Latest sneaky Pirates ticket move for home opener is insulting to diehard fans

Chicago White Sox v Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago White Sox v Pittsburgh Pirates | Justin K. Aller/GettyImages

The Pittsburgh Pirates' 2025 home opener against the New York Yankees is less than three months away, kicking off a series that will (hopefully) feature the highly anticipated matchup between 2024 National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes and two-time American League MVP Aaron Judge. If they decide not to intentionally line things up, then Jared Jones will have to do, we guess.

After opening the regular season on the road with back-to-back three-game series against the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays, the Pirates will come home to PNC Park for a trio of games against the Yankees beginning Friday, April 4. It marks the first time in franchise history that the Pirates will host the Yankees for their home opener.

Single-game tickets for the Pirates' home opener against the Yankees went on sale this week, but with a serious caveat that left fans feeling disappointed – and insulted – by their options.

Latest sneaky Pirates ticket move for home opener is insulting to diehard fans

Tickets for all regular season home games went on sale on Jan. 15 at 10 a.m. Select ticket pre-sales, including those for Pirates Insiders, became available on Jan. 14. According to the team's website, Pirates Insiders can "receive the latest video highlights, up-to-date news, features, ticket specials, and more." The program is free to join, but it requires the creation of an account with a valid email address to receive an exclusive insider newsletter.

However, the "Bucs In The Basement" podcast posted a screenshot on X on Jan. 14, showing that the ticket options made available to Insiders for the April 4 home opener were extremely limited, encompassing just 12 sections in the upper deck. When single-game tickets went on sale to the general public the following day, the options were even more limited.

The moral of the story here is that fans looking to purchase tickets for the Pirates' April 4 home opener directly through the team are limited to just a handful of sections in the upper level. All other seats not held by season ticket holders can only be purchased on secondary sites like VividSeats, SeatGeek and the like for extremely marked up prices with added fees.

This is just insulting to diehard Pirates fans who continue to support the team despite the mediocre product that keeps getting put on the field. The least this team can do is make tickets readily available to the people who actually want to come to the games.

If the Pirates are happy with letting the majority of their tickets go up for sale on third party sites at inflated prices, then hopefully they are happy with a stadium full of Yankees fans on April 4.

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