Ticket to hide: Ross woman's PNC Park experience came with obstructed view

Like many baseball fans, Danielle Jones’ first visit to PNC Park on Saturday night left her in awe.

For Jones, though, it was for all the wrong reasons.

Jones, of Ross, spent $62 on a seat at the game to see her daughter, Taylor, who was attending as part of a contingent of University of Pittsburgh cheerleaders, participating in gameday activities.

On game night, Jones made her way to section 318, row R, seat 9, only to discover that it had a large support beam directly in front of it. The seat is one of roughly 30 seats in the last row of several sections in the 300 level with an obstructed view.

In historic ballparks such as Wrigley Field in Chicago and Fenway Park in Boston, seats with obstructed views aren’t a surprise.

PNC Park, which opened in 2001, is widely regarded as one of the best Major League Baseball ballparks in America with its Downtown backdrop.

Because of its reputation, such a limited view could be considered a bit of a surprise.

“Had we been told there would be a beam in my face … I would have never bought that seat,” Jones told TribLive.

Jones said that because of the close proximity of the beam, she had to sit with her legs spread apart and move her head side to side to try and get a view of the field.

Jones, who is not a big baseball fan, had decided a couple weeks before the game that she wanted to attend and support her daughter.

She began looking for tickets. But with the Philadelphia Phillies in town, and throngs of Phillies fans traveling across the state to go to the games, prices were a bit steep.

“Everything was like $500,” Jones said. She checked SeatGeek, an online ticketing platform, and “it was like $115.”

She reached out to the Pirates ticket office and spoke with an account executive in the ticket office. He initially told Jones he had a seat for $32 in the upper deck before later calling back and saying that he had been looking at the wrong game night — the ticket was actually $62.

“I said, ‘Great. I will take it,’ ” she said.

The account executive never mentioned the seat had a beam that blocked the view of the entire middle of the field, Jones said.

Had she known, Jones said, she would have just paid more money and purchased a ticket from SeatGeek.

During the game, Jones said, she felt like she was disrupting the people next to her because the close proximity of the beam caused her to have to sit with her legs spread apart and move her head side to side to see.

“I was just appalled,” she said.

After the first hit, Jones left her seat and began looking for another place to watch the game and her daughter.

After walking around and finding no place to go, because of the crowds, she decided to give up and just wait for her daughter to be finished. Jones missed seeing her daughter throw T-shirts and participate in the Pierogi race.

Brian Warecki, a spokesman for the Pirates, said that these type of seats are usually the last to go on sale and are priced at a discounted rate.

When purchasing tickets online, Warecki said, there is a way to get a 360-degree visual from around where the seat is located. Jones said the visual was not available.

“That’s disappointing for sure,” Warecki said about the sales representative not alerting Jones to the obstructed view. “It’s always made clear.”

After the game Jones sent an email to the account executive to tell him about the issues with the seat. On Tuesday morning, Jones said she had not heard back yet.

Jones is not asking for a refund but rather for PNC Park to make a change.

“Get rid of those seats. That would make me happy,” she said.