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Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 2:22 pm
by jim
I think the secondary market has completely taken over for all major sports. I bought some tickets for a Bulls game, and of course they are basically sold out except for a few crummy seats to a few crummy games on a few crummy dates. My eyes light up when I see what appears to be an equivalent of the Prime Seat Club. When I click it, I'm a little confused. The prices are all over the place, like you would see on Stubhub. Surely the Bulls aren't sponsoring a site that simply allows people to scalp tickets, are they?

Turns out, they are. It even says on the web site that they want to give their season ticket holders "an opportunity to take advantage of the exciting secondary market".

All secondary market does is encourage people to buy tickets that they have no intention of using. I wonder how many people bought WS tix without any intention of actually seeing the game?

I ended up going to stubhub again, a place I swore I would never use but find myself using more and more. The tix were actually cheaper there than the Bulls sponsored place.

I ended up paying $62/ticket + 10% + $11.95 for seats that list for $46 and were sold to ST holders at $35.

Lot of money changing hands here through the chain, unless you are the poor sucker on the end of the chain. That's me.

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 2:35 pm
by cardinalkarp
Its really the internet sales that's caused all of this, not the secondary market. Once internet sales opened the tickets up to the entire world the local fan took it right up the ***.

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 3:16 pm
by jim
Another thing, I'm sick and tired of sitting in the upper decks. The tickets are high to begin with, and by the time the seller marks it up and you get a 10% commision fee you are talking about a good chunk of change just to sit in the 300's.

200 level seats between the baskets go for $100 a pop. The cheapest I could find between the baskets was $175, but that was only 2 tix. For 3, I couldn't find anything under $250.

For that kind of money I better be sitting courtside.

What are Blues tickets like? Hard to get, expensive, ...?

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 3:18 pm
by cardinalkarp
jim wrote:Another thing, I'm sick and tired of sitting in the upper decks. The tickets are high to begin with, and by the time the seller marks it up and you get a 10% commision fee you are talking about a good chunk of change just to sit in the 300's.

200 level seats between the baskets go for $100 a pop. The cheapest I could find between the baskets was $175, but that was only 2 tix. For 3, I couldn't find anything under $250.

For that kind of money I better be sitting courtside.

What are Blues tickets like? Hard to get, expensive, ...?
For a game against the Wild last week, I sat 10 rows from the ice at the blue line for about $60 a seat.

edit : If I was to buy those at the box office they're $100 a ticket. So in some cases stubhub is good :D

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 3:26 pm
by docellis
What is the most anyone has paid for a sporting event?

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 3:33 pm
by planet planet
Combining JC's thread and this thread, I feel awkward when a friend offers tickets to a game, then tells you the full ticket value, and in the back of your mind you're wondering if they aren't in fact upcharging you.

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 3:33 pm
by cardinalkarp
docellis wrote:What is the most anyone has paid for a sporting event?

$100 a ticket to see the final game at Busch II (but that was face value)

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 3:34 pm
by MrCrowesGarden
docellis wrote:What is the most anyone has paid for a sporting event?
I paid about $50 per seat (Stubhub) just to sit in the upper deck at Busch in 2006 for a midseason Cards-Cubs game. I didn't especially mind though because I knew it was going to be the only game I went to all year.

I think my dad paid about $85 per seat for him and I to go to a Missouri-Nebraska football game in Lincoln three years ago. Thankfully, my gf's parents have season tix that they will (occasionally) offer to us.

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 3:45 pm
by jim
$85 - Notre Dame vs Air Force coming up in a couple of weeks.

Re: Buying tickets to any sporting event

Posted: November 2 07, 3:56 pm
by haltz
$120 for the Cards at Wrigley this year, but I feel like I've paid more at some point for something.