I’ve been thinking lately about ticket prices to entertainment and sporting events.
For a lot of events, prices have skyrocketed. For example, this week two friends offered us two orchestra seats to Jesus Christ Superstar at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.
The face value was a not-unreasonable $88.50 each. But our friends are “Broadway in Kansas City” season ticket holders, and they got a discount for individual events.
I wanted to join Brooks and Patty at the show, and when I called to find out what a single orchestra seat would be, the answer was $135.
I passed and ended up going to the Kauffman Center about 40 minutes before the 7:30 p.m. show Wednesday and was able to get a ticket free from three KCK women who had an extra because the fourth person in their group had taken ill. Once in the theater, I finagled my way down to the orchestra level, next to Brooks and Patty, by simply telling the ushers my situation and being patient. (Because I couldn’t be seated until after the first song, I even got to see the dancers gather and warm up outside the door where I was waiting.)

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What really got me thinking about ticket prices was when I was checking into a club-level ticket for last year’s regular-season KC Chiefs’ finale. To my surprise, I discovered that club-level seats were going for several hundred dollars each. I ended up passing and did not attend the game.
As for Royals’ tickets, last year I paid $75 a seat for four lower-level seats at Kauffman Stadium for a late-season game. I had not attended a game the previous year, and that $75 price tag jolted me. This year, it appears, Royals’ ticket prices might be a little lower. Owner John Sherman, who paid $1 billion for the team a few years ago, needs to put more butts in the seats.
Now, consider tickets for the Men’s NCAA finals Monday night at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, when KU will meet North Carolina.
When I checked earlier tonight, you could buy tickets for $110 at the very top of the Superdome…which I doubt I could climb up to and where even binoculars wouldn’t help much.
And if you want to be up close and alongside the court, it would cost you anywhere from $1,750 to $4,000.
The Women’s Finals, which I’ve been to several times, used to be a great deal: you could buy tickets for about $50 to $60, as I recall. When I went by myself several years ago, in Denver and Cleveland, I nabbed tickets on the curb for considerably less.
This year, few tickets remain for tomorrow’ night’s championship game between UConn and South Carolina. The only options I saw were $387.50 or $430 for lower-level tickets angled behind one of the baskets.
But if you can resist going to the championship game and want to see some good teams well into the tournament, the best deal is the regionals, which were played last weekend. I went to the semifinals in Wichita, and for $35 ($25 for the ticket and $10 in fees) I got to see two great games: Louisville-Tennessee and South Dakota-Michigan.
I believe the main reason Final Four tickets are so much more expensive than the regionals is that the NCAA has jurisdiction over the Final Four, where the individual venues set prices and sell tickets for the regionals.
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Finally, let’s look at my favorite sporting event, the Kentucky Derby.
I’ve been to many Derbies, often buying tickets outside the track on Derby Day. One of my best curb-buying performances came several years ago, when we needed five tickets — for me, Brooks, Patty, Charlie and a friend of Charlie’s.
I went out to the track early and was able to buy five tickets — various seats in the same general area from three different people — for a total of $1,350. If I would have bargained smarter, I probably could have cut $200 from that, but I was eager to finish up and paid too much for the fifth ticket.
More recently, Patty and I bought a couple of tickets on the first turn, in Section 110 (see chart below), for about $100 each.

On the lower level, when you are sitting past the finish line, you only see the horses come by you once — when they’re entering the first turn. The rest of the race you watch on a huge screen in the infield. Similar tickets to those I bought for about $100 several years ago are going this year for $946 on the resale market, over which Ticketmaster has complete control.
If you want to sit in Section 117, just before the finish line (you still can’t see much because of the pancake perspective), a ticket will cost you $1,850.
Last year, I dickered online with a guy before the Derby, offering him several hundred dollars each for two seats in one of those lower-level sections near the finish line. Ultimately, we couldn’t agree, and we ended up going to the home of a Louisville couple, watching on TV and betting online.
This year, we’re not even going to Louisville for Derby Week. The lodging prices are way too high — several hundred dollars a night for mandatory, three-night packages — and I have no intention of paying a couple of grand for two bad seats on the first turn.
…Sadly, I think there are no more live-and-in-person Kentucky Derbies in my future. Gratefully, I attended many over the years — well over 20, I think — and have good memories.
As for the bigger picture, when I look into the sporting- and entertainment-event crystal ball, I see more women’s regional tournaments and a lot of finagling on last-minute deals to arts events. The first dates circled on my calendar are May 13, 14 and 15, when Oklahoma! will be playing at Starlight.
If you see a guy outside holding this sign, you will be looking at me.

I used that sign successfully for at least two Derbies, and people would always ask me, “Who goes if you only get one ticket?”
My gentlemanly answer was always, “Patty.”
But it never came to that: I always got two, maybe not right together but close enough that we ended up sitting together.
Rule of thumb from a veteran ticket hawk: It’s always a lot easier and cheaper to get two singles than two together.
Let me know what night you want Oklahoma tickets!
There you go…As one of the three ladies I was briefly with Wednesday at the Kauffman Center said, “If you don’t A-S-K, you don’t G-E-T.”
What I find offensive are the ticket scalpers who, apparently with the full knowledge of the venue, buy up blocks of tickets and then resell them for exorbitant prices (with know of the excess going to the performers).
A few years back we went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I got two tickets in the center section 9 rows back. Great seats with I believe a face value of $150 for the pair. However, I bought them through one of the online companies and paid $340 for the pair. Bottom line, the assholes who only sold the tickets online probably made twice as much as the performers who actually did the show.
I’m still not ready to be around so many people in these large venues. Maybe the Royals since it is outside.
This is an interesting topic. This was discussed on several baseball chat boards I read this winter.
Someone has apparently done an economic study of this at least as it applies to baseball. Their findings were there is no relationship to a team’s on field payroll and ticket prices.
All MLB teams are now hauling in over $100 million a year in national television revenue. This does not count other national revenue sources like licensing fees for all of the shirts, hats, etc. one sees.
The Royals are now getting an estimated $40-50 million a year from their Bally Sports TV contract. So that is on top of the national revenue divide. The Royals also get a much much smaller payout for the radio rights.
A former General Manager on MLB network radio said that it costs about $16 million to run your minor league operation. Add your major league payroll to this to get your overall player costs. You also have the coaching and front office staff to pay.
The Atlanta Braves are owned by a public corporation. Based on their recently released revenue numbers, they were generating $6 million a game in just stadium related revenues. Multiply that 81 times and you are talking some big numbers.
So ticket prices are essentially the gravy on top of the meal at least for major sports events. If the team is doing well, they can add a lot of revenue and additional profit. If the team is not doing well, the team can cut the prices to try to make up the “revenue loss” in volume. A team has to be careful with ticket pricing not to upset season ticket holders who paid the whole load upfront.
The NFL is similar as it is often said each NFL team makes a profit just based on TV revenues.
The art/stage show business I would think is different. The paying audience is the overwhelming revenue source for these shows. So the price has to be higher. And these shows are happy to sell to resellers so they know the original tickets have been sold. Selling out to some party makes the venue and artist group happy.
I was hoping someone could cast some light on the situation, and you have done so, Bill. Very good point about the artistic productions — no media revenue there, just the paying customers. That makes me feel better about that $135 orchestra-seat price.
After looking at these new dynamics, I step back and see it all as First World Challenges
Nevertheless, a majority of Americans are priced out of big-time sports and artistic events. That’s not a good thing…
Runaway inflation will take away the buying power of the dollar. It is a real problem for most.