While I’m not sure how much money you can save with this information, I recently learned that One thing that I think a lot of people don’t realize (and I hesitate to post this for fear that it becomes common knowledge and harder for me to get tickets) is that ball clubs will often release a number of tickets on game day that they can no longer use (they hold on to the tickets for team friends and family, corporate big-wigs and VIPs, etc. and then can’t use them all). These tickets are put up for sale as “single game tickets” and are available either through the team’s official website (which is typically some version of the team name plus MLB.com – for example, for the New York Yankees, the web address is newyork.yankees.mlb.com) or over the phone. Some stadiums sell game day tickets that are released by the club (the better seats – and not necessarily the outfield and upper deck seats that are almost always likely available if the game isn’t sold out) at the stadium, as well (might be at a different gate than the main box office, so you should ask around and look online to see if you can find any information about this).

I was able to get 5th row tickets right behind first base (just to the right of the dugout) for $70 per ticket, which is face value, for a Cubs game at Wrigley field on the DAY OF THE GAME (just hours before the first pitch) !! When I went online, similar tickets (though actually not as good but in the same section) were selling for $175 per ticket!! That’s huge savings, not to mention the fact that I got great seats.

I also got club seats for an Orioles game at Camden Yards just to the right of the press box (so almost behind home plate) for face value through the team website (I couldn’t find any tickets in that area listed on the ticket reseller sites like StubHub).

While you’re not getting a discount on tickets priced at face value, at least you’re getting tickets AT face value, as most of the reseller/broker sites are marked up quite a bit. Plus, you might find better tickets than what’s available through these resellers/brokers.

The best times I’ve found to look are in the morning (when they refresh the system) or in the afternoon (if it’s a night game) when they might be desperate and have true last-minute tickets they’re looking to unload. It’s also worth checking both online and calling (you might, for whatever reason, find different inventory available). And don’t be discouraged if you think it’s a really popular/sold out game (or even playoff game), as you just never know (I’ve heard stories about people getting amazing tickets for really popular games and even playoff games so give it a shot).

Also, there are more ideas for general event ticket tips that can help too on this site so check them out if this doesn’t work or you don’t want to roll the dice and wait for the last minute.