MLB Going Mobile Ticket Only for Postseason

brad31

Just received my postseason invoice from the Cubs and Tickets are mobile only this year for the postseason. This will be the case for all Tickets to all postseason games not just season tickets. If you do not have a phone they will issue a paper ticket on generic stock for $10. After the postseason is played I can opt in and they will send commeritive hardcopy tickets for all games played at Wrigley Field. Will collectors consider these tickets as real since they are printed after the fact? If not there really will be no more World Series tickets for people to collect. Interested in thoughts people may have on this. I am disappointed.

KnightRider

I collect sports tickets and I would view the commemorative WS tickets as desirable, as they're authentic, team-issued and the only tickets that you're gonna get. So, if the Cubs make the WS, you should definitely opt in and get the hard copy tickets, as you know many people won't, and this will only make the tickets less plentiful and potentially more valuable some day.

Given how many (if not most) tickets these days are available electronically, it seems that many hard copy season tickets in all sports are already commemorative, in a sense. I mean, (as a general example), look on eBay and you can find someone in California selling reams of Mets hard copy season tickets after the games are over as collectibles. All of the seats were sold electronically before the game, and now the ticket broker is getting rid of the actual hard copy tickets after the fact. The Mets shipped these tickets 3,000 miles away to the "season ticket holder" with no expectation that they were ever going back across the Mississippi, (much less to Queens), to ever be used for the games themselves.

prgsdw

A lot of folks travel to see their team. A friend of mine in PA has Dallas Cowboys season tickets and they are typically there for 3-4 of the 8 home games a year. An lady we met from Northeast PA goes to all the Dallas Cowboys games - home and away - each year and is a season ticket holder. I know when I go to the game in Dallas I always try to buy tickets from a seller than will send me the physical tickets.

I can speak personally that I was very disappointed in 2015 when we went to Washington D.C. to see the Redskins Cowboys game and Jason Witten caught his 1,000 career pass. The first thing I thought of after "wow that was cool to see in person" was "hey, I'm going to send this ticket to PSA to get authenticated for his 1,000 catch as a keep sake" - then I realized no, I had printed the electronic ticket before the game. Such a shame.

Regarding the original question, I would agree with KnightRider, I'd get the physical tickets if you can (particularly for the World Series). Times change and team issued, even if after the fact, might be the best that can be done.

brad31

Thanks for the feedback. I will opt in. Definitely will miss the excitement of opening up the envelope with the physical tickets in a few weeks.

jradke4

second you on the redskins. though they did print some (relatively few) real tickets for the Packers-Skins Wild Card game most were mobile only. basically has killed my Packers post-season ticket collection. though there is one graded ticket out there in someones set. the vikings have done the same as well. the Packers still give you real tickets. though you can get those changed to mobile tickets after you get your real ones.

oilers99

The Dodgers have done that for years and we weren't even given an option of getting commemorative World Series tickets after the fact . At least the Lakers are still sending out season tickets so I can save LeBron's home opener ticket.

PADIdiver

I think you'll see more and more mobile / electronic tickets. I have season tickets for a couple of sports and was told that the reason they moved to soft copy tickets only is to combat fraud. Many people believed if they got a hard copy ticket they were always 100% legit but would get turned away at the venue because the owner could have printed off PDF's and sold those to someone.

With soft copy tickets you should be better protected in theory because the tickets can be transferred to your name and a new bar code gets issued. At least that's what I was told by my account rep

Sdub

The Warriors only take either the original tickets or mobile. no more PDF's. Too much fraud with PDF's.

Bought two tickets to Giants game last week, via website seat-geek. Got to the ticket gate and someone had already checked in with PDF's of the tickets, even though I had them on my phone. Walked to the our seats with ticket agents and there's two folks in our seats. Guy had two PDF's he got from scalper. I had electronic copies, he didn't. Giants gave me two other seats. They've got a problem.