StubHub's most expensive seats sold at Fenway Park for Games 1 and 2 have hovered around $8,000 GETTY IMAGES
Despite the popularity and historical legacies of the Red Sox and Dodgers, this year’s World Series ticket market is showing noted softness compared to last year’s Astros-Dodgers matchup. StubHub, MLB’s official resale marketplace, said it has recorded an average ticket sales price of $980 for Game 1 tonight in Boston, down $1,346 for Game 1 in L.A. last year. Tomorrow’s Game 2 has an average sales price of $1,012, down from $1,346. The top end of the market is particularly down from a year ago, with the most expensive seats sold on StubHub for the initial Fenway Park games have hovered around $8,000 each, down by nearly half from a high of $15,570 last year for Dugout Club seat at Dodger Stadium for Game 1. SeatGeek data similarly shows average listings of $1,064 per seat for Game 1 tonight, down from $1,364 for Game 1 last year. A key factor in the softer resale market is the reduced pent-up demand from fans. The Dodgers last year made their first World Series appearance in 29 years, and are now back just a year later. The Red Sox were last in the World Series in ’13. The Dodgers’ home games this weekend will allow a broader, more geographically spread out base to attend compared to the weekday World Series games at Dodger Stadium last year. “The premium end of the market, where you particularly can see that pent-up demand, is down while the get-in market is actually up from last year,” said ticket distribution company Eventellect co-Founder Patrick Ryan.
A BOON FOR EVENTELLECT: The Dodgers’ return to the Fall Classic and home games at Dodger Stadium will represent a boon for Eventellect, which earlier this year signed a partnership with the club that will now see its peak ticket demand of the season. That deal quickly prompted a lawsuit against the club in L.A. Superior Court from Connecticut-based Prestige Entertainment and a group of other ticket brokers, alleging breach of contract and promissory fraud and claiming the club reneged on promises of recurring season ticket rights. More than six months after the suit’s initial filing, the litigation is still active with Eventellect since added as a co-defendant. Jonathan Genish, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, claims the Dodgers’ return to the World Series and the lost revenue opportunity stemming from that heightens the damages inflicted against his clients. “My clients will have their day in court, but until then the fans are the ones who are being gouged by these greedy ticket-pricing practices.” Ryan did not comment substantively about the ongoing litigation, saying he has full faith in the Dodgers’ guidance on the matter, and he more broadly praised the alliance. “There are a lot of eyes on this relationship, and therefore both organizations dedicated a lot of resources to making it a success,” Ryan said. “We feel good about the demand analysis we did together that yielded a lot of learnings about how to best manage the inventory during a very volatile season.”
