Out of pure curiosity and, I will admit, an impish desire to stir up trouble, I called the Miami Marlins season ticket office a few minutes ago to see what, in light of the latest fire sale, the party line is among people trying to sell Marlins season tickets.
Figuring it has to be a rough morning for these guys, I played it straight up, merely inquiring about tickets, ticket prices and the like and didn’t try to give anyone a hard time. I wasn’t wanting to fool anyone, either. Just to see what sort of pitch was ruling the day. I did claim that I was interested in getting information about ticket pricing and availability, but did not say I was poised to purchase. I mostly just wanted to hear what they’re telling people today.
The upshot: the folks in that office are total pros. Honest. No baloney, but still doing their jobs and anticipating what is bound to be a lot of negative fan reaction.
The woman I spoke with was very pleasant. She talked up the ballpark and the experience of going to Marlins games and the enjoyable nature of baseball in general. There were no over-the-top claims of team quality or hard sells to be found.
Towards the end of the call I said that I noticed the news about the trade last night and asked if that had led to a lot of negative reaction. She was honest and said, yes, they’ve gotten some angry calls today and that some people were not renewing tickets (though this was not connected to the trade; just that, in general, not everyone was renewing, which is obvious). She mentioned that there was a staff meeting about the trade this morning to let everyone know about the latest news. She said that it’s understandable that some people are going to be upset, but that there were some good young players coming over in the trade so that, from a baseball perspective, there is a lot to be optimistic about.
And all of that was true. It was quite refreshing actually. No b.s. coming from them at all. She followed up with a friendly email, again, noting that while some people are understandably having a hard time getting enthused, it’s a good time to get tickets.
If only the top of that organization was so honest, professional and pleasant.