2013 Blue Jays Tickets And Giveaways

Blue Jays Giveaways

The Toronto Blue Jays just released their promotions and giveaways schedule for the 2013 season. The full schedule can be found here, but here are some highlights of the freebies:

• Opening Day rally towels are no more, replaced by rally poms--or as most normal English speakers call it, pom poms. That's unfortunate--while pom poms are fun, the towels were useful to wipe off sweat on hot summer days.
• New giveaway of reusable grocery bags, which would've been that much more useful had the City of Toronto banned plastic one-use bags. I know that some folks promote these reusable bags as "green" and "environmentally-friendly," but they are given away at every trade show, conference, and promotional booth. I have piles of them at home that aren't being used and will probably get thrown out as garbage. I wonder how many times each reusable bag have to be used in order to have less environmental impact than using traditional bags.
• The beach towel giveaway is a nice idea.
• Having a replica red Blue Jays cap on Canada Day is fantastic--the whole stadium (well half of it) will be red. And it also says that this year, the Jays will be wearing a special red cap for Canada Day to go along with their red jerseys. I sincerely hope it would be the regular Jays logo on the cap and not the ugly ones from the "Stars & Stripes" series.
• I am sort of worried about giving away baseballs before the game. I mean, they are quite easy to throw...
• Mr. Sub wants you to eat and drink more while exercising less--they seem to be abandoning their traditional sports bag giveaway, replacing it with a cooler bag.
• One more change: instead of the traditional Fan Appreciation t-shirt, they will be giving away toques, probably because they expect the Jays to be playing long into October! Unfortunately, that means there would be no trades of t-shirts on the concourse (last year I received a Colby Rasmus shirsey which I traded for a Brett Lawrie one, and then I flipped that one for a Casey Janssen).
• There will be three bobbleheads next year, just like this past one. Yes, there is a J.P. Arencibia bobblehead being made, but that won't stop the club from trading him. New Blue Jay Jose Reyes will be honoured with a figurine. I wonder what kind of pose it will be in? Batting? Running? Fielding?

Getting Tickets

I just bought a pair of tickets to Opening Night 2013 by purchasing a 20-ticket voucher package. That package is not available or promoted online for some reason, but I was told about it from my Blue Jays ticket agent. The voucher package allows one to get tickets for up to six seats to any game against the Red Sox and Yankees, as well as the Canada Day game, and up to 10 for any other home game. This means you can either go to 20 games by yourself, or go to four games with you and four others. You can wait until July 31 (the trade deadline) to decide how to distribute your 20 tickets. This is handy for anyone who wants to bring friends along to several games during the year, especially if those games are popular ones. Vouchers cost $200 for 500-level, $500 for 200-level outfield, $560 for 100-level outfield, $880 for field-level and 200-level bases, and $1280 for field-level and 200-level outfield. An additional benefit is that you will receive first priority to purchasing postseason tickets.

Alternatively, the Blue Jays offer 10-, 15-, and 40-game flex packs. The prices are slightly lower per game if you decide to buy two 10-game flex packs compared to the 20-ticket voucher package, and you get some 20% off coupons for merchandise, but you must decide on the games you plan to attend by March 1 instead of the end of July. Also, you may only redeem one ticket per game, meaning you cannot choose to go to two games with five friends using your 10-game flex pack.

Of course, the ever-popular Fan Pass (formerly known as the Toronto Star Pass) will be available for the 2013 season starting some time in January, but are very limited. Fan Pass holders from 2012 will be able to participate in the pre-sale before it goes to the general public. If you are not familiar with the Fan Pass, it is quite a deal since it costs $95 and it will get you into 80 home games (excluding Opening Night). Instead of printed tickets, you will receive a plastic swipe card that a staff member will swipe to let you into the stadium. You will be assigned to a particular seat that will be yours for the entire season. The passes are transferable, so you can share with your friends when you aren't able to go down to the ballpark. A change this season is that each account may purchase up to two passes only, and both passes will go on a single swipe card. Even with all the restrictions, this is the best value if you don't mind the 500-level nosebleeds.

To find out more about these ticket pages, you can call one of the Jays' friendly ticket representatives at 416-341-1234.

If you fancy single game tickets, they will go on sale on Friday, February 15 at 10 am. If you wish to get tickets for the Opening Night, it is highly suggested that you order online at BlueJays.com rather than by phoning or emailing a ticket agent since they will most likely have very high call volumes at that time.

You may have read that there are only scattered single seats remaining for Opening Night. That is true for many sections right now, but I have confirmed with the sales team that additional tickets will be released come February 15 for sale to the general public. I don't know how many, but I remember that the Home Opener this season was sold out rather quickly.

Full terms and conditions and legalese are on BlueJays.com. I do not work for the Blue Jays nor do I benefit financially from the sale of tickets. I'm just a fan who wants to see the stadium as full as possible every single game.

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