Walk-up tickets on hand for each game, team says

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/03/2012 (5125 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DON’T have season tickets? Don’t worry.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers promise you won’t be left out in the cold.

Individual tickets will be available on game days, team officials said Thursday, as they continue the process of transferring 21,000 season seats from Canad Inns Stadium over to Investors Group Field at the University of Manitoba.

“We will have walk-up tickets available for fans on game days,” said Curtis Ash, the director of ticketing with the Bombers. “We’re just not sure what the number will be yet.”

Unlike the Winnipeg Jets, who keep the ticket demand high through exclusivity at the MTS Centre, the Bombers have the luxury of holding some tickets back prior to kickoff at the 33,500-seat Investors Group Field to create some buzz.

They have extra seats to play with, so those fans waiting on things such as weather, the opponent or simply making a last-minute decision to spend an evening watching CFL football won’t have concerns about securing tickets well in advance of the date.

“Having a walk-up available is important,” Ash said. “We think it adds to the game-day experience.”

The Bombers are currently blowing through the season-ticket allocation process, moving into the 2005-06 purchase dates. The changeover will slow a bit now, Ash says, as the club’s increase in season-ticket numbers over the last decade means more requests to process.

The club hopes to get into the final block of ticket transfers (the roughly 2,000 tickets bought during the 2011 season, according to Ash) at the start of April. Once that’s completed, the next phase of seat allocation will focus on Pick-10 package-holders, giving those fans a chance to upgrade to season tickets if they wish.

Once that’s done, all season-ticket holders will be given an opportunity to buy extra season seats, before the club starts looking at the wait-list options and selling individual game tickets.

There are roughly 2,000 people on the wait list for season ducats. The Bombers are still doing the math on how many extra season tickets current holders can buy, but expect to announce that number shortly.

As reported, some longtime supporters have expressed dissatisfaction with the process, understandably voicing displeasure with getting moved to a vantage point they would rather not have. Ash sympathizes with some of the unhappy fans, but points out the club has tried to accommodate as many people as possible.

“It is a big changeover,” he said. “A project of this size, there will always be a problem or two. We certainly are doing what we can.”

At this point of the transfer, the team reports a 98 per cent season-ticket retention rate. Not bad, considering the huge task and ticket-cost increase from last year.

The Bombers sell season passes in 11-game packs (one pre-season, one playoff) for Investors Group Field, but with the uncertainty of when the venue will be completed, the club has been forced to make an adjustment.

The June 20 home pre-season game will be played at Canad Inns Stadium, the club already announced. Season-ticket holders will pay 2011 prices for that game (accounts will be credited) and fans will be assigned their old seat.

Moving forward, the Bombers plan to continue this practice if regular-season games have to played at the old Polo Park stadium.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca