Key Deadline Nears ... for Postseason Ticket Money

With a possible strike looming, Major League Baseball teams have nonetheless begun collecting substantial deposits for playoff tickets from season-ticket holders. Or are hoping to collect.

“Until I know they’re not going on strike, I don’t want to give them a dime,” said Ed Huff, an Orange resident who shares an Angel season-ticket package with his mother, Lois.

Huff’s resistance will be tested. The team has instituted a deadline of Friday--the day the Major League Players Assn. has made its strike deadline--for receiving full payment from season-ticket holders for playoff tickets to all home American League division series, championship series and World Series games.

The Angels’ strips range in price from $370 for a child’s seat to $1,040 for a Diamond Club seat.

An Angel official who requested anonymity said the Aug. 30 date was determined before the players had set their strike date, and added, “We’d like to have the payment in our offices by the 30th, but we won’t quibble if they get here with an Aug. 30 postmark.”

Other clubs have set other deadlines.

Dodger season-ticket holders have until Sept. 12 to send in their orders. Seattle Mariner fans have a Sept. 4 postmark deadline. The 7,000 Oakland A’s season-ticket holders have until Sept. 9.

“We can’t wait until the last minute on this,” said Ken Pries, the A’s vice president of broadcasting and communications. “If we wait until we clinch a playoff spot, that’s an operational nightmare.”

Pries said he speaks from experience.

“When we got in [to the playoffs] on the last game two years ago, we had 25,000 people standing in will-call lines on game day,” Pries said. “Teams handle it differently. I would say the Angels deserve some slack on this. They haven’t been in this [playoff] position for a while. They’re just trying to make sure they handle it as smoothly as possible.”

The playoff-bound Minnesota Twins have introduced another wrinkle. Customers who are not season-ticket holders can guarantee postseason ticket priority by including $200 nonrefundable deposits for 2003 season tickets.

Jason Bradley, 25, of Newport Beach pitched in with two friends to buy a 20-game package from the Angels this season. He said he had no problem with the collection policy and would mail off his money by next week. He is not thrilled by the strike threat, though.

“I just think it’s ridiculous that they’re even considering a strike,” he said. “It’s been an incredible season [for the Angels], the way they come back so often. They’re overachieving guys playing their hearts out. But if they go on strike and ruin this season, I’m done with baseball.”

Huff, who spent $2,407 for his two terrace-level aisle seats within shouting distance of the owner’s box, said ownership’s handling of the ticket policy is another example of the game’s major flaw: greed.

Baseball officials say that teams typically deposit the playoff-ticket cash in bank accounts earning 4.5% to 5.5% in interest. If 10,000 season-ticket holders in Seattle send in their playoff money--Mariner playoff strips range from $900 to $1,270--the team will have about $10 million. Drawing 30 days’ worth of interest at 5.5%, the Mariners will realize about $45,833.

Pries of the A’s and Dodger spokesman John Olguin say their teams will refund the full amount or remaining deposit one day after their teams are eliminated from the playoffs.

Huff, however, said the Angels’ letter requesting the payment did not detail the refund policy.

“I asked an usher about how long it’d take to get the money back, and he told me, ‘No longer than November,’ ” Huff said. “Well, that’s a long time for them to have my money, especially if there are no playoffs.”

An Angel official said the team would refund the unspent money to fans no more than 21 days after the team’s season ends.

“What if the players strike? How long would I have to wait until they decide the season is over?” Huff asked. “I don’t like them sitting on my money like that, but if you’re an Angel fan who’s waited a long time for a year like this, you really have no choice but to send them the check.”

Joe DiBenedetto, a 14-year Angel season-ticket holder from Fullerton, has no such qualms. He said he’d told the Angels after their September playoff collapse of 1998 to apply the playoff deposit toward his 1999 season tickets.

“As someone who uses my [four] season tickets for business and pleasure, and pays for them out of my business account, this is not a big deal,” said DiBenedetto, who owns an Orange County packaging/crating business. “I’ve already sent off the $3,400 for the strips and parking.”