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

UPDATE: ESPN reporting: “The Masters is where I won my first major and I view this tournament with great respect. After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta,” Woods said in a statement.

Our arms hurt a bit here at FanSnap for calling this one correctly and patting ourselves on the back for it. No way Tiger misses the Masters and now ESPN confirmed it.

Original post from March 11….

Mark Cannizzaro at the New York Post broke the story today. The Post’s headline reads, “Tiger could return to tour in two weeks.” Cannizzaro has “multiple sources” telling him that Tiger has hired former Bush administration press secretary, Ari Fleischer and is plotting a return to Golf in time for the Arnold Palmer Invitational (tickets) at Bay Hill in Orlando, March 25-28. Practice rounds at Bay Hill start on March 22.

We here at FanSnap expected to see Tiger Woods return to golf in time for the Masters. It looks now like that will be the case.

Golf fans considering going to Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational (tickets) or Augusta for the Masters (tickets) might consider snapping up tickets now. We expect ticket demand for both events to increase as Team Tiger Woods makes Tiger’s intentions more explicit.

Read more:

• New York Post, Tiger could return to tour in two weeks
• USA Today, New York Post: Tiger returning in two weeks

Christian

Olympic Gold Medal hockey tickets are available for the most highly anticipated matchup of the Winter Games, and perhaps in the history of Canadian sports.

Tickets to see Team USA play Team Canada for Olympic Hockey gold are averaging $4,313. That’s more than three times the average price of Stanley Cup Finals tickets and $1,000 more than the average price for Super Bowl tickets.

U.S. and Canadian hockey fans who missed out on an NHL All Star Game this year, are getting something even better as the Sharks’ Joe Thornton, Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, Rangers’ Chris Drury and Sabres’ Ryan Miller and their teammates face off on behalf of their countries.

Average Price of Olympics Ice Hockey Gold Medal Game

Prices for Olympic Gold Medal hockey tickets have mirrored Canadian fans’ excitement for their national team’s prospects throughout the Winter Games. Prices started high and rose to nearly $5000 per ticket following early wins by Team Canada. Average ticket prices then plummeted after the Team USA win over the host team. Prices continued to decline to $3,613 until the inspiring Canadian win over Russia. Gold Medal game ticket prices have rebounded strongly as it became apparent there would be a USA - Canada rematch in the final, and are now $4,313.

Ticket prices have been increasing for the Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets since the Canadians beat the Russians. Now that Canada is playing the USA for Gold, prices look to continue up. We’ll be following closely.

This Google update doesn’t quite say it all:

Results: Men’s Olympic Hockey Playoffs Semifinals
United States     6 - 1     Finland

Team USA jumped out to a six-goal lead in the first 12 minutes of the first period. That scoring phenomenal as it was, was more than enough to seemingly break the will of Team Finland.

Team USA will meet the winner of the Canada - Slovakia game (slated for this evening) in the Gold Medal Hockey game on the 28th. Find Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets starting at $2,400. Tickets for the Gold Medal Hockey game have been averaging $4,000. Take a look a our post yesterday to see how the demand for Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets has risen and fallen based on Team Canada’s wins and loss.

Read more from:

• New York Times (via AP) -  US Routs Finland 6-1, Will Play for Hockey Gold
• Reuters - U.S. flatten Finland to reach final
• Bloomberg - U.S. Men Beat Finland, Reach Gold-Medal Hockey Game

We’ve caught Pacman fever here at FanSnap. We can’t get enough of Manny Pacquiao. This time it’s Manny Pacquiao’s Greatest Hits. A video montage put together by the fine people over at HBO Sports and courtesy of what is fast becoming our favorite boxing site, NowBoxing.com.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Cowboys Stadium, and officials say there could be close to 60,000 in attendance for Manny Pacquiao’s March 13 fight against welterweight Joshua Clottey. Pacquiao-Clottey will mark the first time the new Dallas Stadium plays host to a boxing match.

Clottey - Pacquiao tickets in Dallas are still available. We’re finding 7,000 tickets with FanSnap. Tickets from sites online start at $63. Floor tickets start at $374. Tickets currently average $320.

Fans from 40 states and 11 countries are searching for tickets to this fight.

Check out Manny Pacman Pacquiao on Jimmy Kimmel here and more about Clotty - Pacquiao tickets here.

Christian

Yes, we’re suckers for the big events here at FanSnap. Big events tend to be the matchups with the biggest ticket price and availability fluctuations. There are often tickets priced well below other tickets in the same row and fans find tremendous values, which adds to the fun. It turns out there is no hotter event than Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets.

Average price of an Olympic Ice Hockey ticket to the men's Gold Medal game on Sun, Feb 28 at 12:15PM

Currently, Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets are averaging more than $4,000. To put that into perspective, Super Bowl tickets earlier this month averaged between $2,500 and $3,000. World Series tickets averaged roughly $1,500. That makes Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets the single hottest ticket of the year — based on price.

Looking at the graph, you can see that ticket prices went up with each win by Team USA and Team Canada. What was less clear was which team’s fans were driving prices. After Team USA’s surprise win over Team Canada on February 21, it became clear that Team Canada fans were drive ticket prices.

How do we know? Take a look at the Whistler Mountain-shaped graph. Ticket prices were steadily increasing until the Team Canada loss. Ticket availability on the dozens of sites across the web FanSnap scours was also decreasing. Because Olympic Hockey is double elimination, Team Canada was not knocked out, but it was a lot less clear to Team Canada fans that their team would make it to the Gold Medal game. As a result Team Canada fans with tickets started selling.

Team Canada’s win over Germany slowed the decrease in price of Gold Medal tickets as some Team Canada fans regained hope that their team could in fact be golden. When they beat Russian last night, Team Canada fans again became believers… and started buying Gold Medal game tickets once again.

Canada must beat Slovakia to make it to the Gold Medal game. Team USA must beat Finland.

bracket from NBCOlympics.com

There’s no need to watch for scores tomorrow night to see if Team Canada will play for gold on February 28, just watch the ticket market for prices and availability. If ticket prices are going up and seats are scarce, Canada won.

Christian

The NBA season is starting to get very interesting. Most searched NBA tickets since the All-Star break include:

• Lakers tickets
• Knicks tickets
• Bulls tickets
• Celtics tickets
• Jazz tickets
• Thunder tickets
• Grizzlies tickets
• Nets tickets
• Kings tickets
• Magic tickets

It’s not clear whether this shot if from 85, 86 or 87 feet. The consensus is, it was a fun trick shot. Vince is giving the Magic an new spark this season. Orlando fans hope he’s what the team needs to get back to the NBA finals agian this year.

Hat tip to Mashable where we first saw this video.

(UPDATED: Hottest Olympic Tickets below)

Most fans know that scoring tickets to the hottest events through the box office can be a bit like winning the lottery. More and more, fans are turning to the ticket market where there’s no shortage of online sites where fans can find tickets. The better question for fans isn’t where to find tickets, but rather, where can fans find tickets at the best value.

For Olympics tickets in Vancouver, fans are using FanSnap to search from dozens of ticket providers and aggregate tickets to 200+ Winter Games events – all in one place.

Fans can sort and filter Olympics events based on location, event, price, number of tickets, date range, time of day and day of week.

FanSnap is a ticket search engine that helps fans find exactly the tickets they want – at the best value. FanSnap searches dozens of ticket sites representing hundreds of thousands of ticket sellers. This ensures fans are getting a comprehensive look at the market. FanSnap then plots the tickets on a map of the venue so fans can see all the available tickets at once as well as see the price of each ticket.

Some ticket sellers are highly motivated to sell their Olympics tickets. Others fully plan on attending the Games but list their tickets anyway — just to see if someone will offer enough money to make them stay home.

This variation in motivation level of the seller creates 25% to 50% and even 100% differences in prices. FanSnap makes obvious the huge variation in asking prices so fans can easily see where the best values are.

FanSnap Map of GM Place for 2010 Winter Olympics Gold Medal Ice Hockey tickets

On any given day, fans using FanSnap will find the most comprehensive view of Olympics tickets available, see at a glance tickets 10%, 25%, even 50%  less than those around them and know they found the best value available.

Date          Hottest Olympic Events                                                Lowest Price    Avg. Price
2/28/10    Ice Hockey - Men’s Gold Medal Game - IH050                            $2,347    $3,683
2/13/10    Alpine Skiing - Men’s Downhill - AS001*                                    $1,117    $2,568
2/25/10    Figure Skating - Women’s Free Program - FS009                           $725    $1,769
2/21/10    Ice Hockey - Men’s Group A — Canada vs United States             $1,100    $1,650
2/26/10    Ice Hockey - Men’s Semifinal #2                                                 $1,006    $1,503
2/17/10    Snowboard - Men’s Halfpipe                                                       $1,006    $1,250
2/17/10    Snowboard - Men’s Halfpipe Qualification/Semifinal/Final             $868    $1,055
2/12/10    Opening Ceremony*                                                                      $506    $1,011
2/26/10    Ice Hockey - Men’s Semifinal #1                                                    $550    $934
2/15/10    Figure Skating - Pairs Free Program                                               $550    $850
2/27/10    Ice Hockey - Men’s Bronze Medal Game                                         $451    $834
2/23/10    Figure Skating - Women’s Short Program                                       $300    $806
2/18/10    Figure Skating - Men’s Free Program                                             $425    $788
2/27/10    Speed Skating - Men’s and Women’s Team Pursuit Finals               $460    $777
2/25/10    Ice Hockey - Women’s Gold Medal Game                                       $451    $776
*events in past

Christian

Yep, we here at FanSnap love us some tennis. We’re looking forward to the season, but come on Andy. Those duds are a bit tight.

Actually, Andy’s gear was late and Lacoste sent over some practice duds that ended up being a bit small. Thanks Andy for sharing and for have a great sense of humor. Good luck winning a Grand Slam or two this year. We’re rooting for you!

Check for Tennis tickets here.

Christian