Just how long is the wait to purchase season tickets to see the New York Giants? If you put your name on the waiting list back in 1979, you’re likely to get a call this year.
For those not quite so patient, the Giants have come up with a way to obtain tickets without leaving home.
Coming this season, fans will be able to forward, sell and purchase tickets via the Internet on a new system called Giants TicketExchange.
Each season ticket has a bar code that will be scanned by new machines recently installed at Giants Stadium. “If I can’t make it to a given game but I know a friend of mine would like to go, I can e- mail the tickets to him,” said Rusty Hawley, the Giants’ vice president of marketing.
“The bar code on my tickets will get deactivated, the tickets will get a new bar code, and the friend can print out the new tickets on his home computer. It’s meant to introduce ease and eliminate the need to meet your buddy at the corner Dunkin’ Donuts or stick ’em in the mail or accumulate tickets at Will Call.”
Season-ticket holders will also be able to sell individual game tickets on-line. The tickets get posted in an index on Giants.com and are sold at face value. TicketMaster will add a small, yet-to-be-determined surcharge, paid by the buyer. Hawley said those on the long season-ticket waiting list are supposed to get first crack at the available tickets.
“That’s one aspect we’re still working on,” Hawley said. “We’re trying to see if there’s a way to give waiting-list members first dibs, if you will.”
The Giants also hope that buying and selling tickets via their own Web site will cut down on scalping.
Teams in other sports have distributed tickets in this manner, Hawley said, but the Giants are the first NFL team to do so.
Selling tickets is not a big problem for the Giants. Their season-ticket base is close to 80,000, and the team does not hold any tickets back for individual game sales. The waiting list for season tickets currently includes about 30,000 accounts, with the average account comprised of requests for four tickets.
More tickets sold on the Internet figures to cut down on the no-shows – season-ticket holders who simply don’t show up for a game at Giants Stadium. The average no-show figure for each game is about 8 percent, or 6,000 unused seats.