The Best Way to Sneak into Better Seats at a Sporting Event or Concert (Trust Me I’ve Tried Them All)

I have lived my whole life buying the cheap seats at sporting events. As soon as I would sit down in the upper corner, I would quickly spot dozens of empty seats in the lower bowl calling my name. At first I was naive and tried sneaking past the usher (often just hoping the usher didn’t check my tickets) and simply sitting in an empty seat. Victimless crime, right?

However, the problem was that eventually the real ticket holder would show up and I would be forced to awkwardly leave those seats and find new ones. Often this method would turn me into a seat nomad, moving me around numerous times during a single game. Even while happily seated I would have to endure constant anxiety–thinking about when the proper ticket holders would arrive. I would also constantly be looking around for other open seats so I would have a backup plan. Frankly, it was hard to fully enjoy the spectacular view my new seats entailed. Fortunately I have since perfected my methods and now routinely sit in fantastic seats without any anxiety.

Going With a Large Group? This method is not for you. Seat poaching only works with a small group. I would say 4 people maximum although no more than 2 is preferred. If you are bringing the whole family, you are going to be confined to your assigned seats.

First Save Money On Buying Tickets. You still need to buy a real ticket to get into the stadium. You will want to purchase the cheapest seats possible (since you won’t be sitting in them). The key to getting the best price is to wait until the very last minute to buy tickets. My strategy is to show up at the stadium and buy tickets on Stubhub using my phone while I am physically standing outside the stadium (sometimes even inside right by the people checking tickets). The best time to buy is approximately 5 minutes before the start time of the game. Compared to buying a day (or month) in advance, prices will typically fall 50-75% if you wait until right before game time. You need to have confidence that there will be seats available–trust me there will be. I have attended plenty of sold out events and still found tickets on Stubhub right before the game starts. If you don’t believe me, start tracking ticket prices for events you aren’t attending on Stubhub. Just don’t forget that Stubhub doesn’t allow you to purchase tickets after the event start time so don’t wait too long (this is also why prices plummet right before game time).

Scout Out Available Seats on Stubhub. When there is less than 5 minutes left before game time and you are already at the stadium (and have your tickets), pull up Stubhub on your phone and find what seats are still available in the lower deck. Keep checking until game time. Take a screenshot of the best available seats on your phone for reference later. Since it is so close to game time, you know these seats will be empty and the real ticket owner is highly unlikely to show up. Fortunately Stubhub lists both the row number and seat number of all listed seats so you will know exactly where to go. Remember that you can’t check on Stubhub which seats are available once the game starts. Typically I will screenshot two or three available sets of seats in the lower deck just in case. See below screenshot from Stubhub.

Now Time for Some Quick Photo Editing. You now know what seats to go to, but you still have to get past those pesky ushers. Fortunately they only scan your ticket when you enter the stadium, not when you enter your section. Instead they merely take a quick glance at your ticket to confirm your section number. So this presents the perfect opportunity for a bit of photo editing magic.

Using the native iPhone photo editor (or equivalent android editor), just edit your section/row number on your real ticket to the lower deck seats that you found still available on Stubhub. Don’t worry about changing your seat number since you just need to get past the usher. To do this on an iPhone, you will have to take a screenshot of the tickets and then use the white marker to erase your section/row number.

Then you will need to take another screenshot of that step (in order to write text over the white marker areas). Just select the text editor and type in the section number and row number and re-size to the appropriate size:

Viola! You know have the best seats in the house! Remember it doesn’t have to look exactly right since the usher is going to only barely glance at it.

What if the Real Ticket Holders Show Up? In the unlikely event that the real ticket holders show up (this has never happened to me using this method), simply say “whoops must be in the wrong seats”. Then get up leave the section and try again with the backup set of seats that you screenshotted from StubHub right before the game. Lighting never strikes the same place twice!

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