea
While purchasing from the stadium gate might seem simple enough, it does come with a number of drawbacks.
- For starters, when you wait to purchase your tickets at the gate, you always run the risk of missing out completely. Or, perhaps the only available tickets are not preferable. With Major League Baseball teams playing so many games in a single season, they don’t have as many sellouts as other sports (proportionally), but sellouts do occur. If you wait until you get to the stadium, you might end up striking out.
- Buying tickets at the gate can be time-consuming and somewhat stressful. When you purchase your tickets online, you can take all the time you would like to compare prices and to study where the seats are so that you can determine where you’d like to sit. When you’re purchasing at the gate, you’ll find yourself squinting at a crude diagram of the stadium, forced to make a relatively quick decision on where you’d like to sit, with others standing impatiently in line behind you.
MLB Ticket Info For Stadiums
To read more about buying MLB tickets at certain stadiums, visit our articles linked below:
Can you buy Angels tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Cardinals tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Royals tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Phillies tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Padres tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Braves tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Brewers tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Astros tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Twins tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Blue Jays tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Red Sox tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Cubs tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Dodgers tickets at the stadium
Can you buy Yankees tickets at the stadium
With a little strategy, you can make sure you never miss out on tickets to a big MLB game. Plus, at the same time, you can save significant money on your purchase. But remember, when purchasing tickets for any kind of event, carefully scrutinize the source you’re buying from to ensure that they are legitimate.