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$15 to get into BP early????

Physics Guy

By Physics Guy
in Minnesota Twins Talk

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Physics Guy First Round Pick

Physics Guy

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The money grab is starting to become disgusting.

 

For extra $15, Twins fans can get early entry for batting practice | StarTribune.com

 

I don't care if half of the teams in MLB are doing it. That doesn't make it right. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to watch the Twins take BP you would have to pay the fee. By the time they open the gates, the Twins are done. This really creates some good will with the fans. (sarcasm)

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ThePuck First Round Pick

ThePuck

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You'd think they'd say "hey, if the come in earlier, they buy more concessions", and open the gates early. Guess that's not happening.

 

It sure used to happen though. I used to go watch batting practice all the time (that being relative to the amount of games I went to, of course) at the Metrodome back in the late 90s/early-mid 00s. I didn't know that had stopped until I tried to get into Target for batting practice and they wouldn't let anyone in until, what was it, like an hour before game time? I forget. Anyone know the exact amount of time before the game starts before they open the gates?

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glanzer College Ball

glanzer

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This definitely appeals to a certain group of fans and I guarantee those 60 tickets will be in high demand. There are grown men who push over kids to get batting practice home run balls--now's their chance. I say good move by the Twins letting them in early for a price.

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mggopher Prep Ball

mggopher

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You'd think they'd say "hey, if the come in earlier, they buy more concessions", and open the gates early. Guess that's not happening.

 

I went to a game in Seattle two years ago when I was in town for business. Not only did they open the gates uber-early, they had specials on food and beer until something like 90 minutes before game time. I believe it was like $4 or $5 for a large draft beer until then. They had this cool area to chill with tables and stuff near a beer stand where people were almost like tailgating. I don't know if it's still like that in Seattle, but I was certainly impressed and felt like they had nailed it. I'd go to every game early if I lived there...it was amazingly shrewd.

 

EDIT: Checked just now for the he** of it, and apparently nothing has changed. Tell me this isn't way more genius than charging $15: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/sea/ballpark/the_pen.jsp

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LastOnePicked First Round Pick

LastOnePicked

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Another great idea from St. Peter and crew! While I'm not on staff, here's a few more they ought to consider:

 

Want a cup holder with your seat? $10

Will you be bringing in your own Twins cap, rather than purchasing a new one from the gift shop? $5

Access to heat lamps on cold days? $15

Need a cup with that beer or pop? $5

Bathroom break? $1 per visit/$3 for a full game license

Caught a homerun or foul ball and want to take it home? $20

 

Memories of a time when my Dad and I could get downtown early, hang out in the Dome and watch the Twins take BP? Priceless (but he never could have afforded an extra $30 to do it).

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IdahoPilgrim First Round Pick

IdahoPilgrim

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The money grab is starting to become disgusting.

 

For extra $15, Twins fans can get early entry for batting practice | StarTribune.com

 

I don't care if half of the teams in MLB are doing it. That doesn't make it right. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to watch the Twins take BP you would have to pay the fee. By the time they open the gates, the Twins are done. This really creates some good will with the fans. (sarcasm)

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but since Target Field opened the gates have never been opened early enough to watch the Twins take BP. So those who don't want to pay the extra money, they're not missing anything they wouldn't already be missing anyway. In other words, the Twins are offering something extra for extra cash - that's business.

 

You could make the argument that the club has an obligation to make Twins BP available on a general basis for anybody holding a ticket, but since that went out the window long ago, I'm not holding my breath.

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Physics Guy First Round Pick

Physics Guy

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Serious question: is the existence of this extra-fee program better or worse than not having any opportunity to see the home team's batting practice at all? Because that's the way it was before.

 

Can I say both?

 

Better because people who want to can watch the home team take BP. I think that is early enough to at least catch part of it. Worse because they feel they have to charge people for it. My guess it they'll say it's to cover the extra staffing that might be required, but I have my doubts they would need to do it.

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Physics Guy First Round Pick

Physics Guy

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but since Target Field opened the gates have never been opened early enough to watch the Twins take BP. So those who don't want to pay the extra money, they're not missing anything they wouldn't already be missing anyway. In other words, the Twins are offering something extra for extra cash - that's business.

 

You could make the argument that the club has an obligation to make Twins BP available on a general basis for anybody holding a ticket, but since that went out the window long ago, I'm not holding my breath.

 

I agree that we haven't been able to watch the Twins for quite some time, probably even when they were at the Dome. Wouldn't it be nice if they could open up early once in a while, maybe on a Saturday or Sunday (without charging a fee)?

 

Baseball has become just like every other sport that has to extract every penny from its fans to pay the top players contracts for ridiculous amounts. Not too long ago, a family of four could go to a game for easily under $100. That's pretty hard to pull off now at Target Field. It still beats going to about any other sporting event in town, but the margin is shrinking. OK, I'm done with my rant. I know the $15 is something I don't have to pay, but I'm pretty sure my son would like to see the Twins take BP.

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ThePuck First Round Pick

ThePuck

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I agree that we haven't been able to watch the Twins for quite some time, probably even when they were at the Dome. Wouldn't it be nice if they could open up early once in a while, maybe on a Saturday or Sunday (without charging a fee)?

 

 

I used to watch Twins batting practice at the Dome. They may have stopped it in the late '00s, not sure (cause I was in Germany or on deployments for most of the mid-late '00s), but I used to make sure I went early to see batting practice at the dome often.

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Physics Guy First Round Pick

Physics Guy

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I went to a game in Seattle two years ago when I was in town for business. Not only did they open the gates uber-early, they had specials on food and beer until something like 90 minutes before game time. I believe it was like $4 or $5 for a large draft beer until then. They had this cool area to chill with tables and stuff near a beer stand where people were almost like tailgating. I don't know if it's still like that in Seattle, but I was certainly impressed and felt like they had nailed it. I'd go to every game early if I lived there...it was amazingly shrewd.

 

EDIT: Checked just now for the he** of it, and apparently nothing has changed. Tell me this isn't way more genius than charging $15: The 'Pen - Safeco Field's Newest Destination | Mariners.com: Ballpark

 

That sounds like a much better plan. I'm pretty sure they'd get at least $15 in concessions from me.

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ThePuck First Round Pick

ThePuck

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I'm curious if anybody is familiar with how it works at other stadiums. My guess is that they normally don't have the home team accessible for BP because it is more of a distraction for the players.

 

I've seen the Rockies have batting practice before, haven't been for a couple years to know if that is still allowed. Admittedly, I haven't gone early enough to most of the other ballparks I've been to in order to know if they open up early for BP.

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IdahoPilgrim First Round Pick

IdahoPilgrim

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I agree that we haven't been able to watch the Twins for quite some time, probably even when they were at the Dome. Wouldn't it be nice if they could open up early once in a while, maybe on a Saturday or Sunday (without charging a fee)?

 

That's a valid request to consider, I think. I remember going to the park on a Sunday afternoon as a kid and getting there early to watch Twins BP, and even get a few autographs (back when players still signed autographs for free).

 

This could be a really neat promotion, something they could do a handful of times a season and publicize it in advance. I wonder if anybody in the promotions department reads these forums?:o

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spideyo Draft Eligible

spideyo

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It sure used to happen though. I used to go watch batting practice all the time (that being relative to the amount of games I went to, of course) at the Metrodome back in the late 90s/early-mid 00s. I didn't know that had stopped until I tried to get into Target for batting practice and they wouldn't let anyone in until, what was it, like an hour before game time? I forget. Anyone know the exact amount of time before the game starts before they open the gates?

 

Gates typically open 90 minutes before first pitch during the week, and two hours before first pitch on the weekend.

 

It would be a valid claim that the fee is going to cover staffing, because they will have to bring ushers and security guards in early.

 

I don't see the early concessions thing happening, as it sounds like extra logistics work that DNC would see as not worth the extra money. Also, they hate giving discounts.

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spideyo Draft Eligible

spideyo

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. I wonder if anybody in the promotions department reads these forums?:o

 

I've been trying hard to get into the Twins promotions dept if that helps. But I don't think their HR lady likes my resume

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TheLeviathan All-Star

TheLeviathan

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They are welcome to make business decisions like this (extra service, extra fee) - I'd just advise them to have a bit more awareness of their fan base. Observe:

 

Two consecutive awful seasons, continued payroll decline, a model of basically "wait for 2015"........and you want to charge people an extra $15 who ARE emotionally invested in your product? At that point, you're all but kissing their wife while you pull the cash from the poor guy's wallet.

 

It's not smart in a larger business sense because it cannot appear anything but petty given the team's current status. So the "business decision" defense is just ridiculous in my eyes.

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jokin Wichita Wind Surge

jokin

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They are welcome to make business decisions like this (extra service, extra fee) - I'd just advise them to have a bit more awareness of their fan base. Observe:

 

Two consecutive awful seasons, continued payroll decline, a model of basically "wait for 2015"........and you want to charge people an extra $15 who ARE emotionally invested in your product? At that point, you're all kissing their wife while you pull the cash from their wallet. It's not smart in a larger business sense because it cannot appear anything but petty given the team's current status.

 

Aw c'mon, let's be fair. They proved in the offseason that they weren't completely heartless...after jacking up the season ticket prices in 2011- their Big Idea promotion to drum up season ticket sales in 2013 after two disastrous seasons- wasn't to bring prices back down commensurate with the drop in payroll....No, the Twins went All The Way in their corporate niceness and empathy for the fans that built them their playground- with a whopping 10% discount in concessions....!(I still guffaw when I see that they actually think this is a good marketing bullet point in their commercials).

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Guest USAFChief

Guest USAFChief

Guests
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Yeah...the optics of this are really, really bad. Terrible. A big ol' FU to fans, for $900 per game. Open the GD gates and let people watch BP. Have a couple concession stands open, and you'll easily pay for the extra hour or so of security.

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ashbury Cooperstown

ashbury

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Yeah...the optics of this are really, really bad. Terrible. A big ol' FU to fans, for $900 per game. Open the GD gates and let people watch BP.

 

The mods won't banninate you if you spell out Batting Practice.

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Seth Stohs GOAT

Seth Stohs

Owner
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The Twins have not changed the amount of time before games that they allow fans into the stadium. It's been 90 minutes before weeknight games and 2 hours before weekend games. Because of the fan outrage, won't be able to see Twins batting practice. So, I guess, good job!

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Highabove Draft Eligible

Highabove

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The Twins have not changed the amount of time before games that they allow fans into the stadium. It's been 90 minutes before weeknight games and 2 hours before weekend games. Because of the fan outrage, won't be able to see Twins batting practice. So, I guess, good job!

 

"Said Twins President Dave St. Peter: "We’re looking at ways to add more access to batting practice, but

I’m not sure charging incrementally is the way to go about that. ... It was released before it ever should have been. It’s hard to believe, but it was not pulled

 

Upon further review: Twins cancel $15 batting practice offer | StarTribune.com

 

 

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ThePuck First Round Pick

ThePuck

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"Said Twins President Dave St. Peter: "We’re looking at ways to add more access to batting practice, but

I’m not sure charging incrementally is the way to go about that. ... It was released before it ever should have been. It’s hard to believe, but it was not pulled

 

Upon further review: Twins cancel $15 batting practice offer | StarTribune.com

 

 

 

Easy...open the gates earlier...like all teams used to do. It's not a requirement to make a buck on everything, but they're going make money anyway if some of the concessions booths are open and a few of the shops..

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