Brewers’ ‘Timeless Ticket’ deal upsets some fans

The Milwaukee Brewers ran a promotion over a decade ago offering fans a “Timeless Ticket” granting them admission to any game in the future if they paid US$1,000.

Now that the Brewers are in the MLB World Series for the first time since 1982, fans who took that deal are eager to redeem those tickets they bought in 2015. That has led to some complications.

Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said on Tuesday that several hundred fans had indicated they wanted to redeem their Timeless Tickets for a World Series game.

Spectators sing the US national anthem at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Oct. 11 before a National League Championship Series game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers.

Photo: Getty Images, AFP

Schlesinger said that “we subsequently erred in our internal communications on the logistics of fulfilling the requests.”

“While we were able to accommodate all with seats, we received feedback from some that they were unhappy with their seat locations,” he said. “Clearly, even with extraordinary limitations on available seats, we did not live up to the spirit of the program, and we have been working through a resolution.”

Danny Fochesato of Milwaukee bought a Timeless Ticket on his 27th birthday, planning all along to redeem it whenever the Brewers reached the World Series.

The Racing Sausages run across the field during Game 2 of the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Oct. 12.

Photo: Getty Images via AFP

The promotion enabled a Timeless Ticket holder to redeem that ticket and become eligible to buy three additional tickets to that game for the full retail price. The offer said the tickets “may be redeemed for the best available seat locations, subject to ticket availability at the time of redemption.”

“Back in 2015, that was a big selling point from the sales people about this,” Fochesato said. “They really touted: ‘Hey, this is going to be the best available seats. You’re getting the priority just behind season ticket holders. Anything the season ticket holders don’t have, you’ll have dibs at it for the World Series.’ That’s kind of the story they sold.”

That would have worked out fine when Fochesato tried redeeming his Timeless Ticket for a potential World Series game in 2018, when the Brewers reached the National League Championship Series.

Fochesato said he got four tickets in the 100 level behind home plate that he could have used if the Brewers had made the World Series that year, when they ended up losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the NLCS.

This time, he was not as fortunate.

“We had a form, and it only had 400-level or standing-room options,” Fochesato said. “We couldn’t even know what game we had. We just had to put a preference of which ones we wanted, and then we had to submit the form, and just sit and wait for them what we got. I immediately was like: ‘No, that’s bogus.’”

Fochesato said he bargained his way to three 400-level seats for Saturday’s Game 2 with the Tampa Bay Rays and one lower-level seat in the right-field corner for tomorrow’s Game 1.

He said he was in line for the public sale of tickets and saw better seats were available than those that were offered to him under the Timeless Ticket program.

The Brewers are trying to make amends.

Schlesinger said any Timeless Ticket holder who applied for World Series tickets before the deadline will now get to keep those World Series tickets while also being able to retain their Timeless Ticket to redeem for another game in any future season.

“We regret our mistake and look forward to welcoming them to American Family Field for their World Series experience,” Schlesinger said.