Buying sports ticket is just like buying an airline award ticket. It pays to be patient.
I planned on attending Game Three of the World Series last night at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, an emergency in the office dashed that opportunity, but it did not stop my from refreshing StubHub to verify what I knew would occur.
Tickets have been ridiculously-priced for the last week. I’m talking $600+ for nosebleed seats in some cases. No. Thank. You. But I knew that there were far too many “speculators” who bought tickets only to re-sell them. And while Los Angeles may have pockets of affluence, most people–myself included–are not going to drop $400-600 for the worst seat in the stadium.
When it comes to international premium travel, I always tell my Award Expert clients to be patient if the award space isn’t there. Invariably, something opens. It always does, unless there is a storm or strike. And often what opens is the prime nonstop space at “saver” pricing.
Perhaps there’s an economist term of art for this phenomena, but it’s simply a function of supply and demand. Just like airlines release seats at the last minute because they did not sell as many as they hoped for, so do ticket holders release seats at the last minute…and at prices to move them. There’s no revenue for an empty seat.
Look at what happened to ticket prices in the moments before the game started last night:
$157 is a far cry from $600!
CONCLUSION
I may try again tonight to attend the World Series. If I do, you can bet I won’t be buying my tickets until moments before the game starts. In fact, I’ll likely travel to Dodger Stadium without one. That sounds like some of my trips, where I’ve gone to the airport without a ticket. It always work out. Well, almost always.
Love it! Now if only the World Series would return to ATL. Not expecting that anytime soon. Maybe after Schuerholz goes away.
Don’t bother thinking about going to game 7. We’ve going to take it in 6. On our home turf.
Good luck.
Had you gone to the game last night…would you have stayed for all 18 innings?
For sure!
Haha! My extended family has heart attacks at my last minute bookings. For flights and for stubhub!!! Like your post a while back when you booked your wife a last minute redemption, you have to be patient sometimes. The fact that American lets you hold the backup ticket is a blessing.
Btw. I’m in Chicago. Tickets to the cubs World Series were $3-5k to get in the stadium!!
I do the same thing often. This is how I managed to see Hamilton for $220 from the orchestra during the last week of shows with the original cast.
My only piece of advice: this only really works for venues with ~1,500+ seats, and works best for venues with 5,000+ seats. If you’re trying to do it for a more intimate venue, as I have learned the hard way, you often lose out.
Your position is perfectly logical. However, I would submit that there is a big difference between sporting events and airline tickets for major vacations. Unless maybe you’ve traveled a long way to attend, the risk of winding up empty handed with sports tickets is that you turn around, go home, and watch on TV or at the bar. It sucks but isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, you can tell me until you’re blue in the face that “award space always opens up”, but when the risk of that not happening means a ruined overseas vacation, you’ll never get me to listen to your pleas for patience.
Fantastic picture of Dodgers Stadium!