What is going on with WBC Ticket Prices?

I’m going to take a break from the Cubs for the moment to talk about the prices for the WBC – especially the semi-finals and finals.

A buddy of mine and I wanted to go to Miami and catch the 3 final games, and even made cancellable reservations for that weekend (technically Sunday to Tuesday). We were not very concerned about getting great seats, as we were sure those would be going for a premium, but we hoping to get seats in the nosebleeds.

Tickets went on sale on January 15th, and while there were a few seats for around $200 a piece for the semi-finals, those went quickly. But none of these seats were in the corner upper decks. It turns out, all of those seats are $300+, which makes no sense.

Currently, for the final, the cheapest seat is $508. But there are sections that are almost completely empty. Start with section 327. Not the best seats, in the upper deck down the left field line.

All of the seats in blue are available, but are either $534 or $508 a piece. And many of the “sold” seats are available on the resale market. One section over in 326 is similar. Lots of available seats for $508.

Section 303 on the opposite side is very similar. Only 3 seats sold in the first 5 rows of the section so far:

It’s a similar story for the semi-finals, except that the ticket prices are just over $300 instead of $500.

On the resale market, for the Championship game, Stubhub has 327 listings, with the lowest price at $522. Seatgeek has 707 listings with the cheapest at $492, which is cheaper than the MLB prices. Vivid seats has seats for $511. Viagogo has seats for $476. I wonder if many of the seats sold in these upper decks have been purchased by resellers.

I suppose it makes some sense, as the event has exploded in popularity. But if the WBC wants to sell out the stadium, I really think they will have to bring prices down. But maybe they are just going to hope there is a last minute rush for people who can afford $1000 for a couple of nose-bleed seats. But people may not be able to make last minute plans to get to Miami.

For the resellers – I would guess they will need to start bringing their prices down soon, as they have already invested in these seats, and getting something for these seats is better than nothing. I’ve seen that with recent concerts in my area.

For me, it’s not that big of a deal. My friend, who I was going to go with just got a new job and may not be able to get the time off to go (why they scheduled it Sunday to Tuesday and not Friday to Sunday is another mystery). I’m going to hold onto my reservations for a little bit, just to see if tickets prices go down slightly.

Here’s a Reddit thread of other folks who have been disappointed in prices throughout the tournament: https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1qdnhu0/disappointed_with_wbc_prices/