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An open letter to the Padres ownership group:

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.

Ticket prices (OEF +5)


We feel that the Padres have been fair with their pricing of our
seats and have no complaints in that area.

Unfortunately we have reached the end of the positive OEF. Hang


on. Its going to be a bumpy ride from here.

Concessions (OEF -5)


While I certainly cant complain about the variety of food offered
at the ballpark, the service has never been up to par and despite
numerous emails from myself it doesnt appear to be something
you are willing to change. The volunteer charity worker program is
the main issue. Imagine going into McDonalds and getting the
worker behind the counter who is on his first day on the job. You
know its going to take longer to order and there is a better
chance its going to come out wrong and you might not even get
the right change back. If it happens to you once a year, no big
deal. If it happens to you EVERY time you go to McDonalds you
know what happens? You stop going to McDonalds! This what
going to a concession stand in Petco Park is like EVERY time!
Theres a new face struggling to learn because its the first time
they have ever served food at Petco. Im sure you have done the
economic studies and the money works out for you as an
organization, but for the fan having to miss an inning of baseball
any time you go to a concession stand is immensely aggravating.

When its a crowded game (thankfully not often) it takes even


longer.
What if you could increase your concessions by 20-30% by
HIRING people to staff your concession stands on a part time
basis? The community gets badly needed jobs (even if they are
part-time) and you get an increase in food/beverage sales. Again,
Im sure using FREE labor from volunteers is probably better for
your bottom line. You win, fans lose.
While we are on the subject of concessions, is it really that hard to
give your season ticket holders a discount on food/beverage
WITHOUT loading it onto a card prior to the game? Why cant I
just walk up with my season ticket card and get the discount? (I
know why but thats a discussion for another day.)

7:40 start time (OEF -10)


You do understand that the average major league baseball game
takes THREE hours, right? That means that by the time I get to my
car, out of the parking garage/lot and out of downtown its
hopefully 11 oclock and THEN I can start my 30 minute journey
home. This does not work well for anyone with kids. Part of
baseballs charm is that its still a family game (except when the
Dodgers or Yankees are in town). This gives us the other option of
leaving early so we could get our child to bed at a decent hour.
You know what I say to that option? BOOOOOO!
Wait times to get into the park (OEF -5)
I realize that MLB has mandated every ballpark to install metal
detectors. Boy there is nothing like starting off your baseball
experience like feeling that you are at the airport. At least at the
airport, they have figured out how to get people through the

checkpoint in a timely manner. You have not. Im not sure if you


saw the line to get into the entrance on T Gwynn Dr on opening
day, but I can tell you the line started at K street, went all the way
down past the ticket window, and then back to the gate. One hour
before game time! Luckily, we were smart enough to not wait in
that line and walk around to the home plate gate where the
longest line was about 10 people deep. Was there anyone at the T
Gwynn Dr gate telling people they could walk around and get in
much quicker? Nope.
Product on the field (OEF -5)
Boy, were we excited after the conclusion of the 2014 season. The
2015 Padres squad was one that actually appeared as if the
owners were sincere in their promise to put a winning team on the
field. As we all know, it didnt work out as we all had hoped but
that didnt matter to us because we knew every night going to the
ballpark that we at least had a CHANCE to win. One year of trying
and then starting ANOTHER rebuilding doesnt cut it in my book.
Sorry. No playoff games in 10 years and consistently at the
bottom of the runs scored/run differential column is not
entertaining baseball. Im not asking for the 23 Yankees, just an
AVERAGE offense. Is that too much? Who is the last power bat to
come out of the Padres farm system?

Parking (OEF -2)


This is one of the items that is mostly out of the Padres control
and I realize that. However, it does not change the fact that when
Petco opened 10+ years ago we were able to go downtown
around 5 or 6 oclock and find neighborhood parking that was free
and walk about ten minutes to the park. This slowly dissipated
over the years and we started having to park in paid lots which
have increased in price commensurate with the disappearance of

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!

Game distribution (OEF -5)


Out of our 20 games this year, we have 9 against the
Diamondbacks and Rockies. Thats half our package! There are
two other teams in the division and we play just as many home
games against them. Poor distribution. Of course, this wouldnt be
an issue if we were able to exchange our tickets (please see
below for more on this).
Reduced ability to sell tickets (OEF -15)
So now I am buying a product and the person Im buying it from is
telling me that I cant do what I want with it. Customer friendly? I
think not. Restricting me to selling only 40% of my tickets tells me
one of two things. 1) You think your product is going to be so
terrible that I will not want to consume it and will therefore sell it
to someone else or 2) You are intentionally trying to eliminate the

20 game package and want us to either upgrade or go away.


Which is further enforced by the next item.
Elimination of the ticket exchange program (OEF -20)
So we cant sell the all the tickets we want and NOW we cant
exchange those tickets either. I contacted your service team
earlier and received this response:
Thank you for emailing in! Blue Members do not have the option to exchange
games this season. You can take advantage of our six Unused Ticket Nights
throughout the season, sell on Stub Hub, and have the option to upgrade to a Gold
or Platinum membership in order to have the exchange benefit. A "2016 Ticket
Exchange Policy" was included in your mailed renewal piece that you received in
August as well as in the emailed renewal piece. The first sentence of that policy
states "The San Diego Padres Ticket Exchange Program is a benefit exclusively for
2016 Platinum and Gold Members." That is a change for 2016 based on ticket
inventory and use/abuse of the ticket exchange benefit. We apologize if you
missed that update when renewing for this year.

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.

Total OEF -62

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.

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