Are the Maine Celtics holding back tickets for some reason?

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Hey folks - was thinking of hitting the Maine Celtics this afternoon, but went to buy tickets and there was basically nothing available, other than the very corners seats for $15. Couple re-sales for $70 or so. No thanks. But then I see video like this and both end-of-court sections are totally empty:

View: https://twitter.com/MaineCeltics/status/1726302158054641817?s=20


Anyone have any idea why that would be?

 

[reej]

Maybe local companies buy them and nobody ends up actually attending the game? thats all i can come up with

 

[Light-Tower-Power]

I completely forgot Tony Snell played for the Red Claws Celtics.

 

[Van Everyman]

That sucks. They should absolutely be encouraging Mainers and others to come to the games.

 

[findguapo]

Hey folks - was thinking of hitting the Maine Celtics this afternoon, but went to buy tickets and there was basically nothing available, other than the very corners seats for $15. Couple re-sales for $70 or so. No thanks. But then I see video like this and both end-of-court sections are totally empty:

View: https://twitter.com/MaineCeltics/status/1726302158054641817?s=20


Anyone have any idea why that would be?

They probably dont release the endzone seats until the sidelines sell out.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Buy the cheap seats. Seating is fluid.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Buy the cheap seats. Seating is fluid.

Ha! I normally do. But I was thinking it was going to be banged out, with only 10 seats available in the building. Hard to move around. And then the ends are empty! Maybe it’s true they don’t release those, trying to drive up resale prices, which Ticketmaster also handles? The whole thing is very strange. It’s a small town. I’m going to get to the bottom of it.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

Hey folks - was thinking of hitting the Maine Celtics this afternoon, but went to buy tickets and there was basically nothing available, other than the very corners seats for $15. Couple re-sales for $70 or so. No thanks. But then I see video like this and both end-of-court sections are totally empty:

View: https://twitter.com/MaineCeltics/status/1726302158054641817?s=20


Anyone have any idea why that would be?

Welcome to the new age of dynamic pricing. It's been like this for awhile now with most professional sports teams. The most telling I recall seeing was a NY Yankee game last year with 70% of box seats empty and rest of stadium full.

 

[NomarsFool]

Ha! I normally do. But I was thinking it was going to be banged out, with only 10 seats available in the building. Hard to move around. And then the ends are empty! Maybe it’s true they don’t release those, trying to drive up resale prices, which Ticketmaster also handles? The whole thing is very strange. It’s a small town. I’m going to get to the bottom of it.

Are the Ticketmaster fees a proportion of the ticket price, or flat? I'm wondering if they make more money from higher priced resales than they do from initial sales of the cheap seats.

Can you move from the behind the basket seats to the sidelines, or are those sections separated out?

 

[tonyandpals]

I'm thinking they just don't open/sell those sections until the rest of the place sells out. They'd rather sell you a $15 corner seat than a $10 end seat. Then they don't have to clean up/staff those end sections either.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Okay, I called them. The dude said they only usually sell those tickets for group buys, and they don't want to sell individuals in there because then you might have two people sitting in the middle of a group of 40 coworkers or whatever. Which seems like mostly nonsense, but explains it at least somewhat. He said if you ever seen crappy availability, just come down and buy at the box office and they'll let you buy those day-of. So, I learned something.

 

[Fishercat]

Okay, I called them. The dude said they only usually sell those tickets for group buys, and they don't want to sell individuals in there because then you might have two people sitting in the middle of a group of 40 coworkers or whatever. Which seems like mostly nonsense, but explains it at least somewhat. He said if you ever seen crappy availability, just come down and buy at the box office and they'll let you buy those day-of. So, I learned something.

This tracks with my experience in the minor league ticketing world as well - a lot easier just to hold sections for potential group buys and release close to the event than working around the people who want to buy a seat or two and be surrounding by no one, and then release it if the other general seats sell out or group buys aren't possible. It's nonsense in some cases but they're probably willing to lose a few tickets worth of sales per game who may want very particular seats to not deal with the sheer annoyance if a group of 50 wants to buy at some point and there's one random dude just sitting right in the perfect block.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

This tracks with my experience in the minor league ticketing world as well - a lot easier just to hold sections for potential group buys and release close to the event than working around the people who want to buy a seat or two and be surrounding by no one, and then release it if the other general seats sell out or group buys aren't possible. It's nonsense in some cases but they're probably willing to lose a few tickets worth of sales per game who may want very particular seats to not deal with the sheer annoyance if a group of 50 wants to buy at some point and there's one random dude just sitting right in the perfect block.

Username checks out

 

[Smokey Joe]

Okay, I called them. The dude said they only usually sell those tickets for group buys, and they don't want to sell individuals in there because then you might have two people sitting in the middle of a group of 40 coworkers or whatever. Which seems like mostly nonsense, but explains it at least somewhat. He said if you ever seen crappy availability, just come down and buy at the box office and they'll let you buy those day-of. So, I learned something.

A friend of mine and I once found ourselves surrounded by 30-40 frat guys from Dartmouth in the bleachers at Fenway. They had packed a case of beer per person for the bus ride down. By the 6th inning security had whittled the group down to about 20 and my friend and I were beginning to get concerned that if they decided to just sweep up the left overs we might end up shoved onto a bus headed for Hanover.
I fully understand the dudes concerns.