So I decided I was going to the Minnesota United match last (Saturday) night. Since popularity of soccer has exploded, at most, five years ago, I had the feeling that tickets that were available for cheap back then are no longer. That MNUFC is supposed to be "promoted" to Major League Soccer should make tickets even harder to come by. Nevertheless I didn't want to be priced out of a game that I was able to walk up to and pay minor league baseball prices for as long as I could remember.
I checked availability on the side's website. The popularity of soccer and this team made it really difficult to park, walk up, buy a ticket and concessions and be ready in time to see the kickoff if I came, like, half an hour before, so I wanted to see if I could buy it and not worry about getting there earlier than I wanted to. The cheapest ticket was $15 -- about five bucks more than the rock-bottom price they offer, but not the worst thing in the world. But all the tickets sold through that website has a $3 service fee. I do not do service fees.
I then went to Stubhub. They actually had tickets that were cheaper than the cheapest ones available on the MNUFC site. I used them for the first time when I was vacationing down in St. Louis and wanted to buy a Cardinals ticket without any hassle. But while I was about to check out, the ticket, which initially was about $13, jumped up to, like, $21. There's eight bucks in added fees?!?! Uh, no thanks.
Therefore, I decided to take my chances and buy a ticket there. And I would try and get there early to avoid traffic and to have enough time to buy a ticket and food and a drink and pee so I could watch the whole 90 minutes. I knew, however, that I probably wouldn't do that if the college football games that began at 2:30 were close as they were winding down, which would be around 6, which was the best time for me to go early. I left between 6:10 and a quarter after because Wisconsin was able to get the ball back late and kick the game-winning Field Goal. I was afraid that would make me late, but I wasn't.
So my plan was actually working. But then who do I see? A scalper! So I'm not the only person noting the sudden popularity of soccer!
We make the subtle, wordless eye contact that makes the interaction between scalper and scalpee mere millimeters different from that between closeted gay dudes down for some stranger fucking at a public park. "I have something perfect for you," he says, of course. It's midfield, which I don't care about, because I was going to stand up and watch the whole match pitchside. The price for too good of a seat was far more than what I wanted to pay for, but he said that the cheapest seat at the box office was $17, and we could just finish the transaction without me needing to walk all the way up there for $20. Cool. Deal.
And it was only after the match and after watching the U.S. Men's National Team choke in the CONCACAF Cup Play-In Game that I realized, Wait, wasn't I trying to save money on a ticket by buying it at the box office? So why the hell did I just give some stranger five bucks (well, three bucks if this guy was telling me the truth) more than I vowed to spend?
God, I'm stupid.
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