Some promises are made in warm voices and written in cold print, and the gap between the two can take a decade to open. In 2015 a young fan bought a lifetime-style ticket to a ballpark with the quiet hope that one October would arrive, and when it finally did, the team's sold-out pride met the plain arithmetic of limited seats. The Brewers have admitted that their own messages blurred what the program was meant to deliver, and they are offering to keep faith with those who waited, in Milwaukee, as the World Series returns to American Family Field this weekend.
Brewers' $1,000 'Timeless Ticket' Promise Sours for Some Fans Seeking World Series Seats
Mark
Why does this small dispute matter during a World Series run?
Mimi
Because the promise was made in 2015 and tested only now. Fans paid $1,000 for the one moment it was supposed to count.
Mark
What exactly did the offer say?
Mimi
Best available seats, subject to availability at redemption, plus the right to buy three more at full price.
Mark
And what went wrong?
Mimi
Danny Fochesato says the form offered only 400-level or standing room, and he couldn't see which game he'd get. In 2018 he'd had 100-level seats behind home plate.
Luke
Careful, though. His account of the sales pitch, priority just behind season ticket holders, is his memory of what salespeople said. The written offer says best available, subject to availability.
Mimi
Fair. The team itself conceded it did not live up to the spirit of the program, which is not the same as admitting a broken contract.
Luke
And his claim that better seats were in the public sale comes from him standing in line. We don't know how many seats that covered or when they were released.
Mark
Do we know how many fans are affected?
Luke
Only that several hundred indicated they wanted to redeem, per Schlesinger. How many were unhappy, he didn't say. He said "some."
Mimi
The fix is clear, though: keep the World Series tickets and keep the Timeless Ticket for a future game.
Luke
Which does leave open whether anyone gets upgraded seats this year. That isn't stated.
O Pulso
- Several hundred Timeless Ticket holders expected prime World Series seats and instead received 400-level or standing-room tickets.
- A fan who paid $1,000 a decade ago felt the sales pitch of 'best available seats' had been quietly broken.
- The Brewers admitted an internal communications error and said they fell short of the program's spirit.
- Holders who applied before the deadline will keep their World Series tickets and retain their Timeless Ticket for future games.
Some promises are made in warm voices and written in cold print, and the gap between the two can take a decade to open. In 2015 a young fan bought a lifetime-style ticket to a ballpark with the quiet hope that one October would arrive, and when it finally did, the team's sold-out pride met the plain arithmetic of limited seats. The Brewers have admitted that their own messages blurred what the program was meant to deliver, and they are offering to keep faith with those who waited, in Milwaukee, as the World Series returns to American Family Field this weekend.
Danny Fochesato turned 27 in 2015 and bought a Milwaukee Brewers Timeless Ticket for $1,000, a birthday gift to himself that promised admission to any future game. He had always planned to use it the day the Brewers reached the World Series, and that day has now come for the first time since 1982.
The redemption has not matched what he expected. The promotion's terms said holders could pick the best available seats subject to availability, but Fochesato remembers the sales pitch as promising priority just behind season ticket holders. In 2018, that promise seemed to hold, and he got four seats behind home plate for a World Series game that never happened, because the Brewers lost to the Dodgers in Game 7.
This year the form offered only 400-level seats or standing room, and holders could not even see which game they would receive. Fochesato pushed back and got three upper-deck seats for Game 2 and one lower-level seat in the right-field corner for Game 1, then saw better seats sold to the public that same day.
Brewers president Rick Schlesinger acknowledged the team erred in its internal communications and said it did not live up to the program's spirit, despite extraordinary limits on seats. The team's remedy is that anyone who applied before the deadline keeps the World Series tickets and the Timeless Ticket for a future game. Fochesato and others will now see whether the seats match the promise.
Danny Fochesato turned 27 in 2015 and spent $1,000 on a birthday present to himself: a Milwaukee Brewers "Timeless Ticket," good for admission to any game in the future. He had a particular game in mind. He planned all along to cash it in whenever the Brewers reached the World Series.
That moment has now arrived, for the first time since 1982, and the redemption has not gone the way he expected. Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said Tuesday that several hundred holders of the tickets had indicated they wanted to use them for a World Series game.
The terms of the 2015 promotion were specific. A holder who redeemed the ticket became eligible to buy three more tickets to that game at full retail price. The offer said the tickets "may be redeemed for the best available seat locations, subject to ticket availability at the time of redemption."
Fochesato remembers the pitch as stronger than the fine print. Salespeople, he said, stressed best available seats and priority just behind season ticket holders, with first dibs on anything season ticket holders didn't claim. "That's kind of the story they sold," he said.
In 2018 that arrangement held up. When the Brewers reached the National League Championship Series, Fochesato redeemed his ticket for a hypothetical World Series game and got four seats in the 100 level behind home plate. He never got to use them, because the Brewers lost Game 7 of that series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This year the process looked different. The form he received offered only 400-level seats or standing room. Holders could not even see which game they would get; they listed preferences, submitted the form, and waited. "I immediately was like, 'No, that's bogus,'" Fochesato said.
He pushed back and ended up with three 400-level seats for Saturday's Game 2 against the Tampa Bay Rays and one lower-level seat in the right-field corner for Friday's Game 1. Then he stood in line for the public sale and saw that better seats were available there than the ones offered to him through the program.
Schlesinger acknowledged the problem. He said the team "erred in our internal communications on the logistics of fulfilling the requests." Every holder who asked was given a seat, he said, but some complained about locations. Even with what he called extraordinary limits on available seats, he said, the team "did not live up to the spirit of the program" and has been working on a resolution.
The remedy is generous. Any holder who applied for World Series tickets before the deadline will keep those tickets and also keep the Timeless Ticket itself, to redeem for another game in any future season. "We regret our mistake and look forward to welcoming them to American Family Field for their World Series experience," Schlesinger said. Games 1 and 2 are this weekend, and fans like Fochesato will see whether the seats match the promise.
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