Cardinals Exec Breaks Down World Series Ticket Distribution

Cardinals Exec Discusses World Series Ticket Distribution

MLB Cardinals VP/Ticket Sales Joe Strohm said of the 46,500 seats at Busch Stadium available for World Series games, 35,000 go to season-ticket holders; 8,000 go to MLB for its 30 clubs, licensees, sponsors, broadcast right holders, home and visiting players, umpires and the media; 2,000 go to an online lottery, for which 350,000 fans registered; and 1,500 go to “internal use, such as sponsors and ‘group leaders’ who organize group sales of 300 or more tickets during the season.” The Cardinals have a season-ticket base of 27,000 this year, “plus a long-standing bonus plan entitling season ticketholders prior to 1985 to buy extra playoff tickets.” Strohm estimated about 6,000 more tickets were available to the public for the ’04 Red Sox-Cardinals World Series, since capacity at the team’s old ballpark was over 49,000. He said that the Cardinals “cut back on the number of tickets for internal use this year, with the balance going to the pool for the lottery.” Meanwhile, ticket reseller Ticketliquidator.com CEO Don Vaccaro estimated that “about 20% of fans at the Series games in Detroit bought their tickets in the secondary market” (Mike Dodd, USA TODAY, 10/24).

ON THE GROUND: SportsBusiness Journal’s Eric Fisher reports that plenty of seats for Game Three tonight are available from many secondary ticket outlets in the $300-$500 range per seat; face value prices top out at $250. The prices are similar to those for Game Two Sunday in Detroit, but far less than Game One, when secondary market prices approached and in many instances surpassed $1,000 each. Both the Cardinals and Tigers operate their own club-sponsored secondary markets, reflecting the accelerating trend, though available inventory through those sources is far more limited than at other outlets.

Check out our World Series blog at http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/worldseriesblog, where Fisher is reporting from Detroit and St. Louis, and SBD Television Editor Paul Sanford is providing nuggets from Fox’ broadcasts.