Secondary market interest in this year's Cardinals-Red Sox World Series has surged upward compared to last year, driven by both the return of the Red Sox to the Fall Classic after six years and continued, strong fan interest in St. Louis. Average resale listings were $1,291 per ticket, according to ticket aggregator TiqIQ, up 37% from a comparable time prior to last year's Giants-Tigers matchup. The average World Series ticket resale listing this year is the highest since Giants-Rangers in '10. The Fenway Park games this year are carrying an average listing price of $1,520 per ticket, while the Busch Stadium games are listing at an average of $963 per ticket. Lower-end, get-in ticket pricing is also up compared to last year, with get-ins this year pricing at $375, a 25% jump from '12. During the last Red Sox World Series appearance in '07, club officials said they were particularly challenged satisfying all their inbound ticket requests playing in MLB's fourth-smallest ballpark. Those demands have only intensified this year. Red Sox COO Sam Kennedy said, "It's way harder this time around. We know more people now. Our circle has expanded since then. So the demand for tickets has magnified. And around here, we always try to say 'yes' as much we can, and that's tougher to do in this type of situation." Meanwhile, official league partner StubHub said Saturday's Game 3 in St. Louis has now become its highest-selling overall event on the site this year, regardless of genre. Games 1 and 2 tonight and tomorrow are StubHub's largest-selling Red Sox games ever. On the other end of the pricing scale, StubHub earlier this week transacted a $6 ticket sale for Game 1 tonight. The ticket later proved to be fraudulent and the sale was canceled. But StubHub ultimately gave the buyer, Erik Jabs of Pittsburgh, a comparable ticket at its own expense (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
SOX HAVE A BALL: The Red Sox last night hosted a World Series gala for more than 2,000 guests at Fenway Park. The club considered several other potential venues in Boston for the event, but several Red Sox execs including Kennedy lobbied strongly to stage it at the ballpark as a means to show off the now-completed, decade-long ballpark renovations costing more than $280M. Kennedy said, "The theme of the evening is really Open House. We're allowing people to go pretty much everywhere with the exception of the clubhouses. There are so many people in town for this that haven't seen the full extent of all the work we have done here, so our goal is to show it all off" (Fisher).
WORLD SERIES SECURITY: In Boston, Maria Cramer reports the World Series "has prompted a modified security plan by law enforcement officials still rattled by the Boston Marathon bombings in April." Officials said that Boston police will have about 500 officers around the park today, "far fewer than the thousands who will be out in force to control crowds in the event of a Series-deciding home game." Boston Police Department documents show that, in a departure from previous events, 14 officers who "specialize in finding and dismantling bombs and a supervisor have been assigned to conduct protective sweeps at the park and the areas around it for the first two games." That is "nearly twice as many than were assigned to sweep the Duck Boats at the Bruins celebration parade" in '11 and "several more than were assigned to the Boston Marathon in April." Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief Daniel Linskey expects that fans will "alert police about any suspicious activity, and he called on fans to not wear backpacks around Fenway Park." Much of the rest of the security plan "rings familiar" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/23). ABC's Gio Benitez notes security "will be tight ... with an enhanced police presence, hundreds of officers patrolling the street, more surveillance and police discouraging fans from bringing backpacks" ("GMA," ABC, 10/23). Meanwhile, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson on Monday said there is no indication that the Boston Marathon bombing "has any impact on the World Series." But he added the bombing of a high-profile sporting event has prompted law enforcement agencies to "step up our game a little bit." Dotson said that when the series shifts to Busch Stadium on Saturday, fans "going to games should give themselves more time to make it through the gates." Bags "will be subject to search, and some fans entering Busch Stadium will be subject to random wanding with metal detectors." There also "may be specific gates outfitted with walk-through metal detectors." Dotson "wouldn't say how many extra patrols will be deployed to the event" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/22).
