In the midst of a smoking hot AL Central pennant race, the Detroit Tigers hold a four game lead over the Minnesota Twins.  These two teams play head-to-head seven times in the next ten days.  HUGE!  The surprise?  Twins and Tigers fans can see these games for as little as $4!

Want to sit behind home plate?  At this moment, there are $40 tickets available in Minneapolis and $63 tickets available in Detroit.  Unbelievable.

As in all markets, prices in the ticket market are set by the balance of supply and demand.  There are lots of tickets available for these important games, so local baseball fans get a great experience at an amazing bargain.

After Edgar Renteria’s grand slam sealed the San Francisco Giants’ sweep of the Colorado Rockies this weekend, the teams are tied for the National League wild card slot, with about a month to go.

One can’t help but look ahead to the remaining three games the two teams have to play in mid-September.  The Rockies are hoping they don’t see Lincecum, Zito, and Cain again.  Or Sanchez for that matter.  Beware, Panda crossing!

Never mind that the Yankees are 0-8 this year against the Red Sox.

The Yankees are battling for the best record in baseball with the Dodgers.  They have won three in a row.  They are two and a half games up on the boys from Boston.  Bronx Bomber fans are already calculating their magic number.  This weekend is as good a chance as any for the Pinstripes to reassert their dominance.

While the Rays may have something to say about it, nothing beats a Yankees-Red Sox series, even during the dog days of summer.  However, lots of season ticket holders must be out of town on vacation as there are thousands of ticket listings available for as little as $50 a ticket.*

Haven’t seen a game in the new Yankee Stadium yet?  Have a look at all the Red Sox-Yankees tickets on FanSnap this weekend!

Thu, Aug 6 at 7:05PM 800+ tickets from $80*

Fri, Aug 7 at 7:05PM 6,000+ tickets from $72

Sat, Aug 8 at 4:10PM 6,000+ tickets from $79

Sun, Aug 9 at 8:05PM 10,000+ tickets from $50

Of course, on FanSnap you can see the tickets from all four games at once!

Compare all 4 events

Play ball!

* price = ticket prices + commission per ticket as of Aug 6, 12:30AM

ESPN asked the question on SportsCenter last night - “Who are this year’s Tampa Bay Rays?” - the cinderella team of 2009?   The leading candidates just might be the San Francisco Giants, who are currently ten games over .500 and smack in the middle of the wild card chase, led by their super pitching staff.

Everyone knows the Giants have pitching. 2008 Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. Young stud Matt Cain. Three hundred game winner Randy Johnson. Even Barry Zito, after a grueling offseason program, is returning to his old form. Quick, who is the #5 flame thrower on the Giants staff? I bet you didn’t know. No one did, until last night.

Jonathan Sanchez tossed the MLB’s first no-hitter of 2009, the first in AT&T Park, and the first for a Giant since 1976. Great, Giants opponents are thinking, now there are no nights off against these guys!

The Bay Area was mesmerized last night during the game. Giants fans were texting, IM’g, tweeting, and phoning each other to turn on the TV. It was the most excitement Bay Area sports fans have had since the Warriors “We Believe” post season run a few years ago.

Making the story all the more fun was that Sanchez had just been inserted back into the rotation, replacing the injured “Big Unit.” An erratic few starts had led to his recent demotion to the bullpen. There were even trade rumors. My guess is he’s feeling better now.

To top it off, in a true “Field of Dreams” moment, Jonathan’s father, up from Puerto Rico to see his son start a Giants game for the first time ever, was on hand to “hug it out” after the game.

For most of the year, Giants tickets have been going for as little as $7 on the ticket providers searched by FanSnap.  If the Bay Area Boys, led by “Big Panda,” keep this up after the All Star Game, this may very well change. Right now, a ticket to see these guys may be the best bargain in baseball.   Let’s Go Giants!

Mike

(UPDATE: July 8, 2009)

Prices WERE dropping until the players were announced.

Demand for tickets to the MLB All Star Game jumped since last Thursday. Get-in prices for tickets to the mid-summer classic in St. Louis went up more than $100 in less than a week while the average price for a ticket has also increased. The Home Run Derby also looks to be a hot ticket this weekend.

MLB All Star Weekend - Futures and Legends Game (July 12)  4,000+ tickets from $14*

MLB All Star Weekend - Home Run Derby (July 13)  3,000+ tickets from $241*

MLB All Star Game tickets (July 14)  3,000+ tickets from $495*

* prices and availability as of July 8, 2:00PM PT.

—-

As Major League Baseball’s 2009 All Star Game, being held at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, approaches, this week the average market price of tickets to the game has finally started to drop - over 7% in the last few days, to about $900.

FanSnap searches dozens of ticket sites for available listings and has been monitoring asking prices and availability of tickets for the game for weeks.  Average asking prices have stayed firm, even increasing in recent weeks.  Baseball fans continue to have a tremendous array of ticket choices all over the stadium, from behind home plate in the “cell phone seats,” to the deepest reaches of the bleachers where only Albert Pujols can go yard.

In the past week, All Star Game ticket listings have actually increased to over 4,400.  As the game nears and ticket sellers need to move their tickets they are doing the logical thing - starting to drop their asking prices!

Don’t forget the other great weekend events.  Real baseball fans know that the winner of this game gets home field advantage on the World Series.  That’s critical.  More importantly, someone always wins a new house, based on who wins the Home Run Derby.  Now that’s drama!

It is a great weekend of events, and look at all the ticket choices!

Futures and Legends Games (July 12) * 5000+ tickets from $10*

Home Run Derby (July 13) * 5000+ tickets from $184

All Star Game (July 14) * 4000+ tickets from $359

St. Louis is a great place to visit.  It’s not too late…

* prices and availability as of July 2, 10PM PT.

The Dodgers-Padres game in San Diego tonight marks the return of Manny Ramirez, after his suspension for testing positive for performance enhancing substances.

Do you think fans hold a grudge?  Not according to the big changes in available ticket listings and asking prices the past few days as it was confirmed tonight would be his return.

FanSnap searches dozens of ticket sites for available tickets.  In the past week, check out the swing in Dodgers-Padres tickets prices for tonight’s game:

June 26:  862 tickets, $86.90 average asking price*

June 27:  781 tickets, $86.90 average

June 28:  472 tickets, $97.50 average

June 29:  394 tickets, $102.85 average

June 30:  324 tickets, $110.00 average

July 1:  521 tickets, $118.80 average

July 2:  465 tickets, $112.20 average

I guess baseball fans just think it was Manny being Manny!  There still are lots of tickets available for the weekend series.

* asking price equals ticket price + commission

Mike

Start spreading the news…

Lovers of the nation’s pastime, driven by the great choices and values to be had, have been all over FanSnap this summer searching for MLB tickets.  Vacationing fans are visiting ballparks.  Baseball fans are sitting in seats they never thought they could afford.

What teams are baseball fans searching for most?  And where are they playing on July 4th?

1.  New York Yankees tickets:  Jays @ Yankees, 8,000+ tickets from $16*

2.  Boston Red Sox tickets:  Mariners @ Red Sox, 2,000+ tickets from $16

3.  New York Mets tickets:  Mets @ Phillies, 4000+ tickets from $19

4.  LA Angels tickets:  Orioles @ Angels, 3,000+ tickets from $14

5.  Chicago Cubs tickets:  Brewers @ Cubs, 6000+ tickets from $20

6.  SF Giants tickets:  Astros @ Giants, 2,000 tickets from $11

7.  Chicago White Sox tickets:  White Sox @ Royals, 700+ tickets from $6

8.  LA Dodgers tickets:  Dodgers @ Padres, 1000+ tickets from $20

Most interesting as they are both in the Big Apple and have new ballparks, Yankees searches outnumber Mets searches two to one…

Me?  I am going to SF’s AT&T Park Saturday to see Cy Young winning phenom Timmy Lincecum blow away Astros!  Happy Fourth of July!

Mike

* ticket availability and price (ticket + commission) as of July 2, 2PM PT

The New York Times ran an interesting page 1 story by Ken Belson yesterday on the thousands of early season empty seats in the new baseball parks, the new Yankees Stadium and Citi Field. In contrast to the typical situation where unsold seats are up in the nosebleed sections, the twist in NY is that many of the unpurchased seats are among the best on the house.

The teams are being pointedly second-guessed due to the very high face values they set for these premium seats. Obviously, the general economic downturn, together with the collapse of the financial industry, has made the situation much worse. Teams (and concert promoters) have longed talked of using “yield management” pricing models similar to the airlines and hotels to maximize their revenues. Perhaps the Yankees and Mets example is a testament to just how difficult this is to pull off.

Two interesting points here.

The first is that some have suggested that perhaps the teams chose their price structures emboldened by the asking prices they have historically seen in the resale market for tickets, expecting to keep more of what they perceived the market would bear. If so, there are two problems with this thinking.

• the “asking prices” that one sees on ticket marketplace and broker sites are what is being offered at any given point in time, not where the actual transaction prices end up. As one can see by doing any ticket search on FanSnap, there is a large variation in the asking prices, and sellers change their prices constantly.  Not every one is an equally motivated seller.
• ticket resales have grown to a multi-billion dollar market due to meeting fans’ legitimate needs to buy and sell. If there was no demand, there would simply be no market. What are ticket market buyers paying for? Sure, they can get access to great tickets and what used to be called “sold out” events. What is not always appreciated is that fans also greatly value the convenience of being able to buy tickets when they want, not on the team’s sales schedule.

No surprise that if team prices were set based on asking vs. transaction prices, and expecting fans to pay a premium for tickets offered at the beginning of the year, there were few takers.  It’s a long season.

The second point is that market prices for tickets (just like any other commodity) are ultimately determined by the balance of buyers vs. sellers. As I told Ken, with economic circumstances motivating so many season ticketholders to sell, and with so many fewer buyers available, market prices have plummeted, in some cases even below the original face values.

Essentially all of the 250+ comments on the article were critical of the teams and lamenting that with the new higher face values, “regular” fans have been priced out of going to see their favorite teams. It is gratifying that the solution for these fans is actually the ticket resale market (which people often equate only with premium prices), which is producing market prices to see the Yankees and Mets in their awesome new stadiums for less than $10 a ticket.  Of course, one can actually find some pretty amazing tickets for great values as well.

Isn’t it ironic?

Mike

The FanSnap team was excited to read “Tightwad Tod’s” column today in Consumer Reports.  He said,

“…when I checked FanSnap for tickets to a host of events there were plenty of bargains. They may not be the best seats or the hottest games, but I found tickets to see the Redsox in Boston for as little as $15, and seats at the new Yankee and Busch stadiums in New York and St. Louis for $8 and $3, respectively.

Reasonably priced tickets were available to other events as well, though you might have to travel to Fargo, N.D., Columbus, Ohio, or Charleston, West Va., to score the knockout deals, such as $20 to go country with Keith Urban, $22 to see Elton John and Billy Joel tickle the ivories, or $33 to get your scream on with the Jonas Brothers.”

Thanks, Tod.  We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

There is a wide choice of tickets available as season ticket holders skip more games than usual because of the economy.  Market prices of tickets are always influenced up or down by whether there are more buyers or sellers.  No matter what, among all those sellers, there are always a few who are particularly motivated to sell and drop their asking price.  You’ll notice their tickets right away - they are the lighter colored markers and the “best value” stars on the FanSnap Maps.

It may be a matter of getting a super deal on a ticket.  It may be a matter of splurging and sitting behind home plate, or next to the stage, for a much lower price than in past years.  Whether you are on a beer or champagne budget, our goal is to help you find great values!

Mike