5 WAYS TO BUY CARDS TIX

JUNE 4, 2012 - 5 Ways to Buy St. Louis Cardinals Tickets

Buying St. Louis Cardinals tickets can be difficult and expensive but having a plan and knowing where to look can save you a lot of time and money. Here are a few tried and true options to consider when looking to purchase your tickets.

1. Buying your tickets the old fashioned way

Checking with the Cardinal's ticket office should always be the first place you look for tickets. Most games don't sellout and even the most popular games tend to have single seats available up until game day.  If you're in the area, you can also stop by the Busch Stadium ticket office. 8^th street and Clark Street ticket windows are open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm and on home game days from 9:00 am until two hours after game time. You can also buy tickets on the St. Louis Cardinals Official Website or at your local Schnuck's grocery store.

2. First Pitch/KFNS 550 Tickets

If you aren't too picky about where you sit or you're just looking for cheap tickets, KFNS 550 First Pitch ticket vouchers are another good way to go. According to the St. Louis Cardinals website, "[e]very home game beginning at 9:00 am fans may go to the 8th Street ticket window and purchase a voucher for two tickets to that day's game. Each voucher is $11.00. Fifteen minutes prior to game time, fans will enter Gate 5 with voucher and identification to receive two random tickets to that day's game. Each game there is a total of 275 vouchers (550 tickets)." This is a great option if you are able to get out to Busch Stadium in the morning when the vouchers go on sale.

3. Ticket Brokerage Websites

There are a number of websites that provide a marketplace for people buying and selling St. LouisCardinals tickets. These sites include StubHub.com, RazorGator.com, and TicketsNow.com among others.

4. Ebay/Craigslist

Ebay and Craigslist are great ways to get the tickets you want at a lower price than the ticket brokerage websites. In my experience, these sites offer the best opportunity to buy Cardinals tickets at an affordable price. The key here is planning and patience. If you know well in advance that there is a specific game or series that you want, check both sites early and often. Determine what you are willing to pay, the type of seats you're looking for, and then stick to your guns. On Ebay, you can minimize risk by sticking to sellers with high user ratings and a history of positive feedback but on Craigslist it's up to the buyer to communicate with the seller and ultimately decide if they are a trust worthy source.

5. Buying from a Scalper

If price is not necessarily an issue, buying your Cardinals tickets from a scalper outside the stadium is always an option. While buying tickets from a scalper was never illegal, in November 2007 the state of Missouri repealed its anti-scalping laws making it legal to buy and sell scalped tickets. According to the revised statute on the Missouri General Assembly's website, effective November 28, 2007 "[n]o regulation or ordinance of any city, county, or other political subdivision shall prohibit the sale or resale of an admission ticket to any legal event at any price or prohibit the charging of any fee in connection with such sale or resale except that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the enforcement of any regulation or ordinance relating to criminal activity, consumer fraud, false advertising, or other deceptive business practices."  Once the game starts the scalpers in the area are desperate to get rid of their remaining tickets and they tend to drop the prices dramatically.