2008 Woodie Awards
Virtual waiting rooms for Cubs tickets
Ryan Pierce
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Iowa City
When most people think of waiting rooms they probably imagine worn out magazines, uncomfortable chairs and long wait times. Thanks to the webmasters at Tickets.com, the host of the Chicago Cubs online ticket sales, sports fans can now bring the experience of a waiting room into their own living room.
On Feb. 22 the Chicago Cubs will begin sales for individual regular season tickets for the 2008 season and the virtual waiting room will open promptly at 9:30 a.m. On the surface it seems like a fairly simple concept but there are quite a few steps involved that make the ticket sale process one of the more difficult ones in all of baseball.
The most popular way to purchase tickets among Cubs fans is buying them when they are posted online by the team in mid-February.
"Last time the Cubs made the playoffs [in 2003] tickets were nearly impossible to get over the phone or via the Internet," explained A.J. Clay, the owner of CubsHub.com, a popular Cubs blog on the Internet. "I remember trying for hours to get tickets online and all I ever did was get stuck in the virtual waiting room on Tickets.com. I finally gave up after about six hours of trying online as well as on the phone."
The virtual waiting room that Clay was referring to is exactly what it sounds like. It is a redirected site that fans get stuck in that updates or refreshes every thirty seconds until someone from the Tickets.com site pulls you from the redirect to the main site. From there the buyer is given certain criteria they must follow and time limits they must adhere to in order to purchase tickets.
"It is a huge pain," explained KCC student Rob Stiles.
"I've gotten stuck in that virtual waiting room more times than I care to remember and even when I get through to the main site sometimes it doesn't work. More than once I got through just to find out that there was a glitch or error in the system and I had to go back into the waiting room. Can you imagine that? It's like getting to see the doctor and having him tell you that he wasn't quite ready, despite calling your name. If I wasn't a Cubs fan, I wouldn't even bother with it," he added.
On Feb. 22 the Chicago Cubs will begin sales for individual regular season tickets for the 2008 season and the virtual waiting room will open promptly at 9:30 a.m. On the surface it seems like a fairly simple concept but there are quite a few steps involved that make the ticket sale process one of the more difficult ones in all of baseball.
The most popular way to purchase tickets among Cubs fans is buying them when they are posted online by the team in mid-February.
"Last time the Cubs made the playoffs [in 2003] tickets were nearly impossible to get over the phone or via the Internet," explained A.J. Clay, the owner of CubsHub.com, a popular Cubs blog on the Internet. "I remember trying for hours to get tickets online and all I ever did was get stuck in the virtual waiting room on Tickets.com. I finally gave up after about six hours of trying online as well as on the phone."
The virtual waiting room that Clay was referring to is exactly what it sounds like. It is a redirected site that fans get stuck in that updates or refreshes every thirty seconds until someone from the Tickets.com site pulls you from the redirect to the main site. From there the buyer is given certain criteria they must follow and time limits they must adhere to in order to purchase tickets.
"It is a huge pain," explained KCC student Rob Stiles.
"I've gotten stuck in that virtual waiting room more times than I care to remember and even when I get through to the main site sometimes it doesn't work. More than once I got through just to find out that there was a glitch or error in the system and I had to go back into the waiting room. Can you imagine that? It's like getting to see the doctor and having him tell you that he wasn't quite ready, despite calling your name. If I wasn't a Cubs fan, I wouldn't even bother with it," he added.
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