Tiger’s Return and the Impact on Masters Tickets (Badges)
March 17th, 2010
We aggregated all Masters tickets -- for all events, like single-day badges, half-day, multi-day, etc. We then plotted the price change by hour to get a picture of the Tiger effect on Masters tickets
(updated: See the “Tiger effect” on prices below)
The Masters Golf Tournament tickets will be perhaps the most interesting ticket in sports to follow the next few days and leading up to April 8 when the first tee shot is stuck at Augusta. Tiger Woods, the face of golf and in many ways the face of sports in general was thought not to be playing in this year’s Masters. Late last week, however, there was speculation that Woods would make his return to golf at Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational (tickets). Tuesday (3/16), Tiger Woods announced in a statement, “I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta.”
Will fans welcome Tiger back?
A ticket or “badge” for the Masters has historically been one of the toughest in all of sports to score. Even with a thriving ticket market, Masters badges just weren’t available to golf fans in past years. That changed last year, due in part to the down economy. Masters Badges were readily available on the ticket market. Attending The Masters became something golf fans could mark off their bucket list.
This year, with the prospect of Tiger Woods not playing in golf’s most prestigious event, ticket prices were down compared to the same time last year.
Today, with the announcement that Tiger Woods will return to golf, the question of the hour is, “how will fans respond.”
Here at FanSnap, we have several ways to measure fan interest:
- search frequency
- ticket availability
- ticket price
- how each of the above changes over time
The “Tiger Effect”
- Fans using FanSnap to search for Masters tickets was double what is was yesterday by noon today. By 3:00 p.m. (PT) searches for “Masters tickets” were up 4x yesterday’s searches.
- There are 20% fewer tickets available today than there were yesterday, which is a strong indicator fans are buying.
- Masters ticket prices increased by approximately 5%.
- 24 hours after Tiger’s announcement, prices have begun to climb by approximately 30%.
- Here are what the average prices of specific types of tickets (badges) have done in the last 24 hours:
- Four-day (Thursday-Sunday) badges went from averaging $2,600 to $2,710
- Thursday-only badges went from averaging $746 to $759
- Friday-only badges went from averaging $733 to $801
- Saturday-only badges went from averaging $661 to $742
- Sunday-only badges went from averaging $661 to $689
The 30% increase we’re seeing today could be due to the “Tiger effect,” or probably more likely due to all the news coverage of Masters ticket availability.
Important to fans is that while looking at average price gives us some visibility into trends, fans can still find amazing values for Masters badges across the board.
- Four-day (Thursday-Sunday) badges start at $2,397 ($300 below the average price)
- Thursday-only badges start at $460 ($300 below the average price)
- Friday-only badges start at $658 (nearly $150 below the average)
- Saturday-only badges start at $600 (nearly $150 below the average)
- Sunday-only badges start at $627 ($50+ below the average)
To put Masters ticket prices into perspective, these are tickets that would have cost upwards of $5,000 just a few years ago, Here’s how Masters badges compare to other major sporting events (based on average ticket price):
- BCS National Championship ticket = $865 - $1,000
- World Series game tickets = $910 - $1,100
- Super Bowl tickets = $2,200 - $3,200
- Olympic Gold Medal Hockey (U.S. v Canada) tickets = $3,600 - $4,300
- Upcoming 2010 NCAA Final Four Championship game = $475
- 2010 MLB Opening Day (Yankees @ Red Sox) tickets = $251
Christian


