Want to buy a ticket to see the Rays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Friday night at the Trop?
Got one in Section 108 behind home plate.
Cost you $2,500.
That's the asking price of one Rays season-ticket holder who listed his ducat with StubHub.com, the online ticket resale service based in San Francisco.
And that's on the lower end of the ticket brokering scale.
According to published reports, single tickets to the Rays home ALCS games with the Red Sox are going for as much as $8,453 on TicketsNow.com.
Maybe a Bosox fan will snap it up.
"Their fans will pay high, high prices," said Sean Pate, an official with StubHub in San Francisco. "The most expensive one we've sold was for $1,500."
Actually, those prices do not represent the average price an anxious Rays fan would be entertaining for a ticket to games 1 or 2.
That is more in the neighborhood of $160 via StubHub.com.
"There will be some sticker shock for fans used to spending $9 for a ticket to see the Rays, but this is the ALCS," Pate said. "The dichotomy is it's a fan base that's still young - the team has only existed for 11 years - and it's a smaller stadium (36,048 capacity). Not overlooking the Bucs or the Lightning, but postseason play is a new thing in the area, so demand is extremely high."
StubHub.com has 2,000 tickets for Game 1 and 4,000 for Game 2.
"A lot of people want to be at the first game," he said. "It's certainly an opportunity for the ticket holder to sell."
Sell to a Bosox fan, maybe?
"If I'm a Red Sox fan, I'm heading here because it'll be cheaper than trying to find a ticket at Fenway Park," Pate said.
One such ticket, according to published reports, would fetch $3,745 - to Game 5, if it's necessary.
That's fine with Rays officials.
After looking at all those empty seats around the Trop a month ago, even as the Rays maintained their hold on first place, having the hottest ticket in Tampa Bay is nice.
Even if it's on some online ticket brokerage.
"The reality is resale is legal in this state," said Mark Fernandez, a Rays senior vice president. "We don't encourage it, but if someone is interested in that, my advice is to go StubHub, because what they end up paying for is legit. I can't guarantee the others."
The other alternative, he said, is for Rays fans to register for a ticket lottery to Games 6 and 7 at the Trop if those games are necessary.
Fans should go online to Raysbaseball.com and look for the presale information.
"We've already had 300,000 register so far," Fernandez said.
E-Mail
Print
@Nyx.CommentBody@