The 2013 World Series has seen suspicious green goop on a pitcher’s glove, controversial calls and home run heroics. Now it will see some pretty outrageous ticket prices as the series moves on to Boston.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell reports prices for tickets to Games 6 at Fenway Park have skyrocketed, which makes sense considering the Red Sox haven’t clinched a title at home since 1918.
Using ticket-tracking company TiqIQ, Rovell states that the latest average resale value of tickets had reached $1,860 for Wednesday’s clash with the Cardinals.
All of this stems from fans eager to see their beloved team finally win the World Series within the historic confines of the iconic stadium.
While that pesky curse has been vanquished (the Red Sox swept the series in 2004 and 2007), the Red Sox haven’t won in Boston since their series against the Chicago Cubs nearly a century ago.
That means bleacher seats that were going for about $300 last week are now hitting the after-sale market for $1,100.
Fenway faithful are certainly making it rain, because Rovell also notes one Mr. Moneybags dropped $24,000 on StubHub for two seats in prime baseball-watching real estate for one of the remaining games.
“People want to see them win it here,” Jim Holzman of Ace Ticket, a brokerage firm based in Boston, told Rovell. “That’s what has made this the biggest ticket we’ve ever seen. It’s the Super Bowl except people don’t have to pay $1,000 for a hotel and $2,000 for airfare.”
The demand is not dissimilar to what we saw back in 2004 when the franchise was preparing to finally get back into the land of the victorious.
A CNN report from that year states prices were reaching lofty levels as fans grabbed at a glimpse of the eventual World Series champions.
The cost of a ticket to the show in 2004 was nearly as pricey: “One pair of front-row box seats for game one of the World Series sold for $5,300 in an auction completed Thursday morning on eBay.”
The same report also issued that four box seats were going for as much as $25,000 back then.
Holzman continued with an idea of how quickly this year’s prices escalated: “Prices were going up $50 an inning.”
It makes sense when you consider Fenway isn’t just the oldest stadiums in MLB, but also one of the coziest (capacity rests at 38,400).
There is always a moment when fans consider taking the jaunt out to the park, dropping massive amounts of cash and sidling up with the crowd instead of just watching from home.
For the Red Sox collective, that moment happened after an odd weekend wherein Jonny Gomes homered and the Cardinals’ Kolten Wong was picked off to end a raucous Game 4.
When Boston then took a 3-2 series lead behind another stout performance from Jon Lester—who left the green goop at home this time around—fans could be confident in buying tickets for the remainder of the series.
However, as Red Sox fans drop serious money on the last two games, we would like to caution them that this series is far from over.
If there is anything to take from this iteration of the Fall Classic, it’s that anything can and will happen. From dunderheaded base running to wacky calls from the umpires, this series offers little to feel confident about for either side.
Still, that will hardly deter many from paying thousands at the very good chance they get to see the Red Sox finally celebrate at home.
Is that enough of an incentive to part with thousands? According to the absurd prices, the answer from Sox fans is a resounding yes.
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