I stopped by the park on my way to the office this morning to pick up my season ticket packages. There was no line, and I walked right up. This probably reinforces my supposition that I’m the only one champing at the bit to pick up my tickets.
No matter, though. The ticket staff was happy to see me and found my tickets quickly. Then it came time to load me up with swag. As in the past, the IronPigs have some gifts for the season ticket holders on pick-up. I’m not sure which level of season tickets you need to receive the gifts, but I don’t think it’s a secret either. In fact, if you don’t qualify, this could be the impetus to increase your ticket level for next year. Or, there could be different swag for different levels. At any rate, there was so much swag this year they couldn’t even fit it through the little window at the ticket counter. They had to walk it out to me.
The swag was contained in a nice bag labeled “Ticket Plan Holder:”
Hats:
They’re not fancy, but they are kind of nice. They are cotton/canvas and have a Velcro closure. They are made in China and have four stitch rows on the brim. They are blue and white, with the Sunday logo, and have “Season Ticket Holder” stitched on the side.
Glasses:
No, not that kind of glasses. They were labeled “pint glasses” on the dispense slip, but they’re more of a small highball glass–a bit smaller than a standard pint beer glass, with a heavy base. They’re etched with “Iron Pigs Lehigh Valley Est 2008.” Perfect for a rum and Coke:
IronClipper Rewards Booklet:
These are small coupon books that are usually given out to the plan holders and group leaders. They contain coupons from the major game and stadium sponsors–of various levels of usefulness. New this year are coupons for concessions. Nice. But also noted are some limits on some of the coupons for which month they can be used. Read your coupons carefully and take advantage of them if you can.
Details with the tickets:
Once again, the ticket holders are invited to an “Appreciation Night” on Tuesday, July 16 for the showing of the All Star Game. We’ve talked about this before, and it’s a nice time–even better last year when we were able to throw the ball on the field. Also noted with the tickets is that in-seat service via the bypass lane app will be available again this year in the Club Level.
Unless I’m missing it, there is no information about batting practice viewing for this year. We never get those dates right away anyway, so could be they are yet to come. Or, could be they’ve discontinued it. We shall see, and I’ll post here when I find out as some folks didn’t receive them last year.
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Finally, here’s another view: If frequent comment contributor Lefty33 is still around, I’d expect he’d probably agree with this–and I can’t say I totally disagree either:
While I feel appreciated when I receive this swag, there is another thing they could do: a discount. How about $1.00: $1.00 per seat times 72 games times 4 seats equals $288.00. You can buy a lot of hats and drinking glasses for $288. Or, maybe a discount on advertising for those of us who own businesses? Nope, they don’t do that either.
What do other organizations do? Over the weekend I was perusing the web site for Autozone Park, home of the AAA Memphis Redbirds, affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. I was drawn to it as it was referred to as the “Taj Mahal” of minor league baseball. It’s not. But, I noticed that Club Level tickets are $20.00 in advance, or $23.00 on game day. This is much more than the $15 the IronPigs charge. BUT, purchase a full season plan in the Autozone Club Level and pay only $950/seat. That’s $13.19/game–less than the $14 I pay having locked in my seat price with a multi-year extension.
So I ask you, should the IronPigs do that? Raise single-game and same-day ticket prices while providing a healthy discount for season ticket holders? I’m not sure, myself. I think we should watch and find out how much difficulty they have selling those $20 Hot Corner tickets this year for our answer. Probably, the poor press they’d receive for raising ticket prices to Memphis-level would out-weigh any benefit from the season ticket holders. And, to think of it this way, since we support this team so well here in the Lehigh Valley, it’s like a subscription: We purchase so many tickets that it allows the everyday price to remain low. Just my thoughts. What are yours?
@Kram209
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
I’ll never be a season ticket holder. To be quite frank, I am entirely too poor to afford that “luxury” in my life. Always have been. Probably always will be, too (but I certainly do not hold the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs accountable for that deplorable situation).
With that in mind — Raise ticket prices on poor but proud “Walk-Ins” like me so the Season Ticket Holders, who probably are not getting enough “swag” anyway, can get free hats made in China and so forth?
Sure. Why NOT?! … I, myself, was always incapable of helping the IronPigs get to a higher tax bracket, anyway. Sad, but true. I am certainly not against Capitalism, and I harbor no hard feelings … I will also take this time to point out all IronPigs home games have always been broadcast on local television and not on a pay-per-view basis, just for the record.
Sincerely,
ROLF OELER
Point well taken. I knew it was too easy. You are correct, penalizing the walk-up is most likely not the way to go. I did say to someone the other day that they may have more difficulty than they anticipate selling those $20 hot corner tickets.
And if they offer me a choice next year: $1 off (per seat per game) versus Chinese hat, well, I know which way I’m going.
One more thing! I noticed on the back of my ticket cards is an offer for 10% off at the Majestic Clubhouse Store, on any order over $45 or something like that. That’s really good, and maybe more useful than the 15% off coupons I used to get in the IronClipper. I’m not sure if the back of the card thing applies to field level as well, but it really should. I’m also not sure if you have tickets printed, if the tickets or some other way, they give you the same–or is it a bonus for opting for the cards? Interesting.
Everything you say about the swag gifts received and the reverse side of the ticket cards appears to be the same on field level season tickets. Did you get comps for the game vs. Reading? I asked about buying them and then they told me I was entitled to free ones. I’m glad I asked. I’m also not a big fan of those Appreciation Night events. I’d rather stay home and enjoy the game on tv. Did you ask about that July 16 event? did they tell you? or is it written somewhere? No one said anything to me.
I was there on Monday at about 2 PM and there were about 10 people in line with 5 windows open so I had my tickets in about 5 minutes time. By then there were probably another 10 people in line behind me.
Hard to believe but that game vs. Reading is only 3 weeks from today. We need a quick warmup.
The All-Star party info was written on a letter which was included with my ticket cards.
I do feel a certain “been there, done that” with the All Star party as well as the batting practice parties (no word on them yet, huh?)–but last year WAS good. Any time I can throw the ball on the field with my boys, it’s a good night! But after spending time on the field, the lines for free food were much smaller and we could walk up and get what we wanted. We hung out a little more and went home. Worth the trip, anyway…
Okay, I didn’t read that letter when I got my ticket cards. I get 3 season tickets and I wanted cards for 2 of them and actual paper tickets for the third one. What I got was 2 season ticket cards and 216 paper tickets, 72 for each seat. They told me the ones I had cards for would be invalidated so I could just discard them. Unfortunately, it was one long 216 ticket strip so I had to tear them all apart. The paper tickets actually have at least one different offer on the back. There is the Majestic Clubhouse Store discount that is on the cards and then a few of them have a Jack Williams Tire Discount coupon for $50 off 4 select tires and $10 off an oil change service,