Reds 2021 fan experience: All about tickets, eating and paying at Great American Ball Park

Some things have changed at Great American Ball Park since the last Opening Day two years ago.

We checked in with the Reds’ Karen Forgus, senior vice president of business operations, and Aaron Eisel, vice president of ticketing and business development, to get the lowdown on how fans can get tickets and what the ballpark experience will be during the pandemic. 

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How do fans buy tickets?

“The simplest way is to continue to buy tickets as you always have,” Easel said.

That means purchasing them at a window at GABP, going online at reds.com or by phone. Cash is accepted at the window.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has to this point said capacity can be 30%. Because actual attendance of each game will vary because of how the ballpark is mapped out in pod sizes, the number of seats available is about 12,000.

How does seating work?

Seating is in pods of up to six seats. A fan can purchase a single ticket for a pod of one, two fans can purchase two tickets for a pod of two, and so on, up to six fans in a pod of six.

Pods are socially distanced from others by a minimum of 6 feet.

Groups larger than six can be seated in adjacent pods. For example, a group of 10 could do two pods, one of six and one of four, separated by 6 feet. The Reds also offer rooms and areas in the park for larger parties. Groups larger than six should contact the Reds for seating options.

How do fans transfer tickets?

All tickets are digital through the MLB Ballpark phone app. And that's how you transfer tickets.

“You can easily transfer via text or email,” Eisel said. “You go in, you click on the ticket button, you figure out which tickets you want to forward, you hit send, you get an email back that it was sent, and then you get an email back when they confirm it and they’ve accepted it.”

“This is the same technology we’ve had for the last four years,” Forgus added. “It’s gotten easier over time. We’re not introducing anything new, so for people who have been doing digital tickets, which is a good portion of our folk, we’re not doing anything new or different. A lot more touch-less stuff is happening in the world than in the past.”

Ballpark staff will be walking around the gate areas available to help, which is also something the club has been doing for the last few years, Forgus said. There will also be at least two ticket windows dedicated to customer service.

Are paper tickets an option?

Yes, but at an added cost.

“If someone who comes to the window doesn’t have a smart phone and wants to purchase tickets they can still get a paper ticket,” Eisel said. Fans can also order paper tickets online and pick them up at Will Call.

There is a $5 fee per paper ticket, with a cap at $50. If a fan buys 20 paper tickets – two tickets each for 10 games, for example– the fee is $50.

Ordering tickets online and printing the tickets at home was eliminated two years ago.

The Reds are offering a new service this year in which fans can order a commemorative paper ticket on their website from completed games. The price is $5 plus shipping and handling.

“Say you catch a foul ball at a game and you have a digital ticket but you want a paper ticket for your shadowbox,” Forgus said. Fans can order a commemorative ticket for any seat they want: it could be the upper-deck seats they actually sat in or the Diamond Seats of which they’ve only dreamed.

Can fans buy tickets on the secondary market?

The answer is yes, but also buyer beware.

For example, a fan could buy a ticket from an online ticket service or a scalper on the street, and then be turned away by the pod upon arrival.

“When you purchase from us directly you can guarantee that you will only be seating with the people in your party,” Eisel said. “But if you buy from a secondary market there is a chance that someone could take a pod of four and sell two and two, and you won’t know until they get here. That said, if that happens and if any fans have issues, they can come see us immediately at our fan accommodations for assistance and we’ll do anything we can to help them. But fans should definitely be careful and aware when they’re purchasing on the secondary market because that can happen.”

StubHub is the only secondary-market ticketing service that’s an official partner of Major League Baseball, Eisel said.

How do fans make purchases inside the ballpark?

Major credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay are accepted forms of payment inside the park.

Cash is not, aside from a Reds-specific gift card that can be purchased with cash inside the park and used for purchases there. 

What to eat:BBQ in a bread cone and other food creations for 2021 at GABP

There will also be a Reds Pay feature on the MLB Ballpark app for making purchases that is scheduled to go live prior to Opening Day.

To avoid the clogging of aisles and eliminate the passing of items down the row, there will be no vendors roaming the stands this year. Instead, there will be added freestanding points of sale at the top of aisles offering items vendors would normally sell.

“We’re not scaling down our operation at all. In order to get 30% capacity, you have to open the entire ballpark, so you have to open every other concession stand. So we have full staffing for sure,” Forgus said.

Are fans required to wear masks?

Yes.

“You got to wear a mask,” said Forgus. “It’s the state of Ohio, and even MLB. MLB is requiring it for all 30 teams regardless of what the state rule is. They want everybody wearing masks in ballparks. If you’re sitting in your seat and you’re eating and drinking you don’t have to have a mask on.”

You can report violations to ushers, who will be helping enforce the rule.

Could crowds larger than 30% capacity be admitted to GABP at some point in 2021? 

“I think the governor is really accelerating vaccines, so I would think, in general, when there is a shift that comes through his rule of order, it will probably be good, it will probably be getting us a lot more capacity,” Forgus said. “So I do anticipate that’s going to come at some time. But for our ballpark, unless the social distancing changes, we won’t really be able to add capacity. As long as it’s 6 feet we’re kind of where we are."