So, my neighbor, real excited, just got himself some NFL season tickets for our local team. He came over the other day, all hyped up, asking me, “Hey, these tickets get me into the playoff games too, right?” And you know, it got me thinking back to when I first looked into season tickets myself years ago.
My first thought, way back then, was kinda like his. I mean, they call ’em season tickets, right? You’d think “season” covers everything until the Super Bowl, or at least the home games leading up to it. It just sort of makes sense on the surface.
But I learned pretty quick that’s not how it usually works. I remember digging around on the team’s official info pages – you know, the stuff they send out and put online. Took me a bit to find the clear answer, buried in the details.
It turns out, your standard season ticket package almost always just covers the regular season home games. That’s it. The preseason games are often included too, but the playoffs? Nope, that’s extra.
Now, here’s the important part I told my neighbor, and it’s the big perk for season ticket holders: you don’t automatically get charged or get the tickets, but you get the first right to buy playoff tickets for your seats. They call it different things, sometimes like a “Pay As We Play” program. Basically, before they offer any playoff tickets to the general public, they offer them to the season ticket members first.
Here’s how I saw it happen:
- You usually have to “opt-in” beforehand, basically saying “Yes, if the team makes the playoffs, I want to buy tickets for the home games.”
- They might charge your card automatically once a home playoff game is confirmed, or give you a short window to pay.
- You typically get your same seats, which is great.
- The price is usually face value for the playoff game, which can be higher than a regular season game, obviously.
So, while the season ticket purchase itself doesn’t include those playoff games straight up, being a season ticket holder is pretty much the only guaranteed way to get your specific seats for the playoffs without fighting the masses online or paying crazy secondary market prices. You gotta pay more, yes, but you’re at the front of the line.
I remember checking for a couple of different teams back when I was curious, and it seemed pretty consistent. The exact process for opting in or paying might vary slightly team by team, but the basic idea – regular season included, playoffs are an extra purchase you get priority for – holds true just about everywhere. So I told my neighbor, “Budget a little extra for January, just in case they get hot!”
