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Permalink Reply by Jack (6) on December 6, 2009 at 11:00pm

I have a friend that use to do this every season. I remember him always telling me that before he bought the rights to the tickets, he would agree on which ones he was getting. The last thing you want is to spend all this money and feel as though you didn't get what you wanted.

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Permalink Reply by Craig (17) on December 6, 2009 at 11:07pm

Good tip Jack!

Hey Katie! Have you heard of the free drafting service that teams now do? Which team are you buying season tickets for? Check out the Giants drafting online service.

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Permalink Reply by Katie (30) on December 7, 2009 at 6:32am

Thanks, guys! I have season tickets for the Minnesota Twins. I used to keep them all, but since I'm no longer living in MN, I'm planning to split them with a few other people. I have 2 seats, and my friend also owns the 2 adjacent seats. I have seen the Split Season Tickets service, but unfortunately the Twins are currently negotiating with them so I'm not guaranteed to be able to use that service in 2010.

Since my original post, I've talked to other season ticket holders. In case anyone else is interested, here's what I've come up with:

• With 81 regular season home games, we recognize that there are 162 pairs of tickets available over the entire season (using all 4 seats).
• The ticket allocations were split to match the amount of money each person paid (only allowed to pay for games in groups of 10 pairs, 20 pairs, etc). For each 10 pairs, we will refer to this as a "share", or a "shareholder".
• Split the season into 10 rounds (16 pairs of tickets would be distributed each round). The two seat owners (myself and my friend) each take our 1st choice pair before the draft begins, accounting for the remaining 2 pairs. See the following table, using the serpentine draft method with the 3rd round reversal.

• At draft time, for every 10 pairs of ownership, shareholders draw a letter (to correspond with a shareholder letter in the table above). Here is an example shareholder breakdown: Tom (6), Sam (4), Katie (2), Scott (1), Dale (1), Rob (1), Ryan (1)
• Here is an example of what the draft matrix substitutions might look like after draft order letters are drawn:

• When it is a person's turn to pick, they can select any available game. Here are their options:
* If a person wants 2 seats (1 pair) for a particular game: They make their selection, then the selection proceeds to the next person in order. They will make their next pick whenever their name appears in the selection list again.
* If a person wants all 4 seats (2 pair) for a particular game: They make their selection from any game that currently has 4 seats available, then the selection proceeds to the next person in order. They will forfeit their next pick whenever their name appears in the selection list again.
* So for example, using the example selection matrix above- if Sam picks 4 tickets for a particular game for the 3rd overall selection in round 1, he then forfeits his next selection- the 5th overall selection. His next selection will occur as the 11th overall pick.

This draft method favors people who have purchased more games. I prefer this method because it is the bigger fans that usually get the better games that they want to see. This has been me in the past, but since I'm out of town now, encouraging people to buy more games helps reduce my headache!

Feel free to take a look and ask any questions. I'm open to suggestions or comments on this as well.

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Permalink Reply by Kim B on January 3, 2012 at 11:10am

Katie, firstly I have to thank you!  Your system worked brilliantly for a group of us here in Winnipeg who were looking for a good system to allocate Jets tickets now that we are back in the NHL.

My friends all thought I was brilliant for coming up with your system!  I let them stick to that theory for a couple weeks, until the guilt and loose lips (beer) got the better of me!

Wondering how your group dealt with allocation of potential playoff tickets?  Thanks again for sharing!

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Permalink Reply by Katie (30) on January 3, 2012 at 5:55pm

Hi Kim- I'm so glad this worked for you! As for post-season tickets, we have a separate lottery/draft for that. Here's how it works:

At the beginning of the first year we split the season tickets, we all drew another set of draft numbers (1 pick per shareholder). This draft order will remain the same for the life of the group. When the team makes it to the post-season, the person with #1 gets seats 1-2 for the first home game and the person with #2 gets seats 3-4 for the first home game. Draft numbers only get the pair of seats for post-season. Shareholders can make mutually agreeable draft number trades in order to get all 4 seats if desired. So for the second home game, #3 gets seats 1-2 and #4 gets seats 3-4. This continues for all of the home post-season games. If we leave off in the post-season during that first season with only 3 home games, then the people with #7 and #8 have the first home post-season game the next season. Once we reach #16, the draft cycles back to #1.

Because the post-season draft order is just repeated in a continuous cycle, when shareholders leave the group that post-season draft order # goes with them (transfers to the person who picks up the share).

This is just a quick explanation... Let me know if this makes sense or if I can provide ny additional clarity.

Happy drafting!!

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Permalink Reply by Kim B on January 3, 2012 at 6:54pm

Thanks Katie, that does make complete sense...and very fair to everyone.  I'll run it by the gang...but this time they will NEVER buy that it was all my idea! ;)  Take care, and thanks again for sharing

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Permalink Reply by Mike Z (12) on December 8, 2009 at 10:22pm

Katie, wow! I really like the system that you have decided to use. To me it seems only fair to weight the system for those who purchased more "shares." I will be sure to keep this in mind when splitting tickets in the future.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Holland on February 28, 2017 at 11:41am

http://www.seasonshare.coSeason Share is a brand new app launching soon. They allow you to split a season ticket purchase with a group of friends or other fans. Games are distributed using a fantasy sports style ticket draft and payment is handed directly within the app. There are taking on beta users now - seasonshare.co *full disclosure - I help out at Season Share but they are working to solve this problem you and so many other fans face each season.

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Permalink Reply by Frosty13 on March 3, 2018 at 3:11pm

I just signed up for https://seasonshare.com/ - looks pretty cool. Anybody else have any info on this?

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