Dodgers Will Offer Refunds Until May 5

The Dodgers extended the date of their “satisfaction guarantee policy” for season-ticket holders, which allows customers to attend the first home stand and get a full refund if they don’t like what they see.

Season customers now have until May 5 to ask for a refund, which would include games played during the team’s first home stand, April 28-30, against the Atlanta Braves. Opening night is free to the team’s more than 21,000 season-ticket holders. There are three games in the home stand.

The date extension was precipitated by a query from a disgruntled customer who bought season seats wanting to see the team before deciding whether to stick with it. The original date by which to cancel was April 21, after the team’s first scheduled home stand. But with the strike ending, the home opener was delayed.

“In looking at all of the policies that were affected, this one didn’t seem to be as big as some of the other ones, but when a fan called it to our attention, we looked at it and were happy to make the change,” said Debra Kay Duncan, Dodger director of ticket operations.

This is the first time in Tom Lasorda’s tenure as manager that the Dodgers will have a night home opener. The last time they opened at night at Dodger Stadium was April 12, 1976, against the San Diego Padres, according to team publicist Annette Bagley. Walter Alston was manager, with Lasorda taking over in September of that year.

But opening at night instead of the traditional day opener apparently hasn’t deterred fans. Individual ticket prices for that game have been rolled back to 1958 levels.

On Thursday, the team sold more than 6,100 tickets, of which 5,000 are for the home opener. It was the highest number of tickets sold in one day for a single game since a playoff game against the Houston Astros in 1980.

“The game (on April 28) was originally scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and we just kept it that way,” Duncan said. “We think it will be fine as an opening night.”

The Dodgers will open the season April 25 at Miami against the Florida Marlins.