So when do you buy your Royals tickets? One app lets you wait until even after the first pitch if you want to try to score a deal. But after two hot seasons, we look at the Royals’ numbers to show you the risk of waiting on seats so you can decide for yourself.
Royals’ officials said there are now 18,000 season ticket holders. Toby Cook, the vice president of community affairs and publicity for the team, said that is more than he can ever remember the team having.
The number of season ticket holders has roughly doubled since the team went on their two-season "hot streak," Cook said. Before 2014, season ticket holders and group sales averaged about 10,000 seats for most games before a single ticket was sold. It was a little higher in 2012, the year of the All-Star Game in KC, but then fell again in 2013, according to Cook. That means in a stadium that holds about 38,000 people, we’re used to about a quarter of the seats being spoken for. But now, season ticket holders and group sales are taking up an average of 21,000 seats for most games (with a few exceptions for big group sales). That means more than half the seats in the stadium are now usually gone.
Local resident Kirk Ducker uses an app called Gametime that he said allows him to buy tickets at great deals, even after the game has started.
“It actually gives you full visuals of where your seats are located,” he said.
Ducker said he has purchased more than a dozen tickets through the app. “Oh yeah, I love it. It is my favorite app. I’ve been trying to spread it around to my friends and family.”
Sean Pate with Gametime said the app has been available in Kansas City since last year. He said 50 percent of their sales come on game day, some with big discounts.
“Sometimes up to sixty percent off face value,” said Pate. “It is very much like a stock market, so prices will fluctuate over time very quickly.”
“We saw a lot of Royals fans getting in to the playoffs, in to the World Series at some really great discounts because with Gametime you can wait until literally the first pitch,” said Pate.
If you are concerned about buying tickets, Pate said Gametime does guarantee their tickets. Cook said the Royals can only vouch for tickets purchased on their official website or StubHub because it has a partnership with the MLB.
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Lindsay Shively can be reached at lindsay.shively@kshb.com.
