Going to the game in San Diego

[sdpatsfan]

Hey all....
I have been searching around various places and now finally found the tailgate...Have buddies flying out from boston on friday afternoon and we will be doing all sorts of crap throughout the weekend. We will definately be at the tailgate and if anyone wants to get together before that and hit downtown or the valley just send me a pm. Have a good one! Let's go Pats!

p.s. The best way I found out to get tickets (and how I got mine), Is on craigslist.org (san diego section) in the 'tickets' area. You can set up an arrangement to pick them up at the stadium or on saturday if you get here early. They are cheaper than e-bay. I have 2 plaza 54 tix in hand and purchased them for $550 total.

 

[Crowpointer]

....
. I have 2 plaza 54 tix in hand and purchased them for $550 total.

Cool ! I'm in Plaza 54 too ! See you at the tailgate !

 

[Rt9Pats]

Anyone sitting around Upper View 57? Best on my budget, but so far we have a group of seven.

 

[sieglo]

I just thought I'd point out that thed Chargers denying tickets to out of staters is just more bulletin board material to the Pats. They don't take disrespect to their fans any more kindly than they take disrespect to themselves.

 

[bigdgp]

All this clamor about the game tickets is just a joke right? You can still get tickets to this game on ebay or stubhub for less than it has cost me to get a decent ticket at Foxboro during the regular season. What's the big deal?

As for the rest of the Charger Fan Situation-Let me set the record straight. I've lived in SD for 9 years now. I was raised in New Hampshire for 20+ years so I have always been a Pats fan. The phrase "Charger Fan" is an oxymoron. However, a lot of the rationale behind this is different than you would think though and quite reasonable. It doesn't make their fans ****ies or babies, sports just is not built into their culture the way it is in New England. And so without further ado-understand the true dilemma of a San Diego Resident and Charger Fans...

1) The team is in San Diego. There is a 100 other things to do in San Diego in the fall and winter other than go to a Charger game. The Chargers had been bad for a long time and have just been enjoying some success the last few years in attempt to buy a new stadium (another issue to be discussed).

2) The ownership has made it very difficult to be a fan of this team. From fielding a poor product to several bad management choices it has not endeared itself to many of the good residents of "America's Finest City".

A) There use to be a ticket guarantee contract between the city and the team where if the team didn't sell out the game the city had to buy up the excess tickets so there wouldn't be a blackout. Combine this with the Ryan Leaf era and you have a crappy team that no one wants to see-with this contract costing the city MILLIONS of $$$'s-pissing fans off even more that they're paying the Chargers to not see the game because they can't manage their roster well enough.

B) Ticket sales-As soon as the team had one iota of success-to purchase tickets to certain games I.e. Raiders, Steelers, etc. You have to also purchase a ticket to a preseason game and one other regular season game for that season. This serves to immediately price out the common fan for these tickets for the best/rivalry games which get snapped up by the scalpers and suddenly if you want to see one of these games you're paying through the teeth for them.

C) Playoff tickets-In 2004 the 1st year that the Chargers had been to the playoffs in 6-7 years. The Chargers decide to sell some tickets from the stadium prior to the tickets going on sale at ticketmaster later an hour or two later. Having a flexible job and figuring to support the home team, myself and hundreds of other fans go and wait and line 5+ hours before the tickets are set to go on sale to wait for our chance to buy them. The Chargers distribute numbered wristbands in order to all the fans that they may be able to sell tickets to and bring us all into the stadium. Then they explain that they are going to select a random number from a wristband and go up from there. The ending result that they chose something like number 328 and go 329, 330, etc. resulting in the 1st 327 people who had waited the longest to not be able to buy tickets because they had run out by then. Way to reward your dedicated fans.

D) New Stadium up for vote. So during the course of these issues the NFL lets the Chargers know that Qualcomm is not going to be able to be used for the Superbowl anymore unless it is upgraded or they get a new facility (Absolutely ridiculous by the way-the stadium is adequate for the job and the city is a perfect host for the event). So now the Chargers "NEED" to get a new stadium and of course they want the taxpayers/fans to help pay for it. Well given the history of the franchise, the corresponding results of the Padre stadium downtown, (A lot of local insiders got very wealthy on the land deals and the team still hasn't been able to sniff a World Series despite terrible NL competition), and a Billion dollar city pension deficit (caused by gov't insiders-that NO ONE has gone to jail for), and you can see why the people aren't ra-ra to support this franchise. It's not a shocker.

3) San Diego-Is still very much a military/transient town. In addition to that you do have a lot of people who travel/vacation/relocate here because it is beautiful city. Those people much like myself often retain their loyalties to their home teams and it takes time to develop a loyalty to their new home team and as you've read above why would you abandon your home team for a franchise who hasn't been good that long and treats their fans this way?

4) When the Raiders left Los Angeles you had a lot of Raider fans who have been pissed about losing their franchise who's only outlet for football is the Raider games in San Diego. Every Raider game these people invade the city and come out of the woodwork in San Diego. I think this had also historically affected the psyche of the Charger fan and inhibited their growth. It's harder to be a fan when you're not even surrounded by fans from your own team most of the time as we are in New England. It's a mob mentality that indoctinates our love of sports into us and you just don't get as much of it here. This Raider affect is starting to decline with the success of the Charger franchise but it is still a factor in my mind...

That's my synopsis of the situation. To supplement that I'll say that there are a TON of Charger fans who are excited to have their franchise playing well. Some of these are good fans we've had the pleasure of sharing some reasonable exchanges with and a number of them are jackasses who don't know much about football but want to jump on the bandwagon and unfortunately diminish the true fans out there. Of course you mostly see the jackasses becuase that's what the media wants us to see/who are the most outspoken fans. Again this is no surpise. How often do we see the same things on WEEI and in the Globe.

So in closing, let's treat all these Chargers fans with the class that we have that is a responsibility that we carry as Patriot Fans. As the fortunate fans that we are-to be able to support a franchise that does treat us with such respect and carries itself with integrity throughout the league, and when we do need to occasionally put down a jackass do that with as much class and poise as possible while always trying to elevate the conversation to that of true football fans.

 

[denverpatsfan]

Wow great post! Thanks for the scoop on SD politics etc.

Plenty of transplants here in Denver too. Doesn't affect the crowd at the stadium but there aren't too many Denver fans out at the sportsbars as I would expect, like back when I was in Philly.

Raiders games are the toughest to scalp tickets for here too.

 

[bishbash]

In addition to that you do have a lot of people who travel/vacation/relocate here because it is beautiful city. Those people much like myself often retain their loyalties to their home teams and it takes time to develop a loyalty to their new home team and as you've read above why would you abandon your home team for a franchise who hasn't been good that long and treats their fans this way?

This has long been a true statement for SoCal. I was born and raised out there. I grew up an LA Rams fan and was always dismayed by how many fans showed up for any opposing team, since the SoCal area has long been a magnet for folks from all over to move to. Quite sure there will be plenty of relocated Patriot fans at the game.

 

[SoCal Bong]

For anyone that was planning to hang out in the Qualcomm parking lot and watch the game on TV there, they have announced that everyone must have a ticket to get in.

http://www.sandiego.gov/qualcomm/pdf/pr070110overflow.pdf

I'm not 100% sold on them actually enforcing this. I can see them checking the tickets of every car entering but to do so for everyone coming in by trolley or even walking in?

Its not too hard to get around this anyway. Anyone with a ticketfast ticket (printed PDF) could make multiple copies as long as they can be sure that it doesn't get into the hands of someone who is going to enter before the true ticketholder.

 

[The Dude]

For anyone that was planning to hang out in the Qualcomm parking lot and watch the game on TV there, they have announced that everyone must have a ticket to get in.

http://www.sandiego.gov/qualcomm/pdf/pr070110overflow.pdf

I'm not 100% sold on them actually enforcing this. I can see them checking the tickets of every car entering but to do so for everyone coming in by trolley or even walking in?

Its not too hard to get around this anyway. Anyone with a ticketfast ticket (printed PDF) could make multiple copies as long as they can be sure that it doesn't get into the hands of someone who is going to enter before the true ticketholder.

typical california police state mentality

CAN I ZEE YOUR PAPERS?

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Craigslist is a hoot right now.

The bottom is dropping out of the market in a hurry. You see this in ticket sales sometimes, and we're in the transition from grudging denial to acceptance. The ticket prices are dropping, people are not yet quite panicing, but they are still talking tough like it's a seller's market. They're putting these conditions on the sale ("must meet in X" or "must pay cash") as though they can dictate.

Scalping markets are fickle, and things can turn around in a hurry. And there will always be a premium for the very best seats, but if one had to predict it seems pretty clear for any Pats fan interested in going to the game who does not yet have a ticket that prices are going nowhere but down. There is way more supply than demand right now.

 

[SoCal Bong]

If you'd like to get on the call list for Sunday morning (confirmation of where our tailgate ends up) please sign up for the OCPF Yahoo Group today and read post #1130

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/ocpf/

Plenty of other good info on our message board this week and you can even post questions of your own.

 

[Triumph]

I'm going alone and may have to purchase 2 tickets instead of just 1.

Would anyone from this board care to purchase the other ticket? I'm guessing it will be in the $150 range and I'll sell it for exactly what I paid for it. Preferably, good seats around the 25 yard line second level off the field.

 

[bonobo]

I'm debating on coming down Saturday night or Sunday early from Santa Clarita. Where would a better place be to get a room for Saturday night, by the stadium or the Gaslamp District? Would it be just as good to hang out at Seau's or head downtown? Thanks for any help.

I would steer clear of either. There are a few good hotels downtown, not actually in the Gaslamp, but close enough. However, they tend to be pricey and are probably full. There are several decently priced hotels in Mission Valley, but closer to the beach than the stadium.

I would go to either the Mission Bay hotels, or any up the coast or up I-15. You are more apt to get a decent room at a decent price, and you are only 10-20 minutes from the stadium and the Gaslamp.

For those of you who don't like the traffic jam of the parking lot, you can park on the street all over the place and walk to the stadium in 5 minutes. I don't mind paying the parking, but I don't like to be stuck for so long to get out after the game. If you win, it isn't bad to party, but if your team loses, it isn't too fun to sit in the lot for 30-45 minutes listening to the fans from the winning team hoot and holler.

 

[jbb9s]

I just flew in this morning. Great to see this many people going to the tailgate and coming to the game in general. My friends in SD aren't from MA and so probably won't be game for dishing out what it takes to get in, so if anyone has a single floating around, def. PM me and let me and make it my lucky day. I obviously expect to pay current market prices to get in......see you there tomorrow AM.

 

[bigdgp]

There have been single tickets on sale-on and off all day if people are still looking for tickets. Probably ticket orders that have been cancelled being re-released

 

[jbb9s]

10 minutes ago (yes tonight, Saturday 10 PM) got tickets from Ticketbastard. They are only selling singles but they're for face. You also need San Diego credit card or it kicks you out. Best of luck to all.

 

[shmessy]

10 minutes ago (yes tonight, Saturday 10 PM) got tickets from Ticketbastard. They are only selling singles but they're for face. You also need San Diego credit card or it kicks you out. Best of luck to all.

Congrats! Have a great time at the game and represent!