Help me budget this-MLB

[Bungle]

My oldest has played in little league for years now and has always dreamed of seeing a major league game. I want to take him to Seattle (close enough to drive to) for a game but when I look to buy tickets online they are always outrageous. Anyone know how to score discounts on MLB tickets?

Also are the seattle hotels always this expensive? I'm actually thinking of using a name your own price type website but have never actually stayed at a hotel in the Seattle area so I'm a little unsure.

Any help making my sons dream a reality would be so helpful

 

[eowensby]

Try stubhub.com for tickets. that's where we get our Braves tickets every summer.

 

[21yankees]

When are you trying to go? It looks like they have 1/2 price tickets occasionally for Family Night. Also if you sit in the upper deck the price is usually less and you still have a good view of the game.

 

[clh2]

I'm in the MIlwaukee market - and we've had great luck with stubhub as well. The Milwaukee Brewers have a direct link to them right from the website. Now - if you are wanting to go to a "premier game" i.e. for us that would be the Cubs - the stubhub prices would probably be off the charts. For most other teams - it wouldn't be so bad.

Have fun!

 

[endy]

The Mariners have a store in a mall or at least they did 2 or 3 years ago. You can buy tickets and all their logo stuff there.
I thought the prices were fairly reasonable but darn if I can remember how much.
Can't remember the name of the mall but shouldn't be too hard to find online.
If you camp theres a nice KOA not too far away that is cheaper than a motel. Campground is about 10 minutes from the mall, I think it's in Kent.

Have a great time.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Stub hub is a good choice. We have used it for tickets to Cards games. Also check the web site for the team. Sometimes they offer a family package that includes food or just better prices for different games. I hope you get to go. It really is a fun thing to do!

 

[CowboyCO]

Use hotwire for hotels and then do sleuthing on "betterbidding.com" to figure out the likely hotel.

 

[honugirl]

If you don't care who you see and just want to be in the ballpark, upper deck seats go for as little as like $20 at Safeco. I've sat at the very top row before and you can still see plenty well.

Seattle hotels are expensive, just part of being in the big city. Try looking down near Southcenter mall and the airport, things get cheaper down there (relatively speaking...)

 

[bumbershoot]

The close-up seats are expensive, but sit further away or further up. I was just looking at tickets for tomorrow's game, and found some as low as 17.74 base price.

If I were driving in to go to a game (football or baseball) I would check to see if the Silver Cloud had rooms, and try to stay there no matter the cost. It's in walking distance from the stadium and park, and that just seems like a good idea, to not have to deal with post-game traffic in a car.

If you would consider triple A, the Tacoma Rainiers are fun. They have a BRAND new park, I mean a month old brand new. And the tickets are lower than the Mariners.

No hotels right there for the Rainiers, but there are hotels around town.

 

[JB2K]

Baseball is expensive, no matter how you cut it.

If a major league game is on your list, StubHub is an excellent place to get others' unwanted tickets.

Another good way to save on all the convenience/processing charges is to purchase your tickets at the stadium window (or have a trusted friend do it for you).

I'm lucky, as I work in the city and can walk to the stadium to buy all my tickets.

 

[luvmy3]

The close-up seats are expensive, but sit further away or further up. I was just looking at tickets for tomorrow's game, and found some as low as 17.74 base price.

If I were driving in to go to a game (football or baseball) I would check to see if the Silver Cloud had rooms, and try to stay there no matter the cost. It's in walking distance from the stadium and park, and that just seems like a good idea, to not have to deal with post-game traffic in a car.

If you would consider triple A, the Tacoma Rainiers are fun. They have a BRAND new park, I mean a month old brand new. And the tickets are lower than the Mariners.

No hotels right there for the Rainiers, but there are hotels around town.

OP, if you are willing to minor leauge, Kraft has a promo, bring a Kraft cheese wrapper and buy one ticket get on free on Tuesday night games.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/events/kraft_landing_2011.jsp


I was looking to take 6 of us to a MLB game, but went directly to the Yankees site for tickets and decided against it. I ended up getting tix to a local minor leauge game, against the Staten Island Yankees
Now thanks to this thread I know to check StubHub for next year Yanks Vs. Red Sox games!

 

[krcit]

Use hotwire for hotels and then do sleuthing on "betterbidding.com" to figure out the likely hotel.

 

[RitaE]

Try to choose a weekday game if possible and not weekend. Even better - choose a daytime weekday game and not night if that is possible. Crowds and ticket demand are lower when people have to be at work.

For our market (Chicago) season ticket holders will put their unwanted game seats on Stubhub and often drop the price as the game gets closer and it looks like it won't sell. Unless it is a really popular game that you know is going to be a full stadium, don't buy too far in advance. You can also check craigslist or other places but buying tickets from those types of places always makes me nervous. Stubhub has a ticket guarantee.

Buy shirts and whatever other souvenir you want outside of the ballpark - at a nearby WalMart or something like that if possible.

 

[beansmom]

i visited Seattle last week and stayed in pretty nice hotel downtown - Hotel Max - it was clean, convenient to Pike Place, lots of things to do down there...and was $139 per nite. The bathroom was absolutely tiny. But...if you have a car, I'm sure you can find something a bit farther out for less.

 

[Ali]

There are discounts for little league players as well, my son is going to see the brewers and Marlins tomorrow night and as soon as he picks where he wants to sit I will use that doscount. It's not much but it helps.

 

[dawson5]

Do you have facebook? Have you "liked" the team on there? We're Indians fans, they just posted a deal for tonight's game (fireworks night) $4 off a ticket. Hubby took our youngest and my nephew a few weeks back, they walked up to the ticket counter and bought 3 $75 tickets for $25 each. I think they were a few rows back of 3rd base, really good seats. If it's not sold out, you might be able to get good seats at the venue.

 

[jenlynn0808]

Do you have to stay in Seattle? You could always look into staying in Tukwila or Bellevue. If you stay in Tukwila, one of the hotels has a Family Fun Center type of place basically across their parking lot. We've been there and the kids really enjoyed it. The fun center that is...don't know about the hotel. That particular hotel is easy on/off for 405 and a mile on it will connect you to I-5 and that goes straight downtown.

Also the do offer discount tickets...in April I know our credit union was having a 'night' and the tickets were 50% off threw them.

 

[Bungle]

These are all great suggestions. We have a game today so I'm just starting to look into them but will get to all of them tonight. Stub hub looks fantastic so far. We can get lower level seats at some of the games for the price of upper level ones

 

[SandrA9810]

I remember going to the Marlins games, way back when they first started as a team. They used to sell tickets for the "Fish Bowl", they were they upper deck seats for $5 a pop. I can't tell you how many games I went to sitting in the fish bowl.

After they won the World Series, which I got to go to Game 5 I believe, the prices went up and didn't go much after that.

If you ever visit Disney in March, the Atlanta Braves have spring training at Wide World of Sports complex. Tickets are cheap enough, and also can be used with the WP&M option. During the summer months, the Tampa Bay Rays have come over to play a week's worth of games there. I went to one, and they were handing out tickets left and right to go see a game for free back in Tampa, or could be used as a $5 discount on any other ticket. So we went to see them play the Marlins a couple weeks later.

 

[Bungle]

Sorry to get back to this post so many days later but graduation season has been so busy around here.

I was able to buy lower section seats for a great price to the game on July 1st on stub hub for a great price. Now I'm working on hotel. I would prefer to stay in Seattle. This will probably be the one and only time we go do this with just the two of us, and it is his first major league game so I want to do something special. Its looking like the name your own price route will be the best but I have no idea what the hotels are like up there so I'm kind of stuck. I guess I will be doing a lot of research on it.

beansmom I'm not sure if we will drive or not. We live in Portland and so taking amtrak would be an option. I'm waiting to see if there is a student discount on summer fares.

bumbershoot I loved going to triple a games before we got rid of our team! Always so much fun and the seats were cheap. We went on dollar hot dog and icecream nights too. I am so sad they got rid of our team to bring in soccer

Once again thank you all for your suggestions!