jglicksm

Last year they flagged anyone that was off the T-mobile network during the sign-up process. Once you were signed up you could use the app or watch on the computer/ other platforms using any network (for me Verizon in the USA and Rogers in Canada). I only know this because I got booted last year and called to find out why and then had to use my friend's MLB TV account all season (who also had gotten it free from someone else's T-mobile account). That's at least what was explained to me by phone and I had no issue watching from his account on the Verizon and Rogers networks all season.

I'm going to just throw it out there that there are scientific studies that show that height does correlate with heart size. https://www.jwatch.org/na40701/2016/03/22/turns-out-body-size-correlated-with-heart-size https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24014823

That's actually not so bad. Tier 1 (equivalent to A) games in Boston are 50%-90% more and in USD to boot in some equivalent seats. While, if you're in the infield grandstands it's a little under $100 a ticket, most of those seats have some sort of obstruction whereas there are no pillars to obstruct in Toronto. Have a look if you're interested: http://m.mlb.com/redsox/tickets/info/seating-pricing

FYI- you can get the home opener and Canada Day in addition to a 12 pack (right to each with pack). It can be included in a 20 pack of course.

That blows. I have a good group and my seats are row 1. One or maybe two games from my set went unused. Most games went to group members, but those that didn't never sold below cost on stubhub... a few rows (and specifically being in row 1) makes a big difference. I didn't really "make a lot of money" but I did watch a lot of "free" baseball...and got on the field via the MyBlueJays program which got my brother-in-law and I an Aaron Judge autograph/ photo with him along with some other guys from the Yankees. That being said I'm much happier with my tickets in Boston (in particular the season ticket "experience"-- the perks are way better and generally available to everyone, not just by raffle e.g. taking batting practice on the field this season).

Before you jump, especially if you're thinking 500-level, DM me... I may have a spot in my group for next year (which isn't shocking given how 2017 went). My seats are 524 row 1 (1st row of 500's right behind home plate).

I heard the estimate last week was 1/3 non-renewal. Probably can't attribute the price increase to all of those non-renewals, but it sure wouldn't have helped.

Monday I believe. Are you looking to get seasons next year?!?

I got a notice earlier in the week. One of my season ticket partners will be attending.

Notices are out. I can confirm this.

I haven't received my renewal notice yet but a friend forwarded me his. It leads me to believe they are not completely pushing brokers away yet. The resale policy used to say that you had to follow the laws but otherwise resale wasn't restricted. Now they have addressed resale explicitly in the marketing literature that accompanied the emails: "The Season Ticket Member benefits described on this page are not available to commercial resellers." "The early bird season ticket price is not available to commercial resellers regardless of whether the renewal occurs during the Early Bird renewal window" It looks like they are OK with brokers for now (that could change), but if you are holding season tickets for the business of it then you'll have to pay more (seems reasonable actually). What will be interesting is how they determine who a "commercial reseller" is. Around the league teams take different approaches to this ranging from not caring to determining it by percentage of tickets resold to people that aren't season ticket partners (seems hard to enforce). I read that the Boston Bruins started doing it by zip code... eg if your tickets are registered in LA and you have a lot of them then you are probably a broker.

I don't think the impact was that big. There are a lot of brokers out there who post on multiple services. Stubhub is the go to site for most people anyway (it is the biggest company and has a massive market share- I've read 50% or more). From before to after the partnership there wasn't a huge difference in number of tickets posted per game from what I remember. I think this is a supply issue on the secondary market rather than a demand issue. Obviously attendance is announced based on ticket sales, not butts in seats, but it is clear people are still showing up in droves. Demand is there, just not at the big prices and people are desperate to get out what they can (even if just 6 bucks on a 20 or more dollar ticket). Motivated sellers (be it real brokers or the everyday brokers ticket sites have created) are driving the price drop. What shocks me is that the Jays now have sales data from StubHub. It is clear that the supply demand curve there favours lower rather than higher prices, but they are still bullish. I think this will backfire but only time will tell.

I agree that people won't go away because of the increase. The increase is going to be icing on the cake. One of the problems we haven't touched in this forum with respect to brokers is the neighbor effect (pardon me for just making up this name). People don't like knowing the person next to them spent less for the same seats which has been happening all year due to the collapse of the resale market. Why renew for 81 games when you know the person next to you only had to buy the 5 games they wanted (or 10 or 15 or 20) and your neighbor paid less than you for 80% of games? Top that off with the pessimism of the fan base re 2018 success (personally I think they're more likely to do better in 2018 than to do worse or the same, but I could see how an argument to the contrary could be made). Personally I know at least 8 people that have season tickets. About half of them got them new this year because they figured the Jays make the playoffs and they feared missing out on tickets again. They've regretted it since April. Unless you have tickets that are the best in your section it is a lot of work to move the ones you can't use. Even with my row 1s they soemetimes go unused. I've donated a bunch of tickets this year which I actually like doing (I did last year too, but it was premeditated whereas this year a lot has been tickets nobody wanted). So many games in baseball means most people use less than half their games. In a good year it is hard to get rid of 40+ games. This year has been a bad one and people are hurting. If it has been bad for me with first row 500s I can only imagine the experience for others. If you look at other forums, twitter, blogs, etc... the overriding sentiment I have seen is that a lot of people weren't planning to renew regardless of price. This is the cherry on top.

Except that it is the third year in a row of hikes and my seats are more than double the cost of 2015 which is 2 years ago/ 3 seasons ago. And in 2016 and prior we got $200 back in the way of a gift card for renewing early. Plus the perks/expirences have diminished. Last year the weakening Canadian dollar was sited as major factor. Now the Canadian dollar is 10% better and showing signs of further rebound. When you consider that their main expenses are in USD and that is the currency supposedly used as a barometer the price increases are even more substantial.

Brownie19- I agree the Jays shouldn't care about cutting into reseller's profit margin. I think we read ChrisS's post differently, though. It sounds like he didn't buy to resell, but rather to access the perks of being a season ticket holder and now has realized he is better off on the secondary market (better seats for not much more money, or in some cases less money for better seats) so why renew? I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt. Your point about people buying to flip is well-taken and I agree with that per though.