Indians ALDS tickets go on sale next Friday

Tickets for the ALDS go on sale soon, with a small catch if you’re not buying from Indians.com or StubHub.

With the Cleveland Indians clinching the American League Central Saturday, it means the team can begin planning for the playoffs. As part of that planning, the Tribe have announced the release schedule for ALDS tickets, including a new policy for the secondary ticket market.

Announced in a blog post earlier today, tickets for the ALDS will go on sale on Friday, September 29 at 10:00 a.m. on Indians.com only. Fans who purchase 2018 season tickets can also unlock presales for the 2017 ALCS and World Series, though no such presales exist for the ALDS.

Essentially, it’s going to be a free-for-all, and when the dust clears, whoever doesn’t get a ticket within the first 20 minutes or however long it takes tickets to sell out on Indians.com will be turning to the secondary ticket market. That’s where the Indians are changing things up this season thanks to this little bit of fine print:

Under this agreement, any fan who re-sells Indians Postseason tickets on a secondary site other than StubHub — and the fan who purchases those tickets — are subject to have their tickets revoked or the tickets’ bar codes canceled.

While this doesn’t stop anyone from buying a block of tickets and reselling for outrageous prices to fans of the opposing team, it does lock out some of the shadier sites hosting such sales. But it also might come out of nowhere to bite you in the ass if you’re an otherwise innocent reseller who attempts to sell your ticket anywhere but StubHub. Buy a ticket to the ALCS then find out you can’t go? You better sell it on StubHub or whoever you sell the ticket to is going to be very angry when they get to the gate with a cancelled barcode.

And don’t think for a moment the Indians will go easy on enforcing the rule. Last season, they didn’t hesitate to cancel the World Series tickets of a dozen season ticket holders who violated their terms of service by selling their ALDS/ALCS tickets online. Presumably they’ll do the same thing to anyone who buys or sells 2017 playoff tickets to any secondary market other than StubHub.

According to secondary market tracker ticketiQ, tickets for last year’s ALDS at Progressive Field averaged out to about $209 on the secondary market. Considering the World Series run, the 22-game winning streak, and Francisco Lindor’s endless marketability, I would expect that number to jump in 2017.

You might want to buy quickly, and buy early if you plan on attending the playoffs this year. Just, you know, don’t resell them anywhere online.