Dodgers ask season-ticket holders to pay for 2020 seats this August

For some of the most ardent Dodgers fans, Thursday was not the most pleasant day of the year. On the field, the Dodgers’ bullpen blew another game. And, with the team not even 100 games into this season, the Dodgers informed their season-ticket holders that prices would rise again next season.

The Dodgers asked for the first payment by Aug. 22, with the renewal price rising even higher thereafter. The prices posted on the team website reflected increases of 3% to 17% in most categories, although some fans reported receiving invoices with a larger increase.

The Dodgers declined to clarify the range of price hikes to The Times. They declined to comment on a list of questions, including a request to explain why the first payment due date has been moved from the off-season two years ago to September last year and to August this year.

Demand is expected to be high for tickets next season, when the All-Star game will be played at Dodger Stadium for the first time since 1980. According to the team website, full-season packages include the right to buy tickets to the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby. Half-season packages include the right to buy tickets to the game or derby, but not both, and the team did not specify whether that choice would belong to the team or the fan.

As an incentive, the Dodgers offered fans renewing a full-season package by Aug. 22 the opportunity to buy extra tickets for possible World Series games at Dodger Stadium this fall.

However, they said, any such tickets would be delivered electronically on game day, and the Dodgers would not disclose the seat location before then. The tickets would be “intended for personal use and not for resale,” the team said.

The Dodgers, on pace for a seventh consecutive National League West championship and perhaps a third consecutive World Series, lead the major leagues in tickets sold. They have canceled the accounts of ticket brokers and tried to better control the resale market, so they can retain as much of a ticket’s fair market value as possible.

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Todd Munson said he first bought two reserve-level seats in 2014. The cost of both seats then was $32 per game. The cost would be $30 for each seat in 2020, he said.

“That’s getting to be a little spendy,” he said.

Mark Wolf said his reserve-level tickets jumped to $37 per game next season, up from $26 this season and $21 in 2017, when he first bought the seats.

The Dodgers also declined to discuss whether they were concerned that the continued price increases might put them at risk of losing customers after next season, once the All-Star game has come and gone.

Gerardo Fonseca said he bought his reserve-level seats at $8 per ticket in 2012, the first year of the current ownership. He said his price is $20 per ticket this season and has risen to $22 for next season. He is unsure if he will give up his seats after 2020.

“I may have to if the prices keep going up,” he said “I’d hate to see [what they would be] if the Dodgers had won the World Series the last couple of years.”