New Orleans Pelicans: What it’s like to have season tickets during COVID

Here’s what fans lucky enough to get New Orleans Pelicans’ season tickets will experience.

As a season ticket holder, I was anxiously awaiting word on how New Orleans Pelicans‘ games will work this year for those of us lucky enough to be able to attend a few games.

As I’ve mentioned before, my husband and I split a full season ticket package with two other people. In a normal season, we get around 14 games each, which gives us a great opportunity to check out the team and enjoy quite a few games in person.

In a “normal” year, my group participates in a pre-season “draft” where we rotate the pick order each year and pick the games that work best for our schedules as well as the games we really want to see. It’s a super fun way to kick off the season.

Since we weren’t sure how many games we could attend due to protocols, and the fact the second half of the season hasn’t been released, our group hasn’t done a draft.

New Orleans Pelicans: What it’s like to have season tickets during a pandemic

Obviously that has changed this year and with 750 fans allowed for the first games, we were unsure how the Pelicans ticket office would handle informing us. Plus, given the various protocols from the NBA and the city, we had no idea where our seats would actually be.

Enter the glorious email we got on Saturday informing us that we do, in fact, have tickets to Friday’s preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The seats are not in our usual spot, which was expected. We normally sit along the railing where the Pelicans players run out from the locker room. Based on Covid-19 protocols from the NBA, I knew they wouldn’t let any fans as close to the players as we normally are.

The seats they assigned us for Friday night’s game are as close to the level we pay for as they could offer. They are about six rows higher and in a different, but comparable, section.

Overall, not bad seats, but definitely not as good as what our season ticket package is, if I’m being honest. However, I understand and am just thankful they’ll allow SOME fans in the arena.

We quickly figured out who would be the first of our group to check out this version of the Pelicans in person, and while I won’t be at the game Friday, I’m looking forward to hearing about the fan experience from our friend.

Here’s hoping those 750 fans can make enough noise to make the Pelicans feel like they have a bit of a home-court advantage!