Did you go to the Super Bowl to watch the Philadelphia Eagles? Did you manage to catch Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Era’s Tour this summer? If not, you’re not alone, though it’s probably not for a lack of wanting. When it comes to attending concerts, your desire to attend often has all but nothing to do with it. The sharp increase in ticket prices is a phenomenon that has impacted entertainment connoisseurs globally. Attending a single sports game or concert can seem like an indulgence, or an unnecessary expense when accounting for the grand total that just one ticket can cost. In the same way, one single ticket would be considered an expense too great for most people’s budgets. The industry has shifted to become much more focused towards the secondary market, full of brokers, vendors, and bots. These secondhand sellers get a stranglehold on the majority of all the face value tickets and sell them on the secondary market to the highest bidder. In essence, this procedure takes an already expensive face value ticket and makes it unattainable for the average fan. In this respect, profit has blocked art.
The NFL, NBA, and MLB have all seen significant price increases for both regular season and playoff tickets. The recent Super Bowl LIX saw seats even in the upper deck or far from the 50-yard line, skyrocket to an average of $6800. Even infinitesimal increases in ticket pricing can have a ripple effect, making live events out of reach for the average fan. With such a glaring issue, we begin to ask ourselves, how can teams and artists allow this to happen? The uncomfortable truth is that it’s all about business. The rise and prominence of the secondary market are at the heart of the action. Brokers like Stubhub and Ticketmaster are all for the choosing, holding a sizable portion of all the tickets. The only key to unlock this tightly shut door is to open your checkbook and be willing to pay a handsome price. Between professional ticket brokers and bots, these liaisons have positioned themselves to outcompete every fan for face value tickets when they go on sale, making these vendors the only real path to entry.
We have seen many different approaches in attempts to solve this pressing issue. Just this past year, Oasis canceled thousands of tickets found on the secondary market. Another fix was when Olivia Rodrigo made priority tickets available for her registered fans. With more and more attention being drawn towards this issue, the incentive to solve it becomes greater. Adding laws on top of this incentive would create a pressure for real change. Nonetheless, it has been found that these laws are unrealistic because enacting legislation to cap the price of the secondary market ultimately wouldn’t control the vast difference between supply and demand. This would lead to even worse practices with the legal markets in the offshoots, effectively creating even less control in the system than we have today.
The rising cost of attending live events reflects a system that prioritizes profit over accessibility. While initial pricing can be considered one part of the problem, brokers greatly amplify the issue. While solutions like pre-sales for fans and canceling secondary market tickets are a start, without changes to ticket pricing and distribution, the loss of large events will only deepen. Ultimately, a shift between how tickets are sold and prices is necessary for fans’ continued access to the cultural experiences they know and love. Finding the balance between accessibility in profit is something essential in order to ensure a mutual benefit for every party involved.
