Cubs Ticket Prices Completely Boggles My Mind
So like many Chicago Cubs fans, I have Googled Cubs Opening Day tickets in both St. Louis, as well as the home Wrigley opener. I am then humbled by the prices and quickly close the browser. Then curiosity takes over and I begin to Google other ticket pricing. April 12th for the ring ceremony, Cubs vs Yankees, maybe when the Giants come to town. Each and every game I look into, Cubs ticket prices keep going up and up.
Then I saw this nugget on Twitter, which completely boggles my mind!
Which #MLB team has the highest priced tickets in 2017? The lowest? #Chicago has them both. https://t.co/1hJGLyNEEI pic.twitter.com/UJkFNvwLX0
— TickPick (@TickPick) March 22, 2017
WHAT!?!?!?!? It seriously costs an average of $150 a ticket to go to a Cubs game!?!?
Well, sort of… That Tweet from TickPick was a secondary market ticket through their website. One, and maybe I’m new to this, but I’ve never heard of TickPick, so I thought I would take a closer look.
First and foremost, buying tickets on the secondary markets you should expect to pay more than face value, and when it comes to popular tickets – expect to pay a ton more. But also, make sure you are buying from a reputable business or someone you know. I searched TickPick and found that they have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, however, there were numerous questionable complaints against them. This is somewhat expected if someone is paying a premium on tickets to an event. The consumer is so willing to overspend because they want to go, and if there is an error I would assume the emotions take over.
I then turned to other secondary market ticket resellers. While Cubs ticket prices were still more, I found they weren’t as much as on TickPick. These are all subjective, however, since it all depends on which tickets are being listed on their websites and how much the owner of the ticket lists it for.
How to get them cheaper
I’ve seen the narrative on how Cubs ticket prices have priced the average fan out of the games. That is absolutely true if you are looking for the biggest most premium games with the best seats in the house. But I searched on the Cubs website for a pair of tickets to the San Francisco Giants lone visit in May. This is a premium game, yet I found a pair of tickets for JUST $27 each.
I then looked into a couple of other games. Opening Day is sold out on the Cubs website, as well as the ring ceremony game on April 12th. But if you wanted to catch an NLCS rematch on the 13th you can get these bad boys.
Yeah, that’s $9.00 for a Cubs vs Dodgers ticket.
Then I thought, how about a pair for the Cubs first weekend series at home?
So I guess Cubs ticket prices aren’t that bad at all… are they?
No, and even with the ticket increase after the World Series, and of course more fans being drawn into the team, ticket prices are very very reasonable.
So knowing this, I wanted to do one more quick test. Most of these tickets are at the beginning of the season when the weather keeps some fans away. So I looked at an attractive matchup between the Cubs and the Tampa Bay Rays.
What do you know, another fairly affordable pair of Cubs tickets.
So while the price of a hot dog, soda, and a beer might set you back, Cubs ticket prices just won’t. Their schedule is filled with tons of opportunities for fans to go and catch a game at a reasonable price. So if you are sitting back and complaining that prices are just too much to go, you probably never actually looked for yourself.
