Record Number Reached in Tix Sales
By Mike Scarr / MLB.com

February 28, 2004

It's already a record-breaking season for the Padres and their new ballpark.

On the first day of single-game ticket sales for the inaugural season at PETCO Park, the Padres sold 48,502 tickets by the end of box office hours on Saturday, setting a new record for the club. The ticket binge broke the previous record of 26,089, sold on the first day of availability in 2002.

"We anticipated that this would be the single-largest day of ticket sales in franchise history and we've even surpassed those initial expectations," said Padres executive vice president of business affairs Steve Violetta. "It's been an exciting day, and despite our record sales, the good news for fans is that there are hundreds of thousands of good seats remaining for most games during the 2004 season."

Of the 48,502 tickets sold on Saturday by 4 p.m. PT, approximately 34,000 of those were sold online at www.padres.com. That eclipsed the previous mark for online sales by a near five-fold margin. Last season, the Padres sold 7,046 tickets online on the first day of public ticket availability.

Also on Saturday, approximately 12,000 additional tickets were sold to new season-ticketholders and groups, sending the total over 60,000 units for the day.

"To put those online sales in perspective, we sold 8,000 more tickets in seven hours online today, than the total number of tickets we sold the first day of the 2003 on-sale," Violetta said.

Sales opened on Saturday at 9 a.m. and within one hour, the Padres had orders for approximately 22,000 tickets. Saturday's record haul brings the season total to approximately 1,970,000 tickets, just shy of the two million-mark for the ninth consecutive season.

The first regular-season Major League game at PETCO Park was certain to be a hot ticket. The Padres not only sold out their entire public allotment of individual-game tickets for Opening Day on April 8 against the Giants, the second home game of the season, April 10 with San Francisco, was also sold out.

The Padres additionally reported that sales are brisk for the entire first homestand that runs through Sunday, April 18. Following the Giants to PETCO Park will be NL West foes Los Angeles and Arizona.

Other popular series include a three-game set with the Cubs May 14-16, three games with the Dodgers July 30-Aug. 1 and the Saturday, Sept. 4 game against the Rockies.

Tickets for the Padres' two exhibition games on April 3-4 against the Mariners and all other home games remain on sale at www.padres.com, by calling 877-FRIARTIX, at all San Diego County Petco stores, or by visiting the PETCO Park box office during regular business hours.

Season tickets for 2004, which offer new ballpark priority seating for all games, including Opening Day, are still available by calling 619-795-5500 or by visiting the Padres ticket office at PETCO Park during regular business hours. In addition, there are a limited number of luxury suites still available. Information regarding suites is available by calling 619-795-5148.

Article published by:
Sandiegopadres.mlb.com
Mike Scarr is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Original article posted here.