Single game tickets - holy crap!

[Mango]

On 5/16/2025 at 12:18 PM, GottaRun said:

They did this last year as well, launch the sales with a crazy high price, slowly lower the tickets as the weeks pass by.  They are confident that they can lower the price at any time and get these seats to sell at any time, no rush at all from their perspective.

 

On 5/16/2025 at 9:47 AM, JÂy RÛßeÒ said:

I have never seen a team reduce ticket prices once they go on sale.

 

 

I have lost my shirt on presale the last few years. I no longer participate in it for any bands anymore. Ticketmaster is no different than Stubhub, Vivid, etc. these days. Unless you are a STH there is no more "face value". There is nowhere in writing where it says "OG price to the first buyer". If you unclick the "certified resale" that pricing changes with the resellers.  

I am a STH and we get a measly 4% off our tickets, basically we get a discount on the service charge. Anyways when I called my rep she told me that is off of whatever the current TM pricing. I watched the tickets I wanted (not certified resale) change in price before I pulled the trigger. The silent part they are not talking about is that price to consumer is price to consumer, and whatever their advertised price is is the current face value. 

I don't think you understand the current model of ticket sales. Because face value is basically non-existent and price changes regularly. If you want consistent face value it will cost you a minimum of $2000 for a PSL. And then you can say "my ticket is $125 ea." Otherwise that $125 ticket never gets released to the public at $125 until the market proves it needs to be that cheap. 

 

Edited 10 hours ago by Mango
word

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

On 5/18/2025 at 7:35 AM, DC Tom said:

Nothing to say about tickets...just good to see you around, Jay.

[Metal Man]

14 hours ago, Mango said:

 

 

 Because face value is basically non-existent and price changes regularly.

 

 

This is accurate. Ever since TM added their variable based pricing model the second a show goes on sale the price is immediately determined based on the customer traffic load on their site.

The idea that a certain section of a certain arena will always be around the same face value cost for any given concert is forever gone as long as TM is the main player.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

21 hours ago, Metal Man said:

 

Read an article a few weeks ago about the rising ticket prices which said based on their research and data that a high percentage of people are using payment plans for single event tickets. IIRC it was over 60% for Coachella. That makes me think that an even bigger chunk of people are probably just running up credit cards to cover these prices.

 

I blame this trend of high ticket prices on social media. It is causing way too much FOMO which is driving up the prices because more and more people just can't imagine missing out and need to go at any cost.

 

Long gone are the days where anyone could just say that were at the big show/game to not feel left out. Now if you don't have a selfie of yourself at the event you are relegated to a lower social class.

 

"tickets are worth what people are willing to pay for them". 

 

Ticketmaster helps the venue maximize their take-home and cash-flow, the resale market is then used to figure out what people are actually willing to pay for tickets.  It's always kind of worked this way, i go to the box office and buy tickets for 10 bucks, and then go and sell them outside the event the day of for 20 bucks.  

 

Now the owner can approach next season knowing how much you charged the year before for every seat in the house, while also knowing what attendee's actually paid for tickets.  This information is great for maximizing your profit, but it's another driver in rising prices.  

[Mango]

2 hours ago, Metal Man said:

 

This is accurate. Ever since TM added their variable based pricing model the second a show goes on sale the price is immediately determined based on the customer traffic load on their site.

The idea that a certain section of a certain arena will always be around the same face value cost for any given concert is forever gone as long as TM is the main player.

 

I stopped waiting in que's for concert tickets 3-4 years ago for this reason. I was buying tickets direct from the ticketing agency at release and showing up to concerts where those same tickets, direct from Live Nation (Ticketmaster). I live across the street from SPAC, so I deal with them about as much as anybody. 

Even my KC AFCCG tickets I bought the night before, after I got to KC, for cheaper than when they went on sale with TM. 

 

[BarleyNY]

about 15 years ago I was in Memphis with another guy for work. we had just eaten dinner and were walking by the Grizzly game. a scalper asked if we wanted tickets. $5 each since the game had already started. that worked for us! as he said “can’t eat no cardboard”. I miss the real tickets, but it’s nice having them in my wallet app on my phone too. 

[Ned Flanders]

I've said it on here before, but nothing will beat the days of wandering around the bus lot where me and a buddy or two would pick up a ticket for five bucks because there was always some dope(s) who overslept after being out the night before...the group leader was always more than happy just to get rid of a the tickets of those who couldn't make the bus. 

[billsfan89]

On 5/16/2025 at 9:52 AM, Royale with Cheese said:

 

Probably speaking about the secondary markets like Ticketmaster.

 

Tickets will significantly drop closer to game time.  I've gone to 10 Bills games in the last few years and each time I've bought the tickets a day or two before the game.

I watch them daily a month prior to the game. 

 

Curious as to what the resale market is like because I want to go to a game this year and I'm likely to buy tickets likely week 4 but not sure when is the optimal time to do so. I've bought ticket for Giants/Jets Bills games in NJ and games at Sofi when I lived in CA usually finding that if the game is on Sunday Friday afternoonish is the best time to buy. 

Edited 10 hours ago by billsfan89

[Gregg]

9 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

Curious as to what the resale market is like because I want to go to a game this year and I'm likely to buy tickets likely week 4 but not sure when is the optimal time to do so. I've bought ticket for Giants/Jets Bills games in NJ and games at Sofi when I lived in CA usually finding that if the game is on Sunday Friday afternoonish is the best time to buy. 

 

Giants/Jets tickets are dirt cheap on the secondary market especially late in the year when the weather gets colder. No surprise when you consider both teams are crap. 

Edited 10 hours ago by Gregg

[billsfan89]

3 minutes ago, Gregg said:

 

Giants/Jets tickets are dirt cheap on the secondary market especially late in the year when the weather gets colder. No surprise when you consider both teams are crap. 

 

Chargers tickets in Sofi are crazy expensive (although cheaper than Rams games) due to the visiting teams fan bases flooding Sofi. Giants/Jets Bills games are rarely dirt cheap but they come down a lot off face value when the teams are bad. 

[Gregg]

3 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

 

Chargers tickets in Sofi are crazy expensive (although cheaper than Rams games) due to the visiting teams fan bases flooding Sofi. Giants/Jets Bills games are rarely dirt cheap but they come down a lot off face value when the teams are bad. 

 

Late in the year I know people who bought Jets tickets for prices as low as 20 bucks a ticket on the secondary market or off a scalper on game day. The upper deck for many of these games especially if it's against a team that isn't a "sexy opponent" is almost completely empty. Bills games at MetLife are in high demand as the stadium is packed as Jets fans want to see Allen and there are also a lot of Bills fans who make the trip to Jersey. But a "meh" opponent is a totally different story.

[Metal Man]

 

This is a longer watch but is a really good report on all the different angles/players involved in the modern ticketing model. It covers a lot of the stuff being discussed in this thread from varying points of view.

 

[billsfan89]

24 minutes ago, Metal Man said:

 

This is a longer watch but is a really good report on all the different angles/players involved in the modern ticketing model. It covers a lot of the stuff being discussed in this thread from varying points of view.

 

 

I think one of the best points of data is that in Europe and Japan where Ticketmaster/Live Nation have more competition costs to go to concerts are 30-40% lower and there's a lottery for bigger concerts so that fans can have access to face value tickets and ID is required to use the ticket so there's no scalping those tickets.