World Series sticker shock: $1,000-plus for standing-room-only tickets

Fans gather at The Battery Atlanta on Tuesday to watch the first game of the World Series between the Braves and Astros on a video board. Games 1 and 2 were played in Houston. (Photo: Branden Camp for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Credit: Branden Camp

Credit: Branden Camp

Fans gather at The Battery Atlanta on Tuesday to watch the first game of the World Series between the Braves and Astros on a video board. Games 1 and 2 were played in Houston. (Photo: Branden Camp for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Ticket prices on the secondary market for Friday night’s World Series game at Truist Park remained above $1,000 as of Thursday afternoon, and some of those tickets came without a seat.

Some sellers on StubHub, the official fan-to-fan ticket marketplace partner of MLB, and other resale sites were seeking between $1,000 and $1,300 for standing-room-only tickets to the Braves’ first World Series home game since 1999.

The average price for the 2,055 tickets listed on StubHub for the game was $1,633 (plus fees) as of Thursday afternoon, up from an average of $1,588 the day before, according to a spokeswoman for the company. A seat in the “Home Run Porch” beyond left-center field was listed for $1,400. A seat in the “Truist Club” section directly behind home plate had an asking price of $10,750.

The prices are causing sticker shock for many Braves fans. According to TicketIQ founder Jesse Lawrence, the secondary-market prices for the games at Truist Park are the third-highest for the World Series at any venue since 2010.

The top factor that drives World Series prices on the resale market is how long it has been since the home team last played in the event, Lawrence said. For the Braves, the wait has been 22 years. By far the highest prices, Lawrence said, were for games at Chicago’s Wrigley Field in 2016, when the Cubs were in the World Series for the first time since 1945 and won it for the first time since 1908.

Even fans who were able to buy “extremely limited” tickets directly from the Braves during a brief online sale to the general public early this week faced lofty prices. The Braves use a dynamic pricing model on single-game tickets that adjusts prices depending on demand.

The best prices were offered to season-ticket holders, who last month could buy strips of tickets to all potential postseason home games, including the World Series, but other fans paid significantly higher prices even when buying from the team.