How many times have you been sitting home on a Thursday night trying to find things to do for the weekend on Access Atlanta (http://www.accessatlanta.com/) and say "Honey, let's go to a concert at The Fox Theatre" or "Or guys, let's catch the Hawks game?" There have been plenty of times that I've jumped on StubHub and grabbed last minute tix to Braves, Hawks games, and concerts all over Atlanta. Because of my lack of planning, and apparently everyone else's, the past few years we've seen the success of companies like StubHub, CheapTickets.com, TicketMaster.com, and various others who offer consumers tickets to their favorite concerts, sporting events, and plays. As many of us know, some of these sites charge some form of underlying ticket fees that can range from $10-$25 per ticket. These companies provide a great last minute service of finding tickets; provide a venue for people who need to sell their tickets a chance to get some of their money back, and those in a different city to buy tickets to an event outside of their home city. But think about it, how much do you really pay in ticket fees?
A while back, I started to think to myself "If I planned ahead enough, are there ways to escape paying ticketing fees or higher than normal prices?" The answer is YES!! This could be a novel concept especially today where we live in an instant gratification society, but the best way to save money on ticket fees is to go directly to the venue.
I've been working with my friend Gary Mata, who is a Membership Manager for the Atlanta Hawks. What I found is that you don't have to be a Season Ticket Holder to get tickets at cost. Some teams have Single Game Tickets and options called Flex Plans, where you may have to purchase a minimum number of games but have the flexibility of picking which games you'd like to attend. I'm a huge sports fan so I know that I'll go to more than one Hawks or Braves game during the year, the flex game options best fit my needs. If you don't talk to the venue early enough to reserve your seats for the event, then there might not be any seats available in the section you want to be in or may have sold out, that's when I recommend you still you go to StubHub to find your perfect seatsJ Also, if you want to have some of the perks of a full Season Ticket Holder, you can also grab a couple of friends and split your season ticket costs. Call Gary (404-878-3826) or visit their ticketing websites (http://on.nba.com/M4Ynyb) with coupon code oXYGen14 to get 5% off your single game tickets until March 15th. Let them know you heard about them through oXYGen Financial(www.oxygenfinancial.net) and read this AtlBargainHunter article in the AJC, they'll be sure to take care of you!!
Now if you're going to a show at the Fox Theatre (http://www.foxtheatre.org/boxofficeticket.aspx) or Alliance Theatre (http://alliancetheatre.org/content/box-office) you can actually skip the service charges by going to the box office and buying your tickets to your show. You're not going to have to jump in your car every time to save money but sometimes you may. Is the potential to save $10-$25 per ticket worth the drive?
All of us may not get to sit front row at every event but hopefully with these savings you can save up and plan ahead so the next time you're at an event you'll for sure feel the sweat drops! For more money saving ideas feel free to visit http://oxygenfinancial.net/forms/Free-Money-jac
Written By:
Cristina Briboneria, CFP®, ADPA®, AWMA®
Vice President, Private CFO®
oXYGen Financial, Inc.
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