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Red October: Phillies Game 1 ticket prices through the roof compared to other series

2023-10-03 14:18
During this postseason, the Philadelphia Phillies have set remarkably high ticket prices in comparison to other teams participating in the wild-card games. This escalation in pricing appears to be primarily driven by scalpers.
Red October: Phillies Game 1 ticket prices through the roof compared to other series

Philadelphia Phillies fans and Philadelphia fans as a whole are some of the most diehard fans. They will go to any major sporting events no matter the cost, and that has been shown by the drastic comparison to other series this playoff season.

It was recently pointed out by Bob Nightengale the comparison in pricing: The Marlins vs. Phillies cost a massive $199, which is a 503% increase over the Rangers vs. Rays at just $33. Even the Diamondbacks vs. Brewers cost $22, while the Blue Jays vs. Twins cost $7 for the cheapest tickets.

To put this more into perspective, $7 is less than most regular season tickets. $7 is about an hour of wages post-taxes in some U.S. states, while Phillies fans will be working for nearly 30 hours to earn that same ticket.

Why are Phillies postseason tickets so expensive?

This is a perfect example of how real fans will be left out because they are unable to afford the scalpers' exorbitant costs. If they are only spending around $20 on a ticket, why do they have to sell it for nearly $200 when some parents just want to take their kids to the games? But now with the costs, if you don't make a lot of money, a playoff game is impossible to go to.

SeatGeek recently revealed a new IRS $600 rule, meaning if you sell more than $600 in tickets in a year, you must report it to the IRS. This is a massive change from the original $20,000 threshold.

This change could lower the price of tickets, as now scalpers will have to pay taxes on their actions instead of avoiding them and just pocketing all of the money from the scheme. This could also force the scalpers to charge even more money.