With the New York Yankees down 3-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, the Fall Classic continues with a second straight game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. The series, which featured Games 1 and 2 in Los Angeles, opened with high ticket prices last week and StubHub officials projected the series could break a company record for the event, but prices have since cooled with the Yankees on the brink of getting swept.
The average price of tickets sold on StubHub’s resale market for Game 4 dropped nine percent between Monday and Tuesday. As of Tuesday morning, the cheapest single tickets for Game 4 were around $500 — a nearly 20 percent drop in starting prices from Monday, per StubHub.
The dip in average price follows a trend from Game 3, when the price of tickets dropped roughly 10 percent between Friday and Monday, with the cheapest single tickets starting around $700 on Monday afternoon. A StubHub spokesperson, Adam Budelli, said that wasn’t surprising based on how the series between two star-studded markets has unfolded, as prices tend to fluctuate based on outcomes.
“Somewhat as expected, you’ll see a little bit of a softening in the market sometimes when one team jumps out to a 2-0 lead,” Budelli said ahead of the Dodgers’ Game 3 win.
He noted that although the get-in price was slightly lower than last week, average prices for the series returned to around $1,700, consistent with the average prices StubHub saw last week. Over the weekend, sales for Games 3 through 5 in New York increased 30 percent, per StubHub. Budelli said that was likely because demand increased with fewer tickets up for grabs. Dodgers fans, for example, likely view Game 4 or Game 5 as a potential, must-attend clincher.
Updated data Tuesday reflected that demand, as StubHub said the number of tickets sold for Game 4 jumped 26 percent, which marked the biggest 24-hour spike for the contest since last Tuesday. StubHub declined to share ticket sales figures.
Despite a slight softening in the general admissions ticket prices, the demand for higher-end seats was strong as of Monday, according to Budelli.
“It’s always hard to really, once we’re inside the series, determine how things are going, but I think the truth of the matter is we’re seeing super strong demand,” Budelli said.
The average price of World Series tickets sold on StubHub came in at $1,457 for Game 1, $1,503 for Game 2 and $1,839 for Game 3. As of 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the remaining games were as follows, per StubHub.
- Game 4: $1,640
- Game 5: $1,831
- Game 6: $1,835
- Game 7: $1,820
Budelli also highlighted the spike in average prices compared to prior years, as the series could be the most expensive in recent history. The average ticket price on StubHub for last year’s series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks was $884. In 2022, the average price for the World Series between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies was $1,303.
“This, again, is really driven by two large fanbases and as the series continues, that number seems to be going up and up, which is kind of what we did expect,” Budelli said.
As of Tuesday morning, the cheapest single tickets on StubHub for a tentative Games 5 were starting around $600. On TickPick, another ticketing marketplace, the cheapest single tickets were listed around $650 for Game 4 and around $750 for Game 5 as of Tuesday morning. TickPick did not provide its average prices for the series.
StubHub offers refunds for contingent games if they’re not played, so Budelli recommended fans purchase tickets in advance with prices likely to rise. And if there is a Game 7, Budelli said there could be cause for more headlines.
“Based on what we’re seeing pricing-wise, (it would) certainly be one of the highest-priced baseball games,” he said. “We’d probably have to predict that.”
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic)
