With stadiums growing in size and becoming more fan friendly, sporting event tickets are in high demand across America’s major sports leagues and organizations. When it comes to selling sports tickets the online world of secondary ticket sales is thriving.
StubHub.com, owned by eBay since 2007, has been a leading innovator in the online marketplace. StubHub provided a marketplace where season ticket holders and resllers can freely list tickets to events they cannot attend at a price of the sellers choosing.
Why are secondary ticket markets so successful? Online markets provide easy access to buyers who are progressively searching to purchase tickets but feel priced out by franchise box offices. Buyers like options and the online markets provide a buffet of choices with sellers marking tickets for as low as $5.00 on certain sites. Secondary markets are user friendly providing printing and mailing options with immediate transactions to usually sold out events.
The sports resale market is influenced by several major factors. Event demand is a heavyweight factor for ticket pricing on the secondary market. Generally the higher the demand, the higher the prices — for example Denver Broncos tickets online soared due to the fan demand to view Tim Tebow and his miracle type comebacks during the 2012 NFL season.
Due to demand the secondary market fluctuates similar to stock market trends and vary widely on a game-to-game basis. Injuries to key players can cause ticket prices to tumble — greatest example was Indianapolis Colts season ticket holders losing out last season due to Peyton Manning’s season ending injury. According to a 2011 TicketNews article Maryland broker Jeff Greenberg estimated that tickets prices would drop last season by 25 perscent for Indianapolis Colts games.
Tickets also rise skyward when Linsational players and new superstars emerge on the scene. During the 2012 NBA season the New York Knicks received a new star in the absence of Carmelo Anthony. Jeremy Lin, a little known NBA player from Harvard who took over the Point Guard duties for the Knicks, became an overnight sensation causing Knicks tickets to surge on the secondary market.Forbes reported that secondary market experienced jumps of up to 25 percent during the “Linsanity.” According to Forbes Joellen Errer, head of communications at StubHub.com said “Page views, search activities increased. As soon as Lin hit the game winning three-pointer against the Toronto Raptors, prices had risen 2-3x.”
As the secondary market fluctuates from team to team and event to event several franchises have enjoyed steady success in the resell market due to successful seasons, and a large fan following .
24/7 Wall St. recently teamed up with SeatGeek, a ticket search engine, to unveil the highest priced tickets in major league sports. It was no surprise to find many of sport’s most popular teams atop the list. For the NFL the New England Patriots came in with the highest average ticket price of $241.86, and their Boston neighbors the Red Sox took the top spot for the MLB with an average ticket price of $88.26. The NBA is led by the Los Angeles Lakers at $169.80 and are closely followed by the New York Knicks. They found the NHL’s highest average ticket price to belong to the Toronto Maple Leafs with a cost of $199.62.
The full listing of 24/7 Wall St.’s top major league sports ticket prices can be found on msnbc.com.
