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Fowler/OMalley/Seidler
Dear Sirs,
Let me begin my letter by saying my wife and I are both
transplants to the San Diego area. That being said, we have both
lived in the San Diego area since the eighties and we have
embraced the San Diego lifestyle and people with vigor. We have
remained loyal to our home teams (Red Sox & Mets) however and
still root for them as our primary teams. We love baseball so
much that we have been season ticket holders with the Padres
since the start of the 1998 season. We started with a 13 game
package and upgraded to a 20 game package soon after. I know
we are not as important as your half and full season ticket
members, but I would think that longevity would count for
something. It does not appear to us that is the case.
We have reached the point in our relationship with the Padres that
we feel you are trying to push us out and we are now ready to go.
Before that happens, I would like to explain in detail the reasons
why we feel this way so that you may hopefully retain others in
our situation who remain on the fence. I am going to use the
completely arbitrary rating system of Overall Entertainment
Factor which will be expressed as OEF. I know it wont give you a
reference point since its my own system but should give you a
good gauge on how we feel about each issue. Some of the items
on our list are outside the control of the Padres organization, but
they still factor into our OEF so they are included here for your
edification.
Ballpark (OEF +10)
We love Petco! We have visited over half the MLB ballparks so far
and Petco easily makes the top five list. We have sat in almost
every portion of the stadium and I have not found a bad seat yet.
The incorporation of the Western Metals Building, the Park at the
Park, the former kids beach are all unique attributes that make
the ballpark interesting and fun.
street parking. This adds to the total cost of our experience which
reduces our OEF.
All Star Game (OEF -10)
You would think that this would be a positive, right? Wrong. I have
three season tickets and have had three for over ten years. This
third ticket was purchased so that my son could experience the
magic of live baseball and he enjoys it immensely. When I was
offered the opportunity to buy All Star Game tickets I was allotted
two. While I did not expect these tickets to come cheap, I did not
expect them to be $600! Apiece! So I spent $1200 AND I have to
tell my wife or my son that they cant go because I really cant
afford to buy another ticket on the open market. As it turns out, I
didnt have the heart to tell either one so guess who isnt going?
Thats right, me. Awesome!
Well I'm glad that you are selling so many season tickets that
exchanges are a problem. I guess that's a good problem to have.
When I watch the games so far this season (even opening day)
Im not sure I buy this excuse. I see LOTS of empty seats out
there. I'm not sure where we abused our exchange benefit, and if
we did we deserve to lose it. I'm guessing this more "a minority
were abusing the benefit so everybody loses it" situation. Im not
sure why it is so hard to let us move around the park or go to a
different game than assigned if we choose. When I exchange my
tickets, I dont even talk to a live person. Its all automated. No
tickets are printed, it changes on my card electronically. This
appears to be a blatant push to eliminate 20 game package
holders.
By any metric, even an arbitrary one like the one above, this is
not a good number. One would hope that it would be a positive
number or at least really close to zero but its not. We have
reached a point where our money is better spent elsewhere. We
wish the Padres luck and we will be down for a few games in the
future but as a season ticket holder, unless there are significant
changes to the above OEF items, we will no longer be season
ticket holders. I am sorry to see our almost 20 year relationship
end but I can no longer justify the expenditure for the
entertainment value we receive in return. I hope this letter does
not die on some 21 service team members desk, but finds the
owners it is intended for because I believe it contains information
that can help you become a successful organization.
Sincerely,
Jon Larose and family.