SAN DIEGO — The Padres open their most anticipated season in years next week at Petco Park and a limited number of fans will be allowed in the stands to cheer them on. Unfortunately, you practically need Fernando Tatis’ salary to afford opening day tickets!
“Fans are excited,” said Adam Budelli, Head of Partnerships at StubHub. “They haven't been able to see a baseball game in person in over a year.”
StubHub, an official partner with Major League Baseball, had less than a dozen tickets available Monday for the Padres season opener on April 1 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
And the seats they did have were well above opening day prices in previous years. Nosebleed seats are listed for over $1,400 a ticket and good seats are selling for $2,000.
“Obviously, opening day across the league is usually one of the higher-priced games to begin with,” Budelli said. Part of the problem this season is that the Padres are still trying to figure out who will get tickets to which games. Petco Park can hold 42,445 fans, but in the red tier, they're only allowed to fill 20% of the stadium. That’s less than 8,500 tickets and they've sold over 11,000 season tickets.
The Padres sent News 8 a statement Monday about opening day tickets saying, “To start the season (including Opening Day), we will unfortunately only have enough capacity for our existing full and half-season ticket members who have been with us the longest.”
When the county moves into the orange tier, Petco Park will be allowed to hold more than 14,000 fans. In the least restrictive yellow tier, more than 28,000 fans will be allowed inside.
The Padres say they still don't know if, or when this season, their box office will open to fans for single-game tickets. Regardless, experts say prices should drop considerably as more season ticket holders actually get their games confirmed from the team. That will flood the market with more available tickets.
“Prices of tickets currently listed are significantly higher, but as the season progresses, we anticipate that will level out and be a little more normal,” Budelli said.
He also has a warning - with the Padres a hot ticket, there will certainly be scammers out there looking to capitalize on the team's popularity. Make sure you're only buying tickets from trusted sellers and don’t pay with cash.
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