Game Day Survival Series: Tickets
Looking to have a good time in Pittsburgh before heading to Heinz Field for a Steelers game? Well, look no further than Steel City Underground’s new series of articles to help you “survive” game day!
Each week we’ll highlight some new tips on various topics that will help Steelers Nation get the most out of their game day experience.
Today’s topic is tickets. Where do you get them? What should you pay? How can you protect yourself?
As a regular visitor of Heinz Field and someone who makes a few trips to road games every now and then, naturally, I’m asked this question quite a bit. The one thing I always preface before getting into the entire “ticket topic” is that one size does not fit all. Meaning, everyone’s experience is going to work differently.
Why?
Due to the variety of factors which go into making a ticket purchase. For starters, the Pittsburgh Steelers season ticket waiting list is so long, I do believe they hide sign-ups from the general public these days. Personally, I do not have season tickets but I do know I’m on the list, and, can’t find any other information about how one would get on it in 2017 (I signed up many moons ago).
Your next avenue for obtaining season tickets is to purchase a seat license, which doesn’t give you the actual tickets, only the right to buy the same location in the stadium each year. This too is above my pay grade, so I’ll defer to pointing yinz in the direction of a reputable company which handles those transactions. Just be aware that they the licenses aren’t cheap!
That leaves us to the common folk who just want to attend a game or two each year. I’m going to assume you have no interest in a season’s worth of tickets nor a seat license. That still doesn’t mean a transaction for a ticket or two won’t cost a pretty penny. Of course, if cost is not an issue, you can skip the remainder of this article and go directly to a reputable site such as TicketMaster’s NFL Ticket Exchange or StubHub, and buy whatever you’d like. This a sure-fire way to guarantee tickets and you’ll have your pick of whatever is available at the time.
Now that I’ve dwindled the list down to persons with a fixed budget or shrewd buyers, this is where the art of the deal comes into play. When, where, and how are the best way to get tickets?
Well, I have your answer.
Online Vendors
If you happen to luck out and get a ticket through TicketMaster directly, you would be one of the few who does. Nearly all of Heinz Field’s 68,400 seats are purchased for the year, with some held for corporate sponsors or members of the team’s family. Anything sold beyond that is typically a nosebleed seat in the upper end zone, which are all bleacher seats. Being at the game is better than not being there, but be advised those are the “worst” seats in the stadium (though I contend there’s not a bad seat in the house really).
If you attempt the TicketMaster route, you’re also going to fight a virtual crowd of people when the on-sale date and time occur. Do yourself a favor: if you find tickets, that’s all you’re going to get. Sending them back to look for “better” seats will forfeit what you’ve had in your cart and you might not get another chance as thousands of people rush for the crumbs left on the table. The site runs sluggish and unresponsive at that time, and chances are, you’re going to be unsatisfied with the experience.
As for secondary market sellers, both Ticket Exchange and StubHub guarantee their tickets. They’re also a haven for resellers to try and make a quick buck as well. I’ve bought and sold tickets on both sites, and I can tell you that each vendor takes their cut from the buyer and the seller. That means a more expensive ticket in the end. (Disclosure: StubHub is an official partner of Steel City Underground.)
You can lump newcomer SeatGeek into the same category, although I have less experience with their operation, which appears to be more of an aggregator of costs around the web much like Kayak is to hotels and airline flights. They do some direct sales, but without a promo code, you’re not really getting a deal there either. In fact, the only site which regularly offers promos or sales is StubHub. As an official partner, you can keep an eye on our tickets page to see when one is available (though they rarely are early in the season).
What about Craigslist? Scalpers?
If you have a fear of trading hundreds of dollars by meeting someone in public, then Craigslist is not for you. There’s an incredible amount of trust which is needed, along with a nose capable of spotting scammers, in order to navigate the Craigslist seas. Having said that, I have successfully navigated them, but you have to know how to get around those waters in order to successfully find tickets, as it is your best bet to find a good seat at a decent value.
Now that doesn’t mean people on Craigslist aren’t trying to make a buck. For those attempting to sell tickets for hundreds of dollars each, you’re better off working with the guaranteed vendors mentioned above. In some cases, there are legitimate people who cannot attend a game for whatever reason, and they are more than happy to work with you.
But keep in mind, people who own seat licenses have thousands of dollars invested in their tickets over the cost of the tickets themselves. Toss in the odd pricing schemes from the team where preseason tickets cost less, and certain pairs of games are “premium” priced higher than others, and you’ll run the gamut of trying to figure out heads or tails when it comes to a good deal.
I really haven’t touched on scalpers yet, but they do operate in much the same way as Craigslist contacts. The one saving grace is that cities such as Pittsburgh require a license to operate as a ticket reseller down at the stadium. Most will wear their license around their neck with a seating chart of Heinz Field. As with Craigslist, they have an investment in their seats, so you will have to decide what you’d like to spend.
Buyer Beware
This follows the preceding section because you must protect yourself from scammers. Here are a few tips.
First, if you buy online and the barcodes are showing in the image: don’t purchase! Scammers look for these images so they can make duplicates of tickets. If someone purchases fake tickets with the same number, one of you will not enter the stadium that day.
Second, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Sorry folks, but I don’t trust anyone on Craigslist that I can’t meet in person. There’s just no safe or guaranteed way to make sure you’ll receive your tickets, and that your money isn’t gone as soon as you hit send via PayPal or mail a check.
Same goes for where the seller is located. It’s true that Steelers Nation is worldwide, but many of scammers use the same few lines of “I’m working [somewhere far from where the game or you are].” I’ve found that the same con artists tend to offer a section, row, or seat that doesn’t physically exist. Since the seating charts aren’t very detailed in some cases, your best bet to check on the validity of the seat is to check out TicketMaster and see if you can use the zoom feature on their map. Usually, you can pinpoint down the very chair.
That might be more difficult for Steelers games which are sellouts, so another tip if you can’t do the first option with the map, is to bring up a University of Pitt football game the same way. Since the Steelers and Pitt share the Heinz Field, the seating charts are identical. Now you’ll know that Row XX in section 748 isn’t real.
Time of Purchase
My last word of advice is on “when” to purchase. There are some that swear by waiting until the last second to buy a ticket. They feel by holding out, they can hold a reseller’s feet to the fire. However, if you wait too long, the joke is on you, and you’ll be listening to the game on the radio in your car or watching at a nearby bar. Often, ticket holders sell a few of their personal seats to offset the cost of the entire season. If they do not sell their tickets, guess what they do with them?
They go to the game!
The practice of playing the waiting game can be especially dangerous when online outlets close the window by where they sell tickets, or the venue doesn’t except an electronic version on your smartphone and only a printout.
So my advice to everyone is this: if you’re planning a trip to Pittsburgh and do not live close enough to risk not going to the game, then make your decision early. Find a budget and work within it.
For those who are looking for the lowest price of admission, and won’t be bothered by the radio or bar option, to each their own. I’ve personally gotten tickets in tailgate lots when people have an extra to sell. The less you need (like a single ticket) the more likely you are to get into the game.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed reading my advice on ticket purchasing. If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below, and I’ll attempt to answer them as soon as possible.
