World Series Prices In Chicago Are Breaking Stubhub Records

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 28, 2016 9:00PM

Photo: Tyler LaRiviere

We've never seen baseball like this. In terms of ticket costs on the secondary market, that can be taken literally.

According to Stubhub, the online ticket-resale marketplace, Chicago's three home games represent the steepest resale ticket costs and greatest market the company has ever seen for baseball.

"It's by far the most demand and the highest prices we've ever seen for an MLB game," Cameron Papp, Communications Manager at Stubhub, told Chicagoist.

Although prices saw a modest drop for Game Three this morning as the contest approached, the figures for each Chicago home World Series game were still well above average.

As of Friday morning the median ticket prices were as follows, according to Stubhub:
Game Three median: $2,974
Game Four median: $3,550
Game Five median: $3,500

"Those are close to Super Bowl numbers," Papp said.

In fact, should the Cubs win the next to games and position themselves for a Game Five clincher, Papp imagines the median ticket cost would indeed reach Super Bowl levels. Last year, that average was a little over $4000, he said, which represented a peak for the football final. Even though the NFL is in something of a down year, there's no doubt it's still king of American pro sports; so the the fact Chicagoans are elevating the Cubbies to that level is pretty impressive.

Of course, we shouldn't be all that surprised, considering what's at stake. It's just due to the market," Papp added. "There's over 100 years of pent up demand."

He said the only thing remotely comparable would be if the New York Knicks made the NBA Finals or the Toronto Maple Leafs reached the Stanley Cup Final—both teams in large markets with notable (although shorter, to be sure) title droughts.

That also helps explain why median costs at Cleveland are much lower than in Chicago.

In Cleveland:
Game Six median: $1452
Game Seven median: $1,667

Even though the Indians fanbase is long suffering as well, it's just a much smaller populace, hence the lower figures. In fact, World Series ticket prices last year in Kansas City, a similar market to Cleveland, were a lot cheaper than they are at Progressive Field, according to Stubhub.

But here in Chicago, we've hit unprecedented levels for baseball. Hopefully the Cubs can take care of business and drive those Game Five costs even higher with wins on Friday and Saturday.