World Series Game 6 is the most expensive baseball ticket in history
Tickets for Game 6 of the World Series already cost more than any baseball game in history, and the bad news for those without a pair is that they're only getting more expensive.
Data from local and national ticket brokers and analysts agree: Game 6 of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals, set for an 8:07 p.m. ET start at Fenway Park on Wednesday night, will be the most expensive ticket ever for a ballgame. From $900 standing-room-only stubs to a $10,000-plus seats close to the action, Red Sox fans are snapping up a dwindling inventory at record prices in hopes they'll witness something the city hasn't seen in nearly a century.
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"The Red Sox have a chance to win a World Series in front of their home crowd for the first time since 1918," said Jim Holzman, president of Boston-based Ace Ticket. "Boston has the best baseball fans there are, and they want to be there to see this."
Lines snaked out the door at Ace's Kenmore Square location Tuesday, Holzman said, and the secondary market raged on broker sites across the web. By early afternoon, the average resale price for tickets sold stood at $1,024 per ticket, according to SeatGeek. Remaining ticket inventory on Internet sites was even heftier: an average of $2,186 apiece, according to TiqIQ.com, more than $300 apiece higher than a few hours earlier – although that number is likely juiced by those listing tickets for Godfather-offer prices.
The previous high for baseball since SeatGeek began tracking ticket-pricing data in 2009 is almost equivalent to the get-in cost for Game 6: $940 for Game 1 of the 2010 World Series in San Francisco. It also trumps Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers in 2010 ($660) and will approach, with a strong possibility of passing, the Bruins' Stanley Cup Finals Game 6's in 2011 and '13 ($1,080 and $1,033, respectively), according to SeatGeek.
"This is essentially the Super Bowl in Boston," Holzman said.
Tickets for Game 6 turned from mere pieces of paper into lottery tickets during Game 5, a 3-1 Red Sox victory that set up Game 6 as the potential clincher. Earlier in the week, bleacher seats that were going for $300 now reached into four figures. Some of the best seats, listed on StubHub late Monday for five figures, were gone by Tuesday morning. Holzman said he had sold $10,000 tickets for Game 6. SeatGeek analyst Connor Gregoire said fans have spent as much as $12,000 on dugout box seats.
The hottest ticket in Holzman's 34 years as a broker had been the first two games of the 2004 World Series. Not anymore. Between the city's connection to these Red Sox and the ability to clinch at home, the prospect of witnessing Boston's third championship in a decade has fueled a fiendish market.
"The city of Boston would absolutely go berserk," Red Sox outfielder Daniel Nava said.
The only way ticket prices could get any more expensive is if the Red Sox lose Game 6. The prospect of a winner-take-all Game 7 could make Game 6 look cheap. Already, according to SeatGeek, the average Game 7 seat has sold for $1,112. Field box seats going for $1,900 today, Holzman said, would cost upward of $3,000 were the Red Sox to drop Game 6.
No matter how high the prices get, Game 6 or 7 will not approach the Hope Diamond of sporting tickets: the Super Bowl. The average price for the last three Super Bowls, according to SeatGeek: $3,561 in 2011, $2,990 in 2012 and $2,479 in 2013.
