With the off-season the Cubs have had, this season has the makings to be one of their hottest in recent history. But singings of Soriano and Floyd and resignings of Ramirez, Wood and Prior are not the only reason why this could be a hot year for Cubs tickets - the schedule will also play a role.
Ticket Horde considers four factors important when looking during the preseason at how hot baseball tickets will be: they are opponents, day of week, time of year and events (Opening Day, number being retired, etc.). If a series has two of these elements, it's a pretty good sign that demand will be high. In general the more elements the better.
When you look at the Cubs schedule for the 2007 season, a lot of games have at least two of the elements that will likely push demand above face value.
Let's take a look at how the weekend series and a couple of other hot games will shake out for the Cubs this year:
Opening Day 4/9 vs. Houston Astros - This will obviously be hot.
4/13-15 vs. Cincinnati Reds - Though you will get some traffic because it is opening weekend, the weather and a relatively low demand opponent means prices will likely be around face value.
4/20-22 vs. St. Louis Cardinals - Yes, it's still cold, but the Cards are a great opponent for the Cubs and there will be a good bunch of fans driving up from St. Louis to exercise bragging rights in this first rivalry series of the year.
5/4-6 vs. Washington Nationals - This is a throwaway series. Yes, Soriano used to play for the Nats, but no one cares.
5/18-20 vs. Chicago White Sox - Two teams worth of fans will be fighting over these tickets and the weather might even start warming up a bit by mid May. Obviously, this is the hottest series of the year at Wrigley.
6/1-3 vs. Atlanta Braves and 6/15-17 vs. San Diego Padres - we will lump these together because they have something in common: they are both low-demand opponents. But they have something else in common too: They are all weekend day games in a warm month. These will be good buys at the end of the day tomorrow.
6/29-7/1 vs. Milwaukee Brewers. Same as the Braves and Padres series with a bonus: Brewers fans will drive demand up a little bit and you are more likely to get warm weather...you also have the possibility of some July 4th out of town traffic.
7/13-15 vs. Houston Astros and 7/20-22 vs. Arizona Diamondbacks - The Astros used to be a good draw at Wrigley, but they don't figure to be much of a contender this year. That's why we would only go after these at the end of the day for the warm weather weekend game angle and also why they are in the same category as the D-backs.
8/3-8/5 vs. New York Mets: Right when the weather is starting to decide if it wants to change or not, the Mets make their only visit to the Friendly Confines. That puts it a bit above other games against non-direct rivals, but again, this is an end-of-the-day buy.
8/17-8/19 vs. St. Louis Cardinals - We'd take these before the Mets series as things will just start heating up in what could be a brutally competitive NL Central this year.
8/31-9/2 vs. Houston Astros - Cold weather, rough opponent and preceeds the Dodgers only visit to Chicago. Only a neck-and-neck pennant race would make these really hot and we don't know for sure whether there will be one at this point.
9/21-23 vs. Pittsburgh Pirates - If you are a speculator, this could be a big buy-and-hold series. They are the Cubs last games at home and if there is anything on the line, such as a chance to clinch, fans will come out strong.
Other possible candidates:
July 16-19 vs. San Francisco Giants - Barry Bonds only visit is in July. It will be great weather, which could be a good plan B if you buy hoping to get tickets to the HR record breaking game.
On the interleague front, the Cubs will host the Seattle Mariners in June. Yes, it is good weather, but don't kid yourself. No one cares.
We do hope this helps you organize your day Friday. You can check the market for specific games here.
Ticket Horde considers four factors important when looking during the preseason at how hot baseball tickets will be: they are opponents, day of week, time of year and events (Opening Day, number being retired, etc.). If a series has two of these elements, it's a pretty good sign that demand will be high. In general the more elements the better.
When you look at the Cubs schedule for the 2007 season, a lot of games have at least two of the elements that will likely push demand above face value.
Let's take a look at how the weekend series and a couple of other hot games will shake out for the Cubs this year:
Opening Day 4/9 vs. Houston Astros - This will obviously be hot.
4/13-15 vs. Cincinnati Reds - Though you will get some traffic because it is opening weekend, the weather and a relatively low demand opponent means prices will likely be around face value.
4/20-22 vs. St. Louis Cardinals - Yes, it's still cold, but the Cards are a great opponent for the Cubs and there will be a good bunch of fans driving up from St. Louis to exercise bragging rights in this first rivalry series of the year.
5/4-6 vs. Washington Nationals - This is a throwaway series. Yes, Soriano used to play for the Nats, but no one cares.
5/18-20 vs. Chicago White Sox - Two teams worth of fans will be fighting over these tickets and the weather might even start warming up a bit by mid May. Obviously, this is the hottest series of the year at Wrigley.
6/1-3 vs. Atlanta Braves and 6/15-17 vs. San Diego Padres - we will lump these together because they have something in common: they are both low-demand opponents. But they have something else in common too: They are all weekend day games in a warm month. These will be good buys at the end of the day tomorrow.
6/29-7/1 vs. Milwaukee Brewers. Same as the Braves and Padres series with a bonus: Brewers fans will drive demand up a little bit and you are more likely to get warm weather...you also have the possibility of some July 4th out of town traffic.
7/13-15 vs. Houston Astros and 7/20-22 vs. Arizona Diamondbacks - The Astros used to be a good draw at Wrigley, but they don't figure to be much of a contender this year. That's why we would only go after these at the end of the day for the warm weather weekend game angle and also why they are in the same category as the D-backs.
8/3-8/5 vs. New York Mets: Right when the weather is starting to decide if it wants to change or not, the Mets make their only visit to the Friendly Confines. That puts it a bit above other games against non-direct rivals, but again, this is an end-of-the-day buy.
8/17-8/19 vs. St. Louis Cardinals - We'd take these before the Mets series as things will just start heating up in what could be a brutally competitive NL Central this year.
8/31-9/2 vs. Houston Astros - Cold weather, rough opponent and preceeds the Dodgers only visit to Chicago. Only a neck-and-neck pennant race would make these really hot and we don't know for sure whether there will be one at this point.
9/21-23 vs. Pittsburgh Pirates - If you are a speculator, this could be a big buy-and-hold series. They are the Cubs last games at home and if there is anything on the line, such as a chance to clinch, fans will come out strong.
Other possible candidates:
July 16-19 vs. San Francisco Giants - Barry Bonds only visit is in July. It will be great weather, which could be a good plan B if you buy hoping to get tickets to the HR record breaking game.
On the interleague front, the Cubs will host the Seattle Mariners in June. Yes, it is good weather, but don't kid yourself. No one cares.
We do hope this helps you organize your day Friday. You can check the market for specific games here.
6 comments:
Everything I read says tickets on sale Friday, not tomorrow?
tix go on sale Friday, not Thursday
Am I losing it? Or is the Cubs sale Fri morning, not tomorrow?
Presale? Did I miss something? I thouhgt tickets went on saler Friday. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
Sorry guys, that was meant to be published Thursday...there is no presale and tickets do go on sale Friday as originally reported.
Definately, no problem at all. You have an awesome blog! One little error like that is no big deal! Thanks.
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