If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a huge hockey fan. Fortunately, Columbus has the Blue Jackets and we have one of the best arenas in the country (Nationwide Arena). For my b-day last year, Rachel got me "semi-season tickets" for the CBJ. They're not full season tickets; more like 1/2 season (2 tickets to 20 games). The other nice thing is that we have the same seats for each game (Row B baby!). When you sign on to one of these plans, they treat you just like a regular season ticket holder! I get all the email updates and pre-sales info for ALL of the events at Nationwide. Though the Barry Manilow concert was tempting, the only other event we attended last year was Trans Siberian Orchestra (and I got tickets via one of my endorsees). There are season ticket holder-only events too. Last year there was a Holiday Skate day with CBJ players. I seized the opportunity and got to lace 'em up with one of my favorite players, Adam Foote! How cool was that? BTW- Don't let the pic fool you. Adam is my same height, but has about 40 lbs. on me. Rachel got to skate with the mascot, Stinger: 2 weeks later there was another season ticket holder-only event: autographs with the entire team! We took the pictures from the skate party and got them signed. Yes- I even tracked down Stinger to sign Rachel's pic. :grin: This Memorial Day weekend sees my brother and his son coming into town. My nephew, Jordan, just graduated 8th grade, so we're taking him to a Columbus Destroyers arena football game on Saturday. Normally, I'd have to go through Ticketmaster and *maybe* get decent seats, but *absolutely* have to pay all their service and handling fees (even if I print the tickets myself....dumb). Now that we have an account rep at Nationwide, I make one call....talk to a human being....find even BETTER seats than TM had...and avoid ALL the bullsh!t fees. For that one event alone, it saved me over $50. Yes- season tickets can be expensive, but they have a bunch of different packages and great payment plans that ease the hit to the budget. For our particular plan, we get 20 games for the price of 13. Not too bad...esp. for 2nd row. :grin: We have a great time at the games and the other perks can quickly make the cost a distant memory.
